Students in all areas of computing require knowledge of the computing device including software implementation at the machine level. Several courses in computer science curricula address these low-level details such as computer architecture and assembly languages. For such courses, there are advantages to studying real architectures instead of…

This study explored computer animation vignettes as a replacement for live-action video scenarios of classroom behavior situations previously used as an instructional resource in teacher education courses in classroom management strategies. The focus of the research was to determine if the embedded behavioral information perceived in a live-action…

This study proposes an innovative solution to the problem of multiobjective engineering design optimization by integrating desktop VR with genetic computing. Although, this study considers the case of construction design as an example to illustrate the framework, this method can very much be extended to other engineering design problems as well.…

The theory and lessons of knowledge exchange, in both a physical and virtual environment, suggest a framework for understanding the specific requirements for a digital design class in "Second Life". Through teaching and observing students who were asked to complete a machinima project, our research provided examples of the strengths and…

Purpose: Teaching advanced technical concepts in a computer science program to students of different technical backgrounds presents many challenges. The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed experimental pedagogy in teaching advanced computer science topics, such as computer networking, telecommunications and data structures using…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the use of solid modeling software increases participants' success in solving a specified technical problem and how visualization affects their ability to solve a technical problem. Specifically, the study sought to determine if (a) students' visualization skills affect their problem…

A major strand of science and technology studies in recent decades has related to the social construction of technology (SCOT) movement, whose adherents maintain that technological systems are determined just as much by social forces as by technological ones. Taking this SCOT notion as a starting point, and putting a focus on the user, this paper…

This paper presents a review of literature that introduces major concepts and issues in using avatars and pedagogical agents in first- and second-person virtual environments (VEs) for learning online. In these VEs, avatars and pedagogical agents represent self and other learners/participants or serve as personal learning "guides". The…

Using Excel, an interactive program is designed to simulate the Solow and endogenous growth models to facilitate the understanding of these models for students of growth theory and macroeconomics.

Historical time and chronological sequence are usually conveyed to pupils via the presentation of semantic information on printed worksheets, events being rote-memorised according to date. We explored the use of virtual environments in which successive historical events were depicted as "places" in time-space, encountered sequentially in…

The aim of various approaches implemented, whether the classical "three Ps" (presentation, practice, and production) or communicative language teaching (CLT), is to achieve communicative competence. Although a lot of software developed for teaching spoken English is dressed up to raise interaction, its methodology is largely rooted in tradition.…

Imaginary worlds have been devised by artists and commentators for centuries to focus satirical attention on society's problems. The increasing sophistication of three-dimensional graphics software is generating comparable "virtual worlds" for educational usage. Can such worlds play a satirical role suggesting developments in distance…

Matched-guise experiments have passed their 40th year as a powerful attitudinal research tool, and they are becoming more relevant and useful as technology is applied to language research. Combining the specificity of conversation analysis with the generalizability of social psychology research, technological innovations allow the measurement of…

A simple interface between VPython and Microsoft (MS) Office products such as Word and Excel, controlled by Visual Basic for Applications, is described. The interface allows the preparation of content-rich, interactive learning environments by taking advantage of the three-dimensional (3D) visualization capabilities of VPython and the GUI…

An experimental study involving 30 undergraduates (mean age = 20.5 years) in mental rotation (MR) training was conducted in an interactive Desktop Mental Rotation Trainer (iDeMRT). Stratified random sampling assigned students into one experimental group and one control group. The former trained in iDeMRT and the latter trained in conventional…