This article reviews successful educational experiences in using program and algorithm visualizations (PAVs). First, we survey a total of 18 PAV systems that were subject to 33 evaluations. We found that half of the systems have only been tested for usability, and those were shallow inspections. The rest were evaluated with respect to their…

Students who pursue a bachelor's degree in four-year colleges and universities often take longer than four years to complete their degrees. The reasons for prolonging the time to degree seem to fall into three broad categories: part-time enrollment, deficiencies in academic readiness, and inadequate course planning. This paper focuses on the…

In high-level education such as university studies, there is a flexible but complicated system of subject offerings and registration rules such as prerequisite subjects. Those offerings, connected with registration rules, should be matched to the students' learning needs and desires, which change dynamically. Students need assistance in such a…

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, close to 1.8 million people, or 77% of all computer professionals, were working in the design, development, deployment, maintenance, and management of software in 2006. The ACM [Association for Computing Machinery] model curriculum for the BS in computer science proposes that about 42% of the core body…

Purpose: This paper seeks to analyse the effectiveness and impact of how Google currently trains its new software engineers ("Nooglers") to become productive in the software engineering community. The research focuses on the institutions and support for practice-based learning and cognitive apprenticeship in the Google environment.…

In a context-aware ubiquitous learning environment, learning systems can detect students' learning behaviors in the real-world with the help of context-aware (sensor) technology; that is, students can be guided to observe or operate real-world objects with personalized support from the digital world. In this study, an optimization problem that…

Modern information technology and computer science curricula employ a variety of graphical tools and development environments to facilitate student learning of introductory programming concepts and techniques. While the provision of interactive features and the use of visualization can enhance students' understanding and assist them in grasping…

Hypertextbooks for Computer Science contents present an interesting approach to better support learners and integrate algorithm animations into the learning materials. We have developed a prototype for integrating a selection of the functionality of such a hypertextbook into the established Moodle LCMS. This article describes the goals and…

Drawing on the experience of development and use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) at a public Mexican university, this article explores the tension between the most common definitions and attributes of learning object (LO) in the mainstream literature, and the teacher's practices around the creation and incorporation of LOs in the VLE. This…

In modern learning environments, the lecturer or educational designer is often confronted with multi-national student cohorts, requiring special consideration regarding language, cultural norms and taboos, religion, and ethics. Through a somewhat provocative example we demonstrate that taking such factors into account can be essential to avoid…

This paper presents a cognitive model of how interactive multimedia authoring (IMA) affect novices' cognition in object-oriented programming. This model was generated through an empirical study of first year computer science students at the university level being engaged in interactive multimedia authoring of a role-playing game. Clinical…

As part of the research carried out at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Center for Information Technology and Society (CITS), the Paper Authentication and Integrity Research (PAIR) project was launched. We began by investigating how one recent technology affected student learning outcomes. One aspect of this research was to study the…

This paper describes how a new "Moodle" module, called "CTPracticals", is applied to the teaching of the practical content of a basic computer organization course. In the core of the module, an automatic verification engine enables it to process the VHDL designs automatically as they are submitted. Moreover, a straightforward…

The instructional value of web-based education systems has been an important area of research in information systems education. This study investigates the effect of various teaching methods on program design learning for students with specific learning styles in web-based education systems. The study takes first-year Computer Science and…

Describes a tutorial tool which allows the execution of a C program to be graphically displayed. VINCE (Visual Instruction for Novices in a C Environment) is written in Java, allowing it to be used on the Web. Students can enter their own C code, or select from a menu of pre-written tutorials, each illustrating a particular aspect of programming.…