Early childhood is a critical period for introducing girls to traditionally masculine fields of science and technology before more extreme gender stereotypes surface in later years. This study looks at the TangibleK Robotics Program in order to determine whether kindergarten boys and girls were equally successful in a series of building and…

This paper presents a qualitative case analysis of a new and unique, high school, student-directed, project-based learning (PBL), virtual reality (VR) class. In order to create projects, students learned, on an independent basis, how to program an industrial-level VR machine. A constraint was that students were required to produce at least one…

Microteaching techniques have been used for teacher training since the mid 1960s. Despite its usefulness, as affirmed by pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), there are numerous criticisms on the shortcomings of microteaching activities. Specifically, it (a) oversimplifies the classroom learning and…

This paper presents a new laboratory-based module for embedded systems teaching, which addresses the current lack of consideration for the link between hardware development, software implementation, course content and student evaluation in a laboratory environment. The course introduces second year undergraduate students to the interface between…

This paper investigates the impact of combining self explaining (SE) with computer architecture diagrams to help novice students learn assembly language programming. Pre- and post-test scores for the experimental and control groups were compared and subjected to covariance (ANCOVA) statistical analysis. Results indicate that the SE-plus-diagram…

Rich, interactive eLearning tools receive a lot of attention nowadays from both practitioners and researchers. However, broader dissemination of these tools is hindered by the technical difficulties of their integration into existing platforms. This article explores the technical and conceptual problems of using several interactive educational…

While deliberating and making decisions, participants in urban development processes need easy access to the pertinent content scattered among different plans. A Planning Markup Language (PML) has been proposed to represent the underlying structure of plans in an XML-compliant way. However, PML currently covers only textual information and lacks…

Game-based learning harnesses the advantages of computer games technology to create a fun, motivating and interactive virtual learning environment that promotes problem-based experiential learning. Such an approach is advocated by many commentators to provide an enhanced learning experience than those based on traditional didactic methods.…

The rapid developments in the communication technologies today render possible the use of new technological support tools in learning processes. Wireless, or mobile wireless, technologies are the tools whose potential contributions to education are investigated. The potential effects of these technologies on learning are explored through studies…

This paper reports on the ongoing international project "System architecture for ICALL" and the progress made by the Swedish partner. The Swedish team is developing a web-based exercise generator reusing available annotated corpora and lexical resources. Apart from the technical issues like implementation of the user interface and the…

The concept of learning objects has been applied in the e-learning field to promote the accessibility, reusability, and interoperability of learning content. Learning Object Metadata (LOM) was developed to achieve these goals by describing learning objects in order to provide meaningful metadata. Unfortunately, the conventional LOM lacks the…

In the academic year 2010-2011, Spain finished the process of introducing the regulatory changes derived from the Bologna Declaration and the new European Space for Higher Education (ESHE). These changes have implied the updating of university degrees' structure as well as the inclusion of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). This paper…

Students' difficulties in learning computer programming are well documented in the literature and have been studied from different perspectives by the researchers. However, studies that have been conducted from the meta-cognition perspective are rare in the context of programming education. The current study aimed to (i) investigate the effects of…

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…

Integrated curricula and experiential learning are the main ingredients to the recipe to improve student learning in higher education. In the academic computer science world it is mostly assumed that this experiential learning takes place at a business as an internship experience. The intent of this paper is to schism the traditional understanding…