We developed a paper for the 2016 ASCUE Conference with the topic of software tools to use in the classroom. As mentioned in the original paper, our Computer and Information Technology Department (CIT) curriculum at Purdue University statewide locations includes classes in database, networking, programming and systems areas. Most of these classes…

ASCUE, the Association Supporting Computer Users in Education, is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. Begun in 1968 as CUETUG, the College and University Eleven-Thirty Users'…

Recruiting tomorrow's information technology students is getting to be a challenging job even though there are a variety of many good-paying jobs in the field when they graduate. This is not just an issue for our department, Computer and Information Technology (CIT). According to experts, with declining birthrates, students determining there are…

ASCUE, the Association Supporting Computer Users in Education, is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. ASCUE has a strong tradition of bringing its members together to pool their…

Undergraduate university students experience a knowledge gap when required to use unfamiliar software applications without the benefit of direct instruction. As a solution, students often turn to online support, particularly video, but little is known about students' perceptions of the effectiveness of support videos. As libraries are a principle…

A wide variety of modern chess software products is available to the modern professional and amateur chess players alike, helping them improve their chess skills and prepare for online and traditional tournaments. These products include chess user interfaces (UIs), traditional Alpha-Beta (AB) and emergent Neural Network (NN) chess engines, game…

An exploratory project on the use of digital notebooks and collaboration is currently underway in four courses over the span of five semesters at two North Carolina universities. The team currently teaches at two different universities. Professor A is at a private institution and Professor B is instructs at a state university. The team has…

Facing the need to introduce new approaches to teaching the art of programming to undergraduate Computer and Information Technology (CIT) students as part of the transition of the former Purdue College of Technology to the novel concept and status of Purdue Polytechnic, we came up with the idea of offering a pilot 300-level course entitled…

The Purdue Polytechnic Institute was created two years ago from the former College of Technology. This was more than a name change; it represented a transformation which will have an impact not only the curriculum, but on learning, and teaching methods. Students need technical skills but they must also be able to collaborate, be problem solvers,…

My great-grandparents lived one-half of their lives without electricity. My grandparents lived one-half of their lives without a telephone. My parents lived one-half of their lives without a television. My sister has lived one-half of her life without a computer and I have lived one-half of my life without Google. Today, we could not imagine life…

As a value and end result of the user-centered design (UCD) process, user experience (UX) is constantly evolving alongside of the users with which it is concerned. Faculty, staff, and other professionals in higher education attempt to meet the academic, economic, and ability needs of students by conducting usability testing and other user…

This paper discusses our experiences teaching a doctoral-level course in emerging information technologies. The concept of emerging technologies is put into context by describing the technology life cycle. The emerging information technologies of current interest -- Artificial Intelligence and related areas, Collective Human-Computer Intelligence,…

The Department of Computing at East Tennessee State University provides students exposure to the enterprise application SAP as a part of the Information Systems curriculum. Over the past two years, the use of SAP has expanded beyond the Department of Computing into the Management Information Systems course offered by the Department of Management…

There is a quantum computing race among the tech giants Google, IBM, and Microsoft, including to a lesser extent Amazon and China's Alibaba. Governments, particularly America and China, are funding work in the area with the concern that quantum computers may soon crack current encryption methods, giving the country that gets there first a major…

The Computer Information and Technology Department (CIT) program of Purdue University is offered at our regional campus in Columbus, Indiana. Like many programs throughout the country, we face issues in recruiting new students. Over the last seven to eight years, we have faced declining enrollment, even as our main campus at West Lafayette saw…