Engineering and technology educators continually strive for realistic, hands-on laboratory exercises to enhance their students' learning. This research describes the redesign of an undergraduate introductory computer networking course to include new weekly virtual laboratory assignments that culminate in a 'real world' final project of configuring…

The influx of data and the advances in computing have led to calls to update the introductory statistics curriculum to better meet the needs of the contemporary workforce. To this end, we developed the COMputational Practices in Undergraduate TEaching of Statistics (COMPUTES) instrument, which can be used to measure the extent to which computation…

Many students need assistance in debugging to achieve progress when they learn to write computer programs. Face-to-face interactions with individual students to give feedback on their programs, although definitely effective in facilitating their learning, are becoming difficult to achieve with ever-growing class sizes. This paper proposes a novel…

Simulated environments can provide a convenient, effective way to teach skills. Simulations have been used for decades to teach skills such as piloting aircraft. As technology has improved, it has become feasible to simulate many other tasks. Recent advances in virtual and augmented reality provide new avenues for expanding training using…

The purpose of this action research study was to measure the transactional distance of computer science students who participated in an online virtual community after completing a college preparation program. Using data and results generated from previous cycles of research I developed and moderated an online virtual community designed to lessen…

The combination of Open Sim and Scratch4OS can be a worthwhile innovation for introductory programming courses, using a Community of Inquiry (CoI) model as a theoretical instructional design framework. This empirical study had a threefold purpose to present: (a) an instructional design framework for the beneficial formalization of a virtual…

While pedagogical and technological affordances of three-dimensional (3D) multiuser virtual worlds in various educational disciplines are largely well-known, a study about their effect on high school students' engagement in introductory programming courses is still lacking. This case study presents students' opinions about their participation in a…

Game-based assignments typically form an integral component of computer programming courses. The effectiveness of the assignments in motivating students to carry out repetitive programming tasks is somewhat limited since their outcomes are invariably limited to a simple win or loss scenario. Accordingly, this paper develops a simulation…

Three experiments examined whether the design of virtual learning environments influences undergraduates' enrollment intentions and anticipated success in introductory computer science courses. Changing the design of a virtual classroom--from one that conveys current computer science stereotypes to one that does not--significantly increased…

Almost all collegiate programs in Computer Science offer an introductory course in programming primarily devoted to communicating the foundational principles of software design and development. The ACM designates this introduction to computer programming course for first-year students as CS1, during which methodologies for solving problems within…

This research has two thrusts of teaching object oriented programming to very young audiences and of increasing student excitement about computing applications with the long-term goal of increasing involvement in technology classes, in the use of computer applications and interest in technology careers. The goal of this work was to provide…

Second Life is a three-dimensional (3D) electronic environment where members can socialize, hold virtual meetings, or conduct economic transactions. Utilizing virtual environments like Second Life is believed to provide educators with a new medium for teaching and information dissemination that bypasses the normal boundaries associated with…

Describes an assignment for an introductory computer science class that requires the student to write a software program that simulates an automated teller machine. Highlights include an algorithm for the assignment; sample file contents; language features used; assignment variations; and discussion points. (LRW)

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…