Although there is wide rhetoric that programming should be learnt by all as an element of computational thinking (CT), in practice, it is mostly implemented narrowly as an end in itself consisting of routine practice and traditional testing of the ability to code. This paper discusses a way in which programming could be seen through a wider…

The first data structure that first-year undergraduate students learn during the programming and algorithms courses is the one-dimensional array. For novice programmers, it might be hard to understand different algorithms on arrays (e.g. searching, mirroring, sorting algorithms), because the algorithms dynamically change the values of elements. In…

This article presents the current development of a serious game for the simulation of massive evacuations. The purpose of this project is to promote self-protection through awareness of the procedures and different possible scenarios during the evacuation of a massive event. Sophisticated behaviors require massive computational power and it has…

Carefully engineered playable games can serve as vehicles for students and practitioners to learn and explore the programming of advanced computer architectures to execute applications, such as high performance computing (HPC) and complex, inter-networked, distributed systems. The article presents families of playable games that are grounded in…

Natural Language Generation (NLG) systems can make data accessible in an easily digestible textual form; but using such systems requires sophisticated linguistic and sometimes even programming knowledge. We have designed and implemented an environment for creating and modifying NLG templates that requires no programming knowledge, and can operate…

In this article we demonstrate how the combination of a system for dynamic geometry with a freely programmable scripting environment can be advantageously used in teaching and research. We explain the reasons behind various design decisions that were made by us when designing the language "CindyScript" and give examples that proof how…

Purpose: In the process of the implementation of the eBologna program and the recent change of the university system, curricula at German universities have been redesigned; courses have been condensed and learning content has been re-structured into modules, each of which requires an evaluation. Simultaneously, skills required for working in…

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 dissertation introduces a new multimedia security system for the performance of object recognition and multimedia encryption in security and medical applications. The system embeds an enhancement and multimedia encryption process into the traditional recognition system in order to improve the efficiency and accuracy of object detection and…

Tutorial Dialog Systems that employ Conversational Agents (CAs) to deliver instructional content to learners in one-on-one tutoring settings have been shown to be effective in multiple learning domains by multiple research groups. Our work focuses on extending this successful learning technology to collaborative learning settings involving two or…

We have developed a tool called Secure WEb dEvelopment Teaching (SWEET) to introduce security concepts and practices for web application development. This tool provides introductory tutorials, teaching modules utilizing virtualized hands-on exercises, and project ideas in web application security. In addition, the tool provides pre-configured…

Games technology has undergone tremendous development. In this article, the authors report the rapid advancement that has been observed in the way games software is being developed, as well as in the development of games content using game engines. One area that has gained special attention is modeling the game environment such as terrain and…

Serious virtual worlds (SVWs) represent a great opportunity for learning and should embed a lot of high-quality contextualised information so that the player can take the most from his or her exploration of the environment. This requires defining new methodologies and tools for effective production. We have investigated this issue in implementing…

In this article, a prototype Greek text to Greek Sign Language (GSL) conversion system is presented. The system is integrated into an educational platform that addresses the needs of teaching GSL grammar and was developed within the SYNENNOESE project (Efthimiou "et al." 2004a. Developing an e-learning platform for the Greek sign…

Fundamental concepts and definitions of electronic learning (eLearning) continue to emerge, and theories of eLearning that have been advanced thus far cover an array of academic perspectives including training and education, learning and knowledge, and technology and applications to specific market segments. Any study of the effectiveness and…