Discusses computer-supported learning, cooperative learning, and virtual universities and links them in a way that reflects a vision of the future. Conclusions are based on results of student questionnaires and interviews with students and instructors involved in cooperative learning taking place at the University of Exeter's Computer Science…

Building on Durkheim's (Emile) emphasis on the moral dimensions of social reality and using it to explore contemporary computer education, contends that many of his claims are justified. Argues that the college computer department has created a set of images, maxims, and operating assumptions that frames its curriculum, courses, and student…

Presents personal analysis of information science as a field of scientific inquiry and professional practice that has evolved over the past half-century. Examines origin of information science in respect to problems of the information explosion, social role of field, nature of "information," structure of field in terms of problems addressed,…

A study of 89 computer programming students in two instructional groups found that those using Visual Basic (VB) mastered programming design concepts as well as those using traditional BASIC. Concludes that VB is an excellent choice for a first programming course (high school or university) emphasizing sequence, selection, iteration, variables,…

Describes tele-immersion, a new medium for human interaction enabled by digital technologies. It combines the display and interaction techniques of virtual reality with new vision technologies that transcend the traditional limitations of a camera. Tele-immersion stations observe people as moving sculptures without favoring a single point of view.…

Computer Science formal education brings together old-timers from two computer-literate cultures. The curriculum is oriented toward the academic community, whose interest is in the abstraction, solution, and proofs of algorithmic problems, whereas many students are technology users, whose main interest is the manipulation of the products of…

This article reports on an empirical study of industry PhD students in the Swedish Graduate School for Applied IT and Software Engineering. The students were questioned in semi-structured interviews about their experiences of sharing their postgraduate studies between industrial and academic environments. The results from the first analysis…

Student learning is a complex incremental cognitive process; assessment needs to parallel this, reporting the results in similar terms. Application of fuzzy sets and logic to the criterion-referenced assessment of student learning is considered here. The constrained qualitative assessment (CQA) system was designed, and then applied in assessing a…

In this edition of Learning Connections, the authors show how technology can enhance study of weather patterns, reading comprehension, real-world training, critical thinking, health education, and art criticism. The following sections are included: (1) Social Studies; (2) Language Arts; (3) Computer Science and ICT; (4) Art; and (5) Health.…

This paper focuses on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) academics' perceptions of factors that promote and inhibit their pursuit of scholarship in their teaching work. It identifies critical factors that influence academics' attitudes, orientations and behaviours in respect to the scholarship of teaching, and from these builds a…

For many reasons the use of computer-assisted assessment (CAA) is increasing. Although computer-based examinations increase in use, research is lacking about students' perceptions of online assessment in general and of categorized fields of online assessment systems. The aim of the study was to investigate students' perceptions of the use of CAA…

The growth of the Internet has greatly increased the demand for server-side programming courses at colleges and universities. Students enrolled in such courses must be provided with server-based accounts that support the technologies that they are learning. The process of creating, managing and removing large numbers of student server accounts is…

Advanced approaches to the construction of software systems can present difficulties to learners. This is true for multi-agent systems (MAS) which exhibit concurrency, non-determinacy of structure and composition and sometimes emergent behavior characteristics. Additional barriers exist for learners because mainstream MAS technology is young and…

This article presents a study that aims at constructing a teaching framework for software development methods in higher education. The research field is a capstone project-based course, offered by the Technion's Department of Computer Science, in which Extreme Programming is introduced. The research paradigm is an Action Research that involves…

Girls take as many mathematics courses as boys do in high school. However, they show lower achievement in mathematics and are less likely to pursue mathematics-related fields. Women's interest and participation in computer science fields is also a concern. Moreover, women in these occupations are more likely than men to use computers for clerical…