The ability to define, evaluate, and implement software architectures is a fundamental skill for software engineers. However, teaching software architecture can be challenging as it requires students to be involved in real-context projects with high degrees of complexity. This involves making trade-off decisions among several quality attributes.…

Purpose: This study aims to report the design, development and evaluation of a digital quality assurance application aimed at improving and ensuring the quality of assessment programmes in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The application was developed using a design-based research (DBR) methodology. The application's design was…

This paper illustrates an approach for architectural design of a Learning Management System (LMS), which is verifiable against the Learning Technology System Architecture (LTSA) conformance rules. We introduce a new method for software architectural design that extends the Unified Modeling Language (UML) component diagram with the formal…

One of the most critical steps to integrating heterogeneous e-Business applications using different XML schemas is schema matching, which is known to be costly and error-prone. Many automatic schema matching approaches have been proposed, but the challenge is still daunting because of the complexity of schemas and immaturity of technologies in…

Much of our critical infrastructure is controlled by large software systems whose participants are distributed across the Internet. As our dependence on these critical systems continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important that they meet strict availability and performance requirements, even in the face of malicious attacks, including those…

Developments in computer and information technologies continue to give opportunities for designing advanced E-learning systems while entailing objective and technical evaluation methodologies. Design and development of E-learning systems require time-consuming and labor-intensive processes; therefore any decision about these systems and their…

With the increasing role that software systems play in our daily lives, software quality has become extremely important. Software quality is impacted by the efficiency of the software testing process. There are a growing number of software testing methodologies, models, and initiatives to satisfy the need to improve software quality. The main…

This article deals with evaluating an interactive learning environment (ILE) during the iterative-design process. Various aspects of the system must be assessed and a number of evaluation methods are available. In designing the ILE Ambre-add, several techniques were combined to test and refine the system. In particular, we point out the merits of…

The continuously growth of learning resources available in on-line repositories has raised the concern for the development of automated methods for quality assessment. The current existence of on-line evaluations in such repositories has opened the possibility of searching for statistical profiles of highly-rated resources that can be used as…

Purpose: To overcome the high manual effort of assessments for teaching personnel, e-assessment systems are used to assess students using information systems (IS). The purpose of this paper is to propose an extension of EASy, a system for e-assessment of exercises that require higher-order cognitive skills. The latest module allows assessing…

This paper presents the usability evaluation of a digital systems laboratory class offered to distance-learning students. It details the way in which students can participate remotely in such a laboratory, the methodology employed in the usability assessment of the laboratory infrastructure (hardware and software), and also outlines the main…

The aim of this paper is to present a shortened version of the SIS (support intensity scale) obtained by the application of mathematical models and instruments, adopting special algorithms based on the most recent developments in artificial adaptive systems. All the variables of SIS applied to 1,052 subjects with ID (intellectual disabilities)…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the use of specifically-developed, inquiry-based learning materials for Computing and Forensic Computing students. Small applications have been developed which require investigation in order to de-bug code, analyse data issues and discover "illegal" behaviour. The applications…

Although there have been a number of studies on large scale implementation of proprietary enterprise information systems (EIS), open-source software (OSS) for EIS has received limited attention in spite of its potential as a disruptive innovation. Cost saving is the main driver for adopting OSS among the other possible benefits including security…

Teaching-learning process is incomplete without effective and meaningful assessment of students learning outcomes. This applies to both conventional modes of education as well as to open and distance learning modes. So far, conduct of examinations at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), has been cumbersome and be-decked with "hydra…