Purpose: This paper aims to sketch the emerging notion of auto-adaptive software when applied to e-learning software. Design/methodology/approach: The study and the implementation of the auto-adaptive architecture are based on the operational framework "ActiveTutor" that is used for teaching the topic of computer science programming in first-grade…

In this article, the author points out that the cultural bias against serious study of science and technology is rarely recognized as a reason for American students' poor performance. Students respond more profoundly to cultural imperatives than to market forces. In the United States, students are insulated from the commercial market's demand for…

Do liberal arts colleges act like research universities when they seek to appoint new faculty members? Evidence shows that research universities bid aggressively for talent, using discretionary salary policies to achieve a diverse professoriate, appoint research stars, and fill vacancies in fields where market forces require differential salaries.…

Online electronic education is now being widely accepted as a major viable component of higher education. This is fuelled by the emergence of worldwide information and computer communications technologies. However, online education is not being adopted in science and engineering subjects as widely as in other fields because of the …

Before the 19th century the idea of more than three dimensions was exceptional. During the 19th century, however, geometry was revolutionized and new branches were developed. This revolution also created the idea of the possibility of a n-dimensional geometry or space; flatland, i.e. n = 2, was a consequence of this new thinking. In 1884 the…

An observation on teaching introductory programming courses on SLN for a period of two terms led me to believe that online students try various ways to solve a problem. In the beginning, I got the impression that some of their approaches for a solution were wrong; but after a little investigation, I found that some of the problem-solving…

Based on the findings from reviewing 32 textbooks in the past four years for Taiwan's Ministry of Education, we have identified common problems in the reviewed textbooks and analyzed their inadequacies. Typical problems include the Wintel bias, too much coverage of software application tools and too little of computer science concepts, too many…

Programming assignments are used to assess a student's understanding of the theoretical aspect of programming and their ability to put that theory into practice. When assigning programs for students to complete, it is necessary to make sure that the problem is well specified, realistic, yet is able to be completed in a relatively short period of…

Although salary compression has previously been identified in such professional schools as engineering, business, and computer science, there is now evidence of salary compression among Association of Research Libraries members. Using salary data from the "ARL Annual Salary Survey", this study analyzes average annual salaries from 1994-1995…

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) was used as a foundation to redesign a computer programming class for mechanical engineers, in which content was delivered with hybrid/distance technology. The effort confirmed the utility of CLT in course design. And it demonstrates that hybrid/distance learning is not merely a tool of convenience, but one, which, when…

How do you dynamically customize the programming language available in a context within an existing system, without changing the underlying system? This dissertation introduces a language design approach that addresses this problem. The basic idea is to structure programs as systems of multiple interacting levels of abstraction, where all of the…

A number of educational researchers have developed pedagogical approaches that involve the teacher in discovering and helping to correct misconceptions that students bring to their study of their subject matter. During the last decade, several computer systems have been developed to support teaching and learning using this kind of approach. A…

Low retention rates in third-level computing courses, despite continuing research into new and improved computer teaching methods, present a worrying concern. For some computing students learning programming is intimidating, giving rise to lack of confidence and anxiety. The noncognitive domain of anxiety with regard to learning computer…

At schools special learning and programming environments are often used in the field of algorithms. Particularly with regard to computer science lessons in secondary education, they are supposed to help novices to learn the basics of programming. In several parts of Germany (e.g., Bavaria) these fundamentals are taught as early as in the seventh…

This paper describes a one-credit laboratory course for freshmen majoring in electrical and computer engineering (ECE). The course is motivational in nature and exposes the students to a wide range of areas of electrical and computer engineering. The authors believe it is important to give freshmen a broad perspective of what ECE is all about, and…