31,216 research outputs found
Teaching Delivery Issues: Lessons from Computer Science
No full textInformation Technology (IT) is a subject that is distinct from Computer Science (CS), but is often taught by CS faculty; there is a large overlap between the content of curricula for the two subjects. In this pa-per, we discuss some of the issues and problems experienced within CS that are also of relevance to the IT educator. We discuss the effects of student and faculty expectations along with curricular issues, and we conclude that setting student expectations and aligning them with our own at as early a stage as pos-sible is crucial to success
Raspberry Pi: An Effective Vehicle in Teaching the Internet of Things in Computer Science and Engineering
No full textThe Raspberry Pi is being increasingly adopted as a suitable platform in both research and applications of the Internet of Things (IoT). This study presents a novel project-based teaching and learning approach devised in an Internet of Things course for undergraduate students in the computer science major, where the Raspberry Pi platform is used as an effective vehicle to greatly enhance students’ learning performance and experience. The devised course begins with learning simple hardware and moves to building a whole prototype system. This paper illustrates the outcome of the proposed approach by demonstrating the prototype IoT systems designed and developed by students at the end of one such IoT course. Furthermore, this study provides insights and lessons regarding how to facilitate the use of the Raspberry Pi platform to successfully achieve the goals of project-based teaching and learning in IoT
Funding of development projects by Learning and Teaching Support Network - Centre for Information and Computer Sciences
No full textThe Learning and Teaching Support Network was established at the beginning of the year 2000 by the higher education funding bodies. It is intended to provide an integrated network of subject centres to enhance learning and teaching activity in UK higher education. The subject centre responsible for Information and Computer Sciences is responsible for promoting quality information, resources and expertise in computing and library and information science. The LTSN - ICS is addressing its strategic aims by creating networks and establishing contacts within the discipline. The Centre has made available a development fund to support small academic projects in teaching and learning from both information and computer sciences. The successful projects are described here, as is the detailed refereeing process that was undertaken to determine the final destination for the development fund money
Restart: The Resurgence of Computer Science in UK Schools
No full textComputer science in UK schools is undergoing a remarkable transformation. While the changes are not consistent across each of the four devolved nations of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), there are developments in each that are moving the subject to become mandatory for all pupils from age 5 onwards. In this article, we detail how computer science declined in the UK, and the developments that led to its revitalisation: a mixture of industry and interest group lobbying, with a particular focus on the value of the subject to all school pupils, not just those who would study it at degree level. This rapid growth in the subject is not without issues, however: there remain significant forthcoming challenges with its delivery, especially surrounding the issue of training sufficient numbers of teachers. We describe a national network of teaching excellence which is being set up to combat this problem, and look at the other challenges that lie ahead
Developing a Computer Science-specific Learning Taxonomy
No full textBloom's taxonomy of the cognitive domain and the SOLO taxonomy are being increasingly widely used in the design and assessment of courses, but there are some drawbacks to their use in computer science. This paper reviews the literature on educational taxonomies and their use in computer science education, identifies some of the problems that arise, proposes a new taxonomy and discusses how this can be used in application-oriented courses such as programming
C-Sheep: Controlling Entities in a 3D Virtual World as a Tool for Computer Science Education
No full textOne of the challenges in teaching computer science in general and computer programming in particular is to maintain the interest of students, who often perceive the subject as difficult and tedious. To this end, we introduce C-Sheep, a mini-language-like system for computer science education, using a state of the art rendering engine, usually found in entertainment systems. The intention is to motivate students to spend more time programming, which can be achieved by providing an enjoyable experience. Computer programming is an essential skill for software developers and as such is always an integral part of every computer science curriculum. However, even if students are pursuing a computer science related degree, it can be very difficult to interest them in the act of computer programming, the writing of software, itself. In the C-Sheep system this is addressed by using the visual gimmickry of modern computer games, which allows programs to provide instant visualisation of algorithms. This visual feedback is invaluable to the understanding of how the algorithm works, and - if there are unintended results - how errors in the program can be debugged.
The C-Sheep programming language is a (100% compatible) subset of the ANSI C programming language. Apart from just being a tool for learning the basics of the C programming language, C-Sheep implements the C control structures that are required for teaching the basic computer science principles encountered in structured programming. Unlike other teaching languages which have minimal syntax and which are variable free to provide an environment with minimal complexity, C-Sheep allows the declaration and use of variables. C-Sheep also supports the definition of sub-routines (functions) which can be called recursively.
"The Meadow" virtual environment is the virtual world in which entities (in our case sheep) controlled by C-Sheep programs exist. This micro world provides a graphical representation of the algorithms used in the programs controlling the virtual entities. Their position and orientation within the virtual world visualise the current state of the program. "The Meadow" is based on our proprietary "Crossbow" game engine which incorporates a virtual machine for executing CSheep programs.
The Crossbow Engine is a compact game engine which is flexible in design and offers a number of features common to more complex engines. The Crossbow Virtual Machine used with C-Sheep in "The Meadow" - an improvement on the ZBL/0 virtual machine - is a module of the Crossbow Engine.
The C-Sheep system also provides a counterpart library for C, mirroring the CSheep library functions of the virtual machine. This allows C-Sheep programs to be compiled into an executable using a normal off-the-shelf C/C++ compiler. This executable can then be run from within the native working environment of the operating system. The purpose of this library is to simplify the migration from the educational mini-language to real-world systems by allowing novice programmers to make an easy transition from using the C-Sheep system to using the C programming language
Why Using Robots to Teach Computer Science can be Successful Theoretical Reflection to Andragogy and Minimalism
No full textCategories and Subject Descriptors
K.3.1 [Computers and Education]: Computer Uses in Education – collaborative learning;
K.3.2 [Computers and Education]: Computer and Information Science Education – computer science
education, self-assessmentTo help students understand subjects such as theoretical aspects of computation, algorithmic reasoning and intelligence of machines, a number of publications report experiments to teach these topics with the help of Lego Mindstorms robots. In the publications, the researchers report how they have created various ways to approach the issues either in Computer Science or in Artificial Intelligence. The reported results of the experiments are based on the learning outcomes, the feedback from the students, and the perceived informal observations (i.e. “feelings”) of the instructors.
But can anyone else benefit from the reportedly positive outcomes of the experiments? To give an answer to that question, this paper analyses the reported results through two support theories. The two theories chosen for this, andragogy and minimalism, are concerned with adult learning and how teaching adults should be approached. When reflecting the results of the four teaching experiments to the suggestions drawn from the theories, a more comprehensive answer to why the experiments have been successful can be given.
The four teaching experiments analysed here were in many ways similar to each other. A connection to the chosen support theories was straightforward to make. Besides describing the artefacts of teaching with the robots, a deeper discussion on this teaching approach is provided. For an instructor, all these observations offer more concrete evidence about beneficial factors of teaching with robots.ei saavutettav
Grasping the Unseen : TA Insights into Teaching Subtle Concepts in Computer Science
No full textConquering fundamental programming concepts that subtly affect program behavior is a challenge for Computer Science (CS) students. Learning parameter passing, aliasing, scope, and references, how they work and being able to reason about them, is crucial for CS students. In this qualitative study we explore how these concepts are taught from the perspective of Teaching Assistants (TAs). Using phenomenographic analysis we find several areas that could be improved regarding the activities and assessments that students are exposed to during their studies. These findings include issues with consistent grading, the training of TAs, the support structures offered to TAs, and variations in the perceived focus on these concepts. Finally, our results highlight a need to explore how proficient TAs are with these concepts.Peer reviewe
Augmented learning roads for internet routing
No full textAs the Internet continues to establish itself as a utility, like power, transport or water, it becomes increasingly important to provide an engaging educational experience about its operation for students in related STEM disciplines such as Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Routing is a core functionality of the global Internet. It can be used as an example of where theory meets practice, where algorithms meet protocols and where science meets engineering. Routing protocols can be included in the Computer Science curriculum in distributed systems, computer networking, algorithms, data structures, and graph theory. While there is a plethora of computer networking textbooks, and copious information of varying quality about the Internet spread across the Web, there is still an essential need for exploratory learning facilities of the type that support group work, experimentation and experiential learning. This paper reports on work using open virtual worlds to provide a multi-user interactive learning environment for Internet routing which exemplifies the capabilities of emerging immersive education technologies to augment conventional practice. The functionality of the learning environment is illustrated through examples and the underlying system which was built to support the routing simulations is explained
Issues for consideration to adopt educational computer games for learning and teaching
No full textComputer games have started to gain attention in the domain of learning and teaching. The integration of computer games for education in the classroom has starting to gain acceptance in some countries. However, for schools which have never used computer games in the classroom, study still need to be conducted to investigate the teachers' belief and attitude toward the usage. The purpose of this paper is to examine issues for consideration when adopting educational computer games for learning and teaching. This paper also examines the concepts that related to educational computer games and aspects of learning and teaching. In addition, the theories of technology acceptance which use to assess the perception, belief and attitude of teachers and students have also been investigated
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