Publications - Mamoon Al Rasheed

PUBLICATION:

1. Rasheed, M. A. (2022). Beyond Rhetoric: The Prospect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Bangladesh. Journal of SUB, Volume 12, Issue 1&2 :60-68.
   Abstract:
   Although Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, is credited for propagating the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution the catchphrase had its origin in a 2013 initiative by the German government known as ‘Industrie 4.0.’ The centerpiece of this policy initiative was to safeguard Germany’s global manufacturing lead well into the future by harnessing the convergence of digital technologies, integrating manufacturing processes, logistics, and human systems to build ‘agile and smart factories’ or ‘cyber-physical production systems. Ever since, FIR became a magic rhetorical device in business press, tech, and policy circles. Government officials, business leaders, and others speak of the phrase with admirable awe yet few have undertaken a reasoned exploration of the factors that are considered to be the foundations on which the production panacea would arrive. 
   The author endeavors to cut through the veneer of rhetoric and find the actual state of affairs required for this technological undertaking. He also assays to ascertain the infrastructural and policy requirements that have been bench-marked to be conducive to realizing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR).
   The study mostly depended on literature review. It assesses and aggregates the context, success factors, and inadequacy of the existing socio-technical landscape of Bangladesh, and simultaneously points out the potential and difficulties in the envisioned model of FIR. Thus, a clear picture emerges towards a direction for realizing the FIR in a developing country like Bangladesh.
   
   
2. Rasheed, M. and Mardon, A.(2021). Classification of Learning Difficulties of Students in Theory of Computation: A Cognitive Load Theory Based Approach. Journal of SUB, Volume 11 (1 &2):1-14.
   Abstract:
   Using Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) the authors assay to show that the natural constraints of human cognitive structure, complexity inherent in contents and intrusion of external inference into learning process are chiefly responsible for students’ underperformance in Theory of Computation. Students’ perspectives of the underperformance are explored through an open-ended questionnaire. Then, a thematic analysis of their responses is conducted to classify the perceived difficulties. Thus, an unnoticed dimension of the problems of underperformance of the students is discerned. This, in turn, suggests that a novel approach is required to resolve the stated difficulties experienced by the students.
   
   
3. Rasheed, M. A. and Mahmud, S.U. (2018). Assessing Level of Learning Attained through Tutoring by Prospective University Students of Science and Technology in Bangladesh. In the First International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education 2018 (pp.19-24), Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology, Gazipur, Bangladesh.
   Abstract:
   Despite completing twelve years of institutional education at various levels university education is still a significant leap forward for a student in Bangladesh. While the student passes through the wider spectrum of teaching that endeavors to groom her in the use of cognitive skills universities require something qualitatively different. The admission tests at various science and engineering universities are designed to screen out a considerable number of entrants vying for few numbers of seats at these universities. Not unexpectedly, these tests force those aspiring souls to absorb a different model of learning. Students, thus, are drawn to different tutoring (coaching) centers for being tutored in these new ways of problem solving.
   The authors have examined the model tests these centers use to train students seeking admission at various universities. The level of learning these tests assess were specially identified using Bloom's Taxonomy of cognitive domain. The authors hypothesized that most of these tests were formulated towards training students to achieve low-level cognition competency going up to the application level only. After analyzing five thousand questions by the keywords found in the question we had ascertained that Physics and Mathematics domains resorted to mere remembering, understanding and applying most of the time. Only in questions of Chemistry, one could find very few questions that sought answers from the levels of analyzing and to an extent to the level of evaluating.
   This pattern was self-evident on the surface but ran deep through assessment models used by these questions. As such, one is forced to recognize an important underlying dynamic: students would still need careful and focused teaching in the universities to enable them face the higher cognitive levels of evaluating and creating.
   
   
4. Haque S. M. Taiabul, Alam, Tauhidul, Rasheed, M. A., and Wright, Matthew. (2013). Password Construction and Management Strategies of the Online Users of Bangladesh: A Demographic Comparison with the Users of the First-World Countries. In the International Conference on Communication and Information Technology 2013, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh.
   Abstract:
   In this paper, we report on a study of the password construction and management strategies of advanced online users in Bangladesh. The study involved a survey of 75 undergraduate Computer Science students from two different universities. Their responses suggest that even these advanced online users are not aware of some generally accepted good password practices. Our findings are also compared with the responses of various user studies that have been conducted among the users in first-world countries. The Bangladeshi users in our study, who have fewer passwords than first-world users, are more likely to write down passwords and share passwords less frequently. They also do not change their passwords regularly. On the other hand, users in our study generate passwords with fewer personally meaningful words and numbers than first-world users, and a majority of our participants do not use common English or Bengali words. The study is the first of its kind in Bangladesh and it highlights the key weaknesses in the password management strategies of these advanced online users.
   
   
5. Rasheed, M. A. (2010). The Empowerment of Bangladeshi Professional Women through the Use ICT: Myth vs Reality. Journal of SUB, Volume 2 (2):77-91.
   Abstract:
   The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in every locale of life in contemporary societies has accelerated the pace of interaction and work. Thus, the use also enhances the anticipation that only ICTs could deliver the panacea for the plight of people of the developing countries. Women comprise a large percentage of this population. Accordingly, the information society discourse, originated in the developed world, has endorsed myths of empowerment centering on women’s use of ICTs. But it has hardly gone beyond the rhetoric. Neither has it recognized the need for measuring the actual extent of progress based on different yardsticks such as command over resources, independence of decision making, awareness of the discrimination and the scope of collective action to go beyond the status quo.  Likewise, the development discourse in Bangladesh has exhibited a strong disposition to investigate issues concerning women in general but has rarely explored the intricate structures of stratification within the same group known as women. While gains made by the use of ICTs by poor or working class women may be positive the rewards may not be the same for the professional women in this country. This research examines whether the use of ICTs by women in office environments in different organizations has met those criteria for empowerment and finds that using ICTs does not necessarily empower Bangladeshi professional women in the gender-based division of work.