Reconfigurable computing is an established field in computer science. Teaching this field to computer science students demands special attention due to limited student experience in electronics and digital system design. This article presents a compact course on reconfigurable processors, which was offered at the Technische Universitat Darmstadt,…

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are low-cost devices that are used to uniquely identify the objects to which they are attached. Due to the low cost and size that is driving the technology, a tag has limited computational capabilities and resources. This limitation makes the implementation of conventional security protocols to prevent…

In the United States, the number of students entering into and completing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas has declined significantly over the past decade. Although modest increases have been shown in enrollments in computer-related majors in the past 4 years, the prediction is that even in 3 to 4 years…

Computer Science (CS) courses comprise both Programming and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) issues; however these two areas have substantial differences, inter alia the attitudes and beliefs of the students regarding the intended learning content. In this research, factors from the Social Cognitive Theory and Unified Theory of…

This correspondence describes an adaptation of puzzle-based learning to teaching an introductory computer programming course. Students from two offerings of the course--with and without the puzzle-based learning--were surveyed over a two-year period. Empirical results show that the synthesis of puzzle-based learning concepts with existing course…

The confluence of powerful technologies of computers and network connectivity has brought explosive growth to the field of Information Technology (IT). The problem presented in this study is whether the type of learning environment where IT concepts are taught to undergraduates has a relationship to the development of IT fluency and course…

Two members of the library faculty at Seton Hall University teamed up with a respected professor of mathematics and computer science, in order to create an online course that introduces information literacy both from the perspectives of the computer scientist and from the instruction librarian. This collaboration is unique in that it addresses the…

Programming assignments are commonly used in computer science education to encourage students to practice target concepts and evaluate their learning status. Ensuring students are engaged in such assignments is critical in attracting and retaining students. To this end, WebHat, a service-based program evaluation platform, is introduced in this…

Reduction is a problem-solving strategy, relevant to various areas of computer science, and strongly connected to abstraction: a reductive solution necessitates establishing a connection among problems that may seem totally disconnected at first sight, and abstracts the solution to the reduced-to problem by encapsulating it as a black box. The…

The purpose of the present study was to determine the problems experienced with the Information Technology (IT) course given as an elective course in elementary schools and to put forward suggestions for solutions to these problems. For this purpose, this study was carried out within the framework of phenomenology. The study was carried out with…

Digital technologies allow people with disabilities to participate independently in society in ways they never could before. The full realization of these new opportunities remains elusive, though, because working professionals in the information and communication technology (ICT) field rarely receive adequate training in how to make digital ICT…

This paper describes a framework for measuring student learning gains and engagement in a Computer Science 1 (CS 1) / Information Systems 1 (IS 1) course. The framework is designed for a CS1/IS1 course as it has been traditionally taught over the years as well as when it is taught using a new pedagogical approach with Web services. It enables the…

Scratch, a visual programming language, was used in many studies in computer science education. Most of them reported positive results by integrating Scratch into K-12 computer courses. However, the object-oriented concept, one of the important computational thinking skills, is not represented well in Scratch. Alice, another visual programming…

This article deals with some aspects of studying Informatics in Russian schools. Those aspects are part of the "third dimension" of the Darmstadt model (they are also projected on the other two dimensions of this model) and include evolution of the subject, regulatory norms conforming to the Federal Educational Standards, the learning…

To succeed within the increasingly global context of their work environment, today's IT professional needs to be equipped with both cutting-edge technical skills and a strong repertoire of "soft" skills. An important and often unrecognized soft skill is an appreciation of how various IT issues impact upon different peoples and what…