Computer Sciences Commons^™

The Rock 2011, School Of Engineering And Computer Science

The Rock

No abstract provided.

Investigating Student Gender And Grade Level Differences In Digital Citizenship Behavior, Robert Lyons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The rapid rise of technology, which has become embedded in all facets of 21st century society during the past decade, has fostered a corresponding rise in its misuse. Digital citizenship abuse, a relatively new phenomenon of this electronic age, is a rapidly growing global problem. Parents, schools, and society play roles in supporting appropriate online behavior. Schools must take the lead role to assess and address digital citizenship issues. This ex post facto study investigated the online actions of students in a medium-sized K-12 school district and explored possible causal relationships between online misbehavior and student grade and gender based …

P2n: A Pedagogical Pattern For Teaching Computer Programming To Non-Cs Majors, Zhen Jiang, Eduardo B. Fernandez, Liang Cheng

Computer Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Visual Learning Styles Among Digital Natives, Eric Palmer

Department of Computer Graphics Technology Degree Theses

This study explored the concept of digital nativity and its educational implications, including application of the learning styles hypothesis. The concept of digital natives, first put forth by Marc Prensky, introduced the notion that individuals raised in a technological environment have developed in such a way as to utilize information differently than the non-native generations before them. This study examined the possibility that these differences may include an increased efficiency in the utilization of narrative imagery versus textual information. The potential benefit of utilizing narrative imagery as an instructional tool is discussed. An experimental test application was developed for the …

The Effect Of Interactive Technology On Informal Learning And Performance In A Social Setting, Timothy Clay Boileau

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study is based on a qualitative multiple case study research design using a mixed methods approach to provide insight into the effect of interactive technology on informal learning and performance in a social business setting inhabited by knowledge workers. The central phenomenon examined is the variance in behavioral intention towards interactive Web 2.0 technologies in learning and performance-related activities, depending on social and cultural setting, observable in individual and group usage patterns.

The theoretical foundation for this study is drawn primarily from the activity theory model developed by Engeström (1987) and related research enabled by an ongoing review of …

Learning Without Onboarding: How Assessing And Evaluating Learning Benefits New Information Technology Hires, Dory L. Morris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Onboarding ensures learning success through sharing and acquiring knowledge to remain competitive. However, little is known about new Information Technology (IT) hires' learning needs in the absence of onboarding; therefore, the purpose of this case study was to examine, increase, and retain their technical knowledge at the Unified Communications Company (UCC). Following the theoretical model of knowledge management, which holds that knowledge is the key to confirm learning and knowledge sharing, the research questions were used to examine how the company assessed and increased their technical knowledge and how they taught their culture in the absence of onboarding. A qualitative …

Two-Language, Two-Paradigm Introductory Computing Curriculum Model And Its Implementation, Vladimir Zanev, Atanas Radenski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

This paper analyzes difficulties with the introduction of object-oriented concepts in introductory computing education and then proposes a two-language, two-paradigm curriculum model that alleviates such difficulties. Our two-language, two-paradigm curriculum model begins with teaching imperative programming using Python programming language, continues with teaching object-oriented computing using Java, and concludes with teaching object-oriented data structures with Java.

Teaching Software Engineering Project Management-A Novel Approach For Software Engineering Programs, Craig Caulfield, David Veal, Stanislaw Maj

Research outputs 2011

In response to real and perceived short-comings in the quality and productivity of software engineering practices and projects, professionally-endorsed graduate and post-graduate curriculum guides have been developed to meet technical developments and evolving industry demands. Each of these curriculum guidelines identifies better software project management skills as critical for all graduating students, but they provide little guidance on how to achieve this. One possible way is to use a serious game - a game designed to teach and educate players about some of the dynamic complexities of the field in a safe and inexpensive environment. This paper presents the results …

Managing Multidisciplinary Student Design Teams, Martin Masek, Joo Jung, Barnard Clarkson

Research outputs 2011

The management of multidisciplinary student teams is a challenge. In this paper we describe our experience in running a shared assessment across several units. Four multidisciplinary teams were formed, and success was mixed, with one team splitting into two along discipline lines and all experiencing communication issues. The main management challenges that arose were based around difficulty in communication and the understanding of the other disciplines requirements. We outline the process we used to construct the shared assessment, and provide some insight in how the student groups dealt with issues that arose.

Supporting Introductory Test-Driven Labs With Webide, Thomas C. Dvornik

Master's Theses

WebIDE is a new web-based development environment for entry-level programmers with two primary goals: minimize tool barriers to writing computer programs and introduce software engineering best practices early in a student's educational career. Currently, WebIDE focuses on Test-Driven Learning (TDL) by using small iterative examples and introducing lock-step labs, which prevent the student from moving forward until they finish the current step. An initial set of labs and evaluators were created as examples of how to use WebIDE and were used in a pilot study in a CS0 course where students were split into two groups, one that used WebIDE …

Technology Capacity Development Through Oss Implementation: The Case Of Public Higher Education Institutions In Ethiopia, Nigussie Tadesse Mengesha

The African Journal of Information Systems

The Open Source Software (OSS) literature gives little attention to the study and practice of domain specific end-user OSS implementation in general and in the public sector of developing countries (DCs) in particular. This paper, however, investigates the trajectories of two OSS-based information systems (IS) implementation projects in a developing country (DC) context with the aim to uncover the practice-based learning and resource sharing evident among locally situated and globally dispersed developers and users. The result of the interpretative case study research shows that the OSS philosophy and practice of software development, implementation and ownership, facilitates for the emergence of …

3-D Virtual World Education: An Empirical Comparison With Face-To-Face Classroom, Xiaofeng Chen, Keng Siau, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

3-D virtual worlds are increasing in popularity as a means of pedagogical delivery in higher education. In this research, we assess the relative effectiveness of a 3-D virtual world learning environment, Second Life, and traditional face-to-face learning environment. We also assess the efficacy of instructional strategies in these two learning environments and their effects on interactivity, perceived learning, and satisfaction. Our findings suggest that there is an interaction effect of learning environment and instructional strategy. Pair-wise comparisons indicate that when interactive instructional strategy is used, there is no significant difference for perceived learning and satisfaction between 3-D virtual world and …

An Attempt To Get And Keep Women Involved In Physics, Jim Crumley, Kristen Nairn, Lynn Ziegler

MapCores Faculty Publications

In this talk I will briefly review some of the obstacles to the full participation of women in the STEM disciplines. In order to increase the number of women in physics, computer science, and mathematics we have started a cohort-based program with curricular and scholarship components for women in these majors. I will present the results of our program so far and offer some advice based on our experiences.

Suitability Review Of Common Synchronous, Live Online-Classroom Tools, Arnold Hensman

Conference Papers

While virtual learning environments (VLEs) such as Moodle and WebCT are now ubiquitous in most higher education institutes, live synchronous virtual classroom software is merely gaining in popularity. The first online meeting tools were tailored towards business requirements for remotely held meetings rather than educational purposes. The recent expansion of virtual classroom tools specific to education has changed this. Such software offers the standard features of streamed voice and video, yet purposely provides an array of additional features specifically designed to conduct classes online. While VLEs work optimally as a compliment to standard courses, Virtual-classrooms such as Adobe Connect Pro …

A Framework For The Comparison Of Virtual Classroom Systems, Daniel Mcsweeney

Conference Papers

The increase in demand for open and distance learning has resulted in many higher education providers investing in virtual classroom systems. These systems can be an essential component in the delivery of flexible and online courses. While many institutions correctly place a greater emphasis on the pedagogical development of flexible courses, poor selection or implementation of virtual classroom software can reduce the pedagogical effectiveness of such courses and in some cases render them unworkable for both lecturing staff and students.

Changes in vendor offerings, the continual evolution of end user technology, developments in mobile devices and improvements in internet infrastructure …

Impact Of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research In Mathematics And Biology On The Development Of A New Course Integrating Five Stem Disciplines, Lester Caudill, April L. Hill, Kathy Hoke, Ovidiu Z. Lipan

Biology Faculty Publications

Funded by innovative programs at the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Richmond faculty in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and computer science teamed up to offer first- and second-year students the opportunity to contribute to vibrant, interdisciplinary research projects. The result was not only good science but also good science that motivated and informed course development. Here, we describe four recent undergraduate research projects involving students and faculty in biology, physics, mathematics, and computer science and how each contributed in significant ways to the conception and implementation of our new Integrated Quantitative Science course, a …

Impact Of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research In Mathematics And Biology On The Development Of A New Course Integrating Five Stem Disciplines, Lester Caudill, April L. Hill, Kathy Hoke, Ovidiu Z. Lipan

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

Funded by innovative programs at the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Richmond faculty in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and computer science teamed up to offer first- and second-year students the opportunity to contribute to vibrant, interdisciplinary research projects. The result was not only good science but also good science that motivated and informed course development. Here, we describe four recent undergraduate research projects involving students and faculty in biology, physics, mathematics, and computer science and how each contributed in significant ways to the conception and implementation of our new Integrated Quantitative Science course, a …

Faculty Success: Developing A Research And Publication Agenda, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Anyone associated with higher education will acknowledge that tenure track faculty have to perform a fantastic balancing act. Compared to an administrative or line role in an organization, higher education faculty have tremendous autonomy and freedom. However, they face competing demands of many different (and good) opportunities, and for them the stakes are always high. Help is here! This article introduces a powerful strategy for staying on track in the research strand of this competitive journey.

Is Competition Making A Comeback? Discovering Methods To Keep Female Adolescents Engaged In Stem: A Phenomenological Approach, Kathryn B. Notter

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The decreasing number of women who are graduating in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields continues to be a major concern. Despite national support in the form of grants provided by National Science Foundation, National Center for Information and Technology and legislation passed such as the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 that encourages women to enter the STEM fields, the number of women actually graduating in these fields is surprisingly low. This research study focuses on a robotics competition and its ability to engage female adolescents in STEM curricula. Data have been collected to help explain why young …

Choosing Management Information Systems As A Major: Understanding The Smifactors For Mis, Thomas W. Ferratt, Stephen R. Hall, Jayesh Prasad, Donald E. Wynn

MIS/OM/DS Faculty Publications

Given declining management information systems (MIS) enrollments at our university, we seek to understand our students‘ selection of a major. Prior studies have found that students choose a major based on a number of factors, with subject matter interest consistently being most important. We contribute to the literature by developing a deeper understanding of what is meant by subject matter interest, which we refer to as smiFactors, for MIS as a major and career. Based on a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions completed by undergraduate business students, we confirm a number of smiFactors for MIS gleaned from recent studies …

Toward Using Games To Teach Fundamental Computer Science Concepts, Jeffrey Michael Edgington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Video and computer games have become an important area of study in the field of education. Games have been designed to teach mathematics, physics, raise social awareness, teach history and geography, and train soldiers in the military. Recent work has created computer games for teaching computer programming and understanding basic algorithms.

We present an investigation where computer games are used to teach two fundamental computer science concepts: boolean expressions and recursion. The games are intended to teach the concepts and not how to implement them in a programming language.

For this investigation, two computer games were created. One is designed …

Where In The World? Demographic Patterns In Access Data, Mimi Recker, Beijie Xu, Sherry Hsi, Christine Garrard

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Standard webmetrics tools record the IP address of users’ computers, thereby providing fodder for analyses of their geographical location, and for understanding the impact of e-learning and teaching. Here we describe how two web-based educational systems were engineered to collect geo-referenced data. This is followed by a description of joining these data with demographic and educational datasets for the United States, and mapping different datasets using geographic information system (GIS) techniques to visually display their relationships. Results from statistical analyses of these relationships that highlight areas of significance are given.

Graduation Outliner, Jason Boyle

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Planning a quarterly course schedule is a difficult and laborious process for university students which must be repeated every quarter. Students are expected to determine which courses to take based on a large and complex set of requirement criteria. Most academic scheduling research has focused on faculty availability and desires. This project attempts to address the needs of students for whom no quarterly course schedule planning tool is widely available. A Java Swing-based application is described that allows students to create a graphical quarter-by-quarter visualization of the courses they plan to take. The application also accepts a list of graduation …

Understanding The Values Of Mobile Technology In Education: A Value-Focused Thinking Approach, Hong Sheng, Keng Siau, Fiona Nah

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Mobile technology has mobilized the human interaction in all dimensions by supporting mobile collaboration. As collaboration is key to learning in today's educational environment, mobile technology has tremendous potential in supporting and improving education and its delivery. Given that mobile technology for education is a new phenomenon that is gaining popularity, the values of using mobile technology to support education need to be further researched and better understood. In this research, we used the Value-Focused Thinking approach to interview students and instructors to identify the values of education that are enabled by mobile technology. These values are represented in the …

Global Project Management: Pedagogy For Distributed Teams, Benjamin Kok Siew Gan, Randy Weinberg, Selma Limam Mansar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper reflects on pedagogy for teaching collaborative global projects across universities in different countries. Over a period of four years, students at three universities - one in the United States, one in Singapore and one in the Middle East - enrolled in a course called "Global Project Management". In this course, coordinated across locations, students experience a global project with distant team members. We describe the course experience and student perceptions of the requisite skills, collaboration tools and challenges bearing on effective global project work.

Expanding The Horizons Of Educational Pair Programming: A Methodological Review Of Pair Programming In Computer Science Education Research, Keith B. Rimington

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Educators and researchers continue to explore the benefits, real or imagined, of implementing pair programming as part of the computer science pedagogy. Current reviews of computer science educational research practices do not focus on educational pair programming. This thesis presents a review of the research methods used in recent educational pair programming research. The primary purpose of this review is to inform the ongoing dialogue about and to provide evidence-based recommendations for improving educational pair programming research.

Replicating the design of a previous computer science education methodological review, this study inspected a sample of 108 articles from a population of …

Software Internationalization: A Framework Validated Against Industry Requirements For Computer Science And Software Engineering Programs, John Huân Vũ

Master's Theses

View John Huân Vũ's thesis presentation at http://youtu.be/y3bzNmkTr-c.

In 2001, the ACM and IEEE Computing Curriculum stated that it was necessary to address "the need to develop implementation models that are international in scope and could be practiced in universities around the world." With increasing connectivity through the internet, the move towards a global economy and growing use of technology places software internationalization as a more important concern for developers. However, there has been a "clear shortage in terms of numbers of trained persons applying for entry-level positions" in this area. Eric Brechner, Director of Microsoft Development Training, suggested …

Designing Successful Online Courses - Part 2, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Once again, our major goal is to provide faculty with consistent guidance through the many instructional decisions and design steps they need to pursue in this process. This process is a fantastic opportunity to craft a virtual learning space in which people can engaging in learning beyond the constraints of time and space.

Five Strategies For Successful Writing Of Reports And Essays, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Many people cannot get started with their literary projects because they do not know where to start. In this brief article, I share insight from years of teaching students and professionals of all ages how to prepare professional work.

M&S Body Of Knowledge: Progress Report And Look Ahead, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.