As mobile devices become prevalent, there is always a need for apps.  How hard is it to develop an app especially a cross-platform app? The paper shares an experience in a project involved the development of a student services web app that can be run on cross-platform mobile devices.  The paper first describes the background of the project, the clients, and the proposed solution.  Then, it focuses on the step-by-step development processes and provides the illustration of written codes and techniques used.  The goal is for readers to gain an understanding on how to develop a mobile-friendly web app.  The paper concludes with teaching implications and offers thoughts for further development.  

New web technologies have enabled online education to take on a massive scale, prompting many universities to create massively open online courses (MOOCs) that take advantage of these technologies in a seemingly effortless manner. Designing a MOOC, however, is anything but trivial. It involves developing content, learning activities, and assessments to accommodate both the massiveness and openness of the course. To design an effective MOOC, instructors need to integrate both pedagogical and information systems theory. In this paper, we present a case study of a MOOC grant and a series of decisions made in its development. These decisions, when paired with the theoretical framework, suggest five principles – meaningful, engaging, measurable, accessible, and scalable – may be applicable to future MOOC development projects.

This research study explores peer teaching and learning without a domain expert teacher, within the context of an activity where teams of second level students (~16 years old) are required to create a learning experience for their peers. The study looks at how participants would like to be taught and how they would teach their peers if given the opportunity and examines the support they require, their motivation levels, and if they actually learn curriculum content using this approach. An exploratory case study methodology was used, and the findings suggest that students want varied learning experiences that include many of the elements which would fall under the heading of 21st century learning, that with some support and encouragement they can create innovative learning experiences for their peers, and that they can learn curriculum content from the process.

An online Moodle Workshop was evaluated for peer assessment effectiveness. A quasi-experiment was designed using a Seminar in Professionalism course taught in face-to-face mode to undergraduate students across two campuses. The first goal was to determine if Moodle Workshop awarded a fair peer grader grade. The second objective was to estimate if students were consistent and reliable in performing their peer assessments. Statistical techniques were used to answer the research hypotheses. Although Workshop Moodle did not have a built-in measure for peer assessment validity, t-tests and reliability estimates were calculated to demonstrate that the grades were consistent with what faculty expected. Implications were asserted to improve teaching and recommendations were provided to enhance Moodle.

Increasingly, numerous universities have identified benefits of flipped learning environments and have been encouraging instructors to adapt such methodologies in their respective classrooms, at a time when departments are facing significant budget constraints. This article proposes an instructional design framework utilized to strategically enhance traditional flipped methodologies in a first-year engineering course, by using low-cost technology aids and proven pedagogical techniques to enhance student learning. Implemented in a first-year engineering course, this modified flipped model demonstrated an improved student awareness of essential engineering concepts and improved academic performance through collaborative and active learning activities, including flipped learning methodologies, without the need for expensive, formal active learning spaces. These findings have been validated through two studies and have shown similar results confirming that student learning is improved by the implementation of multi-pedagogical strategies in-formed by the use of an instructional design in a traditional classroom setting.

The nexus between paid work and study is important. Developing opportunities to facilitate this link is a key part of good course design especially in postgraduate programs. Strong communities of practice can also assist with improving links between research and practice. The online study environment affords some challenges to achieving these goals. The current study proposes that offering formalised interaction points— synchronous or asynchronous— during online study, is critical to facilitating the link between work and study. Twenty-five graduates of a postgraduate program were interviewed to explore their experiences of an online program of study. Three key themes emerged and are described in this paper: engaging with study, building a new framework for my practice, and implementing changes to my practice. Online learning programs need to embed opportunities for interaction that are meaningful and allow for development of ideas and discussion, aiming to take learning beyond the program of study.

Mobile devices are the constant companions of technology users of all ages. Studies show, however, that making calls is a minimal part of our engagement with today’s smart phones and that even texting has fallen off, leaving web browsing, gaming, and social media as top uses. A cross-disciplinary group of faculty at our university came together in the mLearning Scholars group to study the potential for using mobile devices for student learning. The group met bi-weekly throughout a semester and shared thoughts, ideas, resources, and examples, while experimenting with mobile learning activities in individual classes. This paper summarizes student perceptions and adoption intent for using mobile devices for learning, and discusses implementation issues for faculty in adding mobile learning to a college course. Outcomes reflect that mobile learning adoption is not a given, and students need help in using and understanding the value in using personal devices for learning activities.

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science organized by Code.org, a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science. This study investigated the impact of the Hour of Code on students’ attitudes towards computer programming and their knowledge of programming. A sample of undergraduate students from two universities was selected to participate. Participants completed an Hour of Code tutorial as part of an undergraduate course. An electronic questionnaire was implemented in a pre-survey and post-survey format to gauge the change in student attitudes toward programming and their programming ability. The findings indicated the positive impact of the Hour of Code tutorial on students’ attitude toward programming. However, the students’ programming skills did not significantly change. The authors suggest that a deeper alignment of marketing, teaching, and content would help sustain the type of initiative exemplified by the Hour of Code.

This paper examines how to leverage the design studio learning environment throughout long-term Digital Design education in order to support students to progress from tactical, well-defined, device-centric routine design, to confidently design sustainable solutions for strategic, complex, problems for a wide range of devices and platforms in the digital space. We present a framework derived from literature on design, creativity, and theories on learning that: (a) implements a theory of formal learning sequences as a user-centered design process in the studio; and (b) describes design challenge progressions in the design studio environment modeled in seven dimensions. The framework can be used as a tool for designing, evaluating, and communicating course progressions within – and between series of – design studio courses. This approach is evaluated by implementing a formal learning sequence framework in a series of design studio courses that progress in an undergraduate design-oriented Informatics program. Reflections from students, teachers, and external clients indicate high student motivation and learning goal achievement, high teacher satisfaction and skill development, and high satisfaction among external clients.

The pilot research presented here explores the classroom use of Emerging Literacy in Mathematics (ELM) software, a research-based bilingual interactive multimedia instructional tool, and its potential to develop emerging numeracy skills. At the time of the study, a central theme of early mathematics curricula, Number Concept, was fully developed. It was broken down into five mathematical concepts including counting, comparing, adding, subtracting and decomposing. Each of these was further subdivided yielding 22 online activities, each building in a level of complexity and abstraction. In total, 234 grade one students from 12 classes participated in the two-group post-test study that lasted about seven weeks and for which students in the experimental group used ELM for about 30 minutes weekly. The results for the final sample of 186 students showed that ELM students scored higher on the standardized math test (Canadian Achievement Test, 2008) and reported less boredom and lower anxiety as measured on the Academic Emotions Questionnaire than their peers in the control group. This short duration pilot study of one ELM theme holds great promise for ELM’s continued development.

The paper describes the development of four learning modules that focus on technical details of how a person’s privacy might be compromised in real-world scenarios. The paper shows how students benefited from the addition of hands-on learning experiences of privacy and data protection to the existing information technology courses. These learning modules raised students’ awareness of potential breaches of privacy as a user as well as a developer. The demonstration of a privacy breach in action helped students to design, configure, and implement technical solutions to prevent privacy violations. The assessment results demonstrate the strength of the technical approach.

Aim/Purpose: From an idea of lifelong-learning-for-all to a phenomenon affecting higher education, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can be the next step to a truly universal education. Indeed, MOOC enrolment rates can be astoundingly high; still, their completion rates are frequently disappointingly low. Nevertheless, as courses, the participants’ enrolment and learning within the MOOCs must be considered when assessing their success. In this paper, the authors’ aim is to reflect on what makes a MOOC successful to propose an analysis framework of MOOC success factors. Background: A literature review was conducted to identify reported MOOC success factors and to propose an analysis framework. Methodology: This literature-based framework was tested against data of a specific MOOC and refined, within a qualitative interpretivist methodology. The data were collected from the ‘As alterações climáticas nos média escolares - Clima@EduMedia’ course, which was developed by the project Clima@EduMedia and was submitted to content analysis. This MOOC aimed to support science and school media teachers in the use of media to teach climate change Contribution: By proposing a MOOC success factors framework the authors are attempting to contribute to fill in a literature gap regarding what concerns criteria to consider a specific MOOC successful. Findings: This work major finding is a literature-based and empirically-refined MOOC success factors analysis framework. Recommendations for Practitioners: The proposed framework is also a set of best practices relevant to MOOC developers, particularly when targeting teachers as potential participants. Recommendation for Researchers: This work’s relevance is also based on its contribution to increasing empirical research on MOOCs. Impact on Society: By providing a proposal of a framework on factors to make a MOOC successful, the authors hope to contribute to the quality of MOOCs. Future Research: Future work should refine further the proposed framework, by in testing it against data collected in other MOOCs.

Aim/Purpose: Compared student academic performance on specific course requirements in a C# programming course across three instructional approaches: traditional, online, and flipped. Background: Addressed the following research question: When compared to the online and traditional instructional approaches, does the flipped instructional approach have a greater impact on student academic performance with specific course requirements in a C# programming course? Methodology: Quantitative research design conducted over eight 16-week semesters among a total of 271 participants who were undergraduate students en-rolled in a C# programming course. Data collected were grades earned from specific course requirements and were analyzed with the nonparametric Kruskal Wallis H-Test using IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 23. Contribution: Provides empirical findings related to the impact that different instructional approaches have on student academic performance in a C# programming course. Also describes implications and recommendations for instructors of programming courses regarding instructional approaches that facilitate active learning, student engagement, and self-regulation. Findings: Resulted in four statistically significant findings, indicating that the online and flipped instructional approaches had a greater impact on student academic performance than the traditional approach. Recommendations for Practitioners: Implement instructional approaches such as online, flipped, or blended which foster active learning, student engagement, and self-regulation to increase student academic performance. Recommendation for Researchers: Build upon this study and others similar to it to include factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, and previous academic history. Impact on Society: Acknowledge the growing influence of technology on society as a whole. Higher education coursework and programs are evolving to encompass more digitally-based learning contexts, thus compelling faculty to utilize instructional approaches beyond the traditional, lecture-based approach. Future Research: Increase the number of participants in the flipped instructional approach to see if it has a greater impact on student academic performance. Include factors beyond student academic performance to include gender, age, ethnicity, and previous academic history.

Aim/Purpose: Electronic examinations have some inherent problems. Students have expressed negative opinions about electronic examinations (e-examinations) due to a fear of, or unfamiliarity with, the technology of assessment, and a lack of knowledge about the methods of e-examinations. Background: Electronic examinations are now a viable alternative method of assessing student learning. They provide freedom of choice, in terms of the location of the examination, and can provide immediate feedback; students and institutions can be assured of the integrity of knowledge testing. This in turn motivates students to strive for deeper learning and better results, in a higher quality and more rigorous educational process. Methodology : This paper compares an e-examination system at FUT Minna Nigeria with one in Australia, at the University of Tasmania, using case study analysis. The functions supported, or inhibited, by each of the two e-examination systems, with different approaches to question types, cohort size, technology used, and security features, are compared. Contribution: The researchers’ aim is to assist stakeholders (including lecturers, invigilators, candidates, computer instructors, and server operators) to identify ways of improving the process. The relative convenience for students, administrators, and lecturer/assessors and the reliability and security of the two systems are considered. Challenges in conducting e-examinations in both countries are revealed by juxtaposing the systems. The authors propose ways of developing more effective e-examination systems. Findings: The comparison of the two institutions in Nigeria and Australia shows e-examinations have been implemented for the purpose of selecting students for university courses, and for their assessment once enrolled. In Nigeria, there is widespread systemic adoption for university entrance merit selection. In Australia this has been limited to one subject in one state, rather than being adopted nationally. Within undergraduate courses, the Nigerian scenario is quite extensive; in Australia this adoption has been slower, but has penetrated a wide variety of disciplines. Recommendations for Practitioners: Assessment integrity and equipment reliability were common issues across the two case studies, although the delivery of e-examinations is different in each country. As with any procedural process, a particular solution is only as good as its weakest attribute. Technical differences highlight the link between e-examination system approaches and pedagogical implications. It is clear that social, cultural, and environmental factors affect the success of e-examinations. For example, an interrupted electrical power supply and limited technical know-how are two of the challenges affecting the conduct of e-examinations in Nigeria. In Tasmania, the challenge with the “bring your own device” (BYOD) is to make the system operate on an increasing variety of user equipment, including tablets. Recommendation for Researchers: The comparisons between the two universities indicate there will be a productive convergence of the approaches in future. One key proposal, which arose from the analysis of the existing e-examination systems in Nigeria and Australia, is to design a form of “live” operating system that is deployable over the Internet. This method would use public key cryptography for lecturers to encrypt their questions online. Impact on Society : If institutions are to transition to e-examinations, one way of facilitating this move is by using computers to imitate other assessment techniques. However, higher order thinking is usually demonstrated through open-ended or creative tasks. In this respect the Australian system shows promise by providing the same full operating system and software application suite to all candidates, thereby supporting assessment of such creative higher order thinking. The two cases illustrate the potential tension between “online” or networked reticulation of questions and answers, as opposed to “offline” methods. Future Research: A future design proposition is a web-based strategy for a virtual machine, which is launched into candidates’ computers at the start of each e-examination. The new system is a form of BYOD externally booted e-examination (as in Australia) that is deployable over the Internet with encryption and decryption features using public key cryptography (Nigeria). This will allow lecturers to encrypt their questions and post them online while the questions are decrypted by the administrator or students are given the key. The system will support both objective and open-ended questions (possibly essays and creative design tasks). The authors believe this can re-define e-examinations as the “gold standard” of assessment.

Aim/Purpose: The present study investigated and compared students’ attention in terms of time-on-task and number of distractors between using a touchscreen and a pen tablet in mathematical problem-solving activities with virtual manipulatives. Background: Although there is an increasing use of these input devices in educational practice, little research has focused on assessing student attention while using touchscreens or pen tablets in a mathematics classroom. Methodology: A qualitative exploration was conducted in a public elementary school in New Taipei, Taiwan. Six fifth-grade students participated in the activities. Video recordings of the activities and the students’ actions were analyzed. Findings: The results showed that students in the activity using touchscreens maintained greater attention and, thus, had more time-on-task and fewer distractors than those in the activity using pen tablets. Recommendations for Practitioners: School teachers could employ touchscreens in mathematics classrooms to support activities that focus on students’ manipulations in relation to the attention paid to the learning content. Recommendation for Researchers: The findings enhance our understanding of the input devices used in educational practice and provide a basis for further research. Impact on Society: The findings may also shed light on the human-technology interaction process involved in using pen and touch technology conditions. Future Research: Activities similar to those reported here should be conducted using more participants. In addition, it is important to understand how students with different levels of mathematics achievement use the devices in the activities.

Aim/Purpose: To prepare students with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the field of wireless communications. Background: Teaching wireless communications and networking is not an easy task because it involves broad subjects and abstract content. Methodology: A pedagogical method that combined lectures, labs, assignments, exams, and readings was applied in a course of wireless communications. Contribution: Five wireless networking labs, related to wireless local networks, wireless security, and wireless sensor networks, were developed for students to complete all of the required hands-on lab activities. Findings: Both development and implementation of the labs achieved a successful outcome and provided students with a very effective learning experience. Students expressed that they had a better understanding of different wireless network technologies after finishing the labs. Recommendations for Practitioners: Detailed instructional lab manuals should be developed so that students can carry out hands-on activities in a step-by-step fashion. Recommendation for Researchers: Hands-on lab exercises can not only help students understand the abstract technical terms in a meaningful way, but also provide them with hands-on learning experience in terms of wireless network configuration, implementation, and evaluation. Impact on Society: With the help of a wireless network simulator, students have successfully enhanced their practical skills and it would benefit them should they decide to pursue a career in wireless network design or implementation. Future Research: Continuous revision of the labs will be made according to the feedback from students. Based on the experience, more wireless networking labs and network issues could be studied in the future.

Aim/Purpose: As smartphones proliferate, many different platforms begin to emerge. The challenge to developers as well as IS educators and students is how to learn the skills to design and develop apps to run on cross-platforms. Background: For developers, the purpose of this paper is to describe an alternative to the complex native app development. For IS educators and students, the paper provides a feasible way to learn and develop fully functional mobile apps without technical burdens. Methodology: The methods used in the development of browser-based apps is prototyping. Our proposed approach is browser-based, supports cross-platforms, uses open-source standards, and takes advantage of “write-once-and-run-anywhere” (WORA) concept. Contribution: The paper illustrates the application of the browser-based approach to create a series of browser apps without high learning curve. Findings: The results show the potentials for using browser app approach to teach as well as to create new apps. Recommendations for Practitioners : Our proposed browser app development approach and example would be useful to mobile app developers/IS educators and non-technical students because the source code as well as documentations in this project are available for downloading. Future Research: For further work, we discuss the use of hybrid development framework to enhance browser apps.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides a review of previously published work related to active learning in information systems (IS) courses. Background: There are a rising number of strategies in higher education that offer promise in regards to getting students’ attention and helping them learn, such as flipped classrooms and offering courses online. These learning strategies are part of the pedagogical technique known as active learning. Active learning is a strategy that became popular in the early 1990s and has proven itself as a valid tool for helping students to be engaged with learning. Methodology: This work follows a systematic method for identifying and coding previous research based on an aspect of interest. The authors identified and assessed research through a search of ABI/Inform scholarly journal abstracts and keywords, as well as additional research databases, using the search terms “active learning” and “information systems” from 2000 through June 2016. Contribution: This synthesis of active learning exercises provides guidance for information technology faculty looking to implement active learning strategies in their classroom by demonstrating how IS faculty might begin to introduce more active learning techniques in their teaching as well as by presenting a sample teaching agenda for a class that uses a mix of active and passive learning techniques to engage student learning. Findings: Twenty successful types of active learning exercises in IS courses are presented. Recommendations for Practitioners : This paper offers a “how to” resource of successful active learning strategies for IS faculty interested in implementing active learning in the classroom. Recommendation for Researchers: This work provides an example of a systematic literature review as a means to assess successful implementations of active learning in IS. Impact on Society: An updated definition of active learning is presented as well as a meaningful list of exercises that encourage active learning both inside and outside of the IS classroom. Future Research: In relation to future research, this study highlights a number of opportunities for IS faculty in regards to new active learning activities or trends to study further.

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents the findings of an Activity-Oriented Teaching Strategy (AOTS) conducted for a postgraduate level Software Engineering (SE) course with the aim of imparting meaningful software development experience for the students. The research question is framed as whether the activity-oriented teaching strategy helps students to acquire practical knowledge of Software Engineering and thus bridge the gap between academia and software industry. Background: Software Engineering Education (SEE) in India is mainly focused on teaching theoretical concepts rather than emphasizing on practical knowledge in software development process. It has been noticed that many students of CS/IT background are struggling when they start their career in the software industry due to inadequate familiarity with the software development process. In the current context of SE education, there is a knowledge gap between the theory learned in the classroom and the actual requirement demanded by the software industry. Methodology: The methodology opted for in this study was action research since the teachers are trying to solve the practical problems and deficiencies encountered while teaching SE. There are four pedagogies in AOTS for fulfilling the requirements of the desired teaching strategy. They are flipped classroom, project role-play for developing project artifacts, teaching by example, and student seminars. The study was conducted among a set of Postgraduate students of the Software Engineering programme at Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. Contribution: AOTS can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the learning process and thus helping them develop their professional skills. Findings: AOTS can be molded as a promising teaching strategy for learning Software Engineering. It focuses on the essential skill sets demanded by the software industry such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and understanding of the software development processes. Impact on Society: Activity-oriented teaching strategies can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the SE learning process and thus helping them in developing their professional skills. Future Research: AOTS can be refined by adding/modifying pedagogies and including different features like an online evaluation system, virtual classroom etc.

Aim/Purpose: This study was aimed at enhancing students’ learning of software engineering methods. A collaboration between the Computer Science, Business Management, and Product Design programs was formed to work on actual projects with real clients. This interdisciplinary form of collaboration simulates the realities of a diverse Software Engineering team. Background: A collaborative approach implemented through projects has been the established pedagogy for introducing the Software Engineering course to undergraduate Computer Science students. The collaboration, however, is limited to collaboration among Computer Science students and their clients. This case study explored an enhancement to the collaborative approach to project development by integrating other related disciplines into the project development framework; hence, the Interdisciplinary Approach. Methodology: This study adopted the case method approach. An interdisciplinary service innovation activity was proposed to invite other disciplines in the learning process of the computer science students. The agile methodology Scrum was used as the software development approach during project development. Survey data were collected from the students to establish (a) their perception of the interdisciplinary approach to project development; (b) the factors that influenced success or failure of their team to deliver the project; and (c) the perceived skills or knowledge that they acquired from the interdisciplinary approach. Analysis of data followed a mixed method approach. Contribution: The study improved the current pedagogy for Software Engineering education by integrating other related disciplines into the software project development framework. Findings: Data collected showed that the students generally accepted the interdisciplinary approach to project development. Factors such as project relevance, teamwork, time and schedule, and administration support, among others, affect team performance towards project completion. In the case of the Computer Science students, results show that students have learned skills during the experience that, as literature reveal, can only be acquired or mastered in their future profession as software engineers. Recommendations for Practitioners: The active collaboration of the industry with the University and the involvement of the other related courses in teaching software engineering methods are critical to the development of the students, not only in learning the methodology but also as a working professional. Recommendation for Researchers: It is interesting to know and eventually understand the interactions between interdisciplinary team members in the conduct of Software Engineering practices while working on their projects. More specifically, what creative tensions arise and how do the interdisciplinary teams handle the discourse? Impact on Society: This study bridges the gap between how Software Engineering is taught in the university and how Software Engineering teams work in real life. Future Research: Future research is targeted at refining and elaborating the elements of the interdisciplinary framework presented in this paper towards an integrated course module for Software Engineering education.

Aim/Purpose: Bioengineering is a burgeoning interdisciplinary learning domain that could inspire the imaginations of elementary aged children but is not traditionally taught to this age group for reasons unrelated to student ability. This pilot study presents the BacToMars videogame and accompanying curricular intervention, designed to introduce children (aged 7-11) to foundational concepts of bioengineering and to the interdisciplinary nature of scientific endeavors. Background: This pilot study explores the bioengineering-related learning outcomes and attitudes of children after engaging with the BacToMars game and curriculum intervention. Methodology: This study drew on prior findings in game-based learning and applied them to a videogame designed to connect microbiology with Constructionist microworlds. An experimental comparison showed the learning and engagement affordances of integrating this videogame into a mixed-media bioengineering curriculum. Elementary-aged children (N = 17) participated in a 9-hour learning intervention, with one group of n = 8 children receiving the BacToMars videogame and the other group (n = 9) receiving traditional learning activities on the same content. Pre- and post-surveys and interview data were collected from both groups. Contribution: This paper contributes to education research on children’s ability to meaningfully engage with abstract concepts at the intersection of science and engineering through bioengineering education, and to design research on developing educational technology for introducing bioengineering content to elementary school children. Findings: Children in both groups showed improved knowledge and attitudes related to bioengineering. Children who used BacToMars showed slightly stronger performance on game-specific concepts, while children in the control condition showed slightly higher generalized knowledge of bioengineering concepts. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners should consider bioengineering as a domain for meaningful, interdisciplinary learning in elementary education.. Recommendation for Researchers: Design researchers should develop playful ways to introduce bioengineering concepts accurately and to engage children’s imaginations and problem-solving skills. Education researchers should further investigate developmentally appropriate ways to introduce bioengineering in elementary education. Impact on Society: BacToMars introduces a meaningful scenario to contextualize complex con-cepts at the intersection of science and engineering, and to engage children in real-world, interdisciplinary problem solving. Future Research: Future research should explore BacToMars and bioengineering curricula for elementary-aged children in larger samples, with longer intervention times.

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a data mining approach for analyzing responses to advanced declarative programming questions. The goal of this research is to find a model that can explain the results obtained by students when they perform exams with Constructed Response questions and with equivalent Multiple-Choice Questions. Background: The assessment of acquired knowledge is a fundamental role in the teaching-learning process. It helps to identify the factors that can contribute to the teacher in the developing of pedagogical methods and evaluation tools and it also contributes to the self-regulation process of learning. However, better format of questions to assess declarative programming knowledge is still a subject of ongoing debate. While some research advocates the use of constructed responses, others emphasize the potential of multiple-choice questions. Methodology: A sensitivity analysis was applied to extract useful knowledge from the relevance of the characteristics (i.e., the input variables) used for the data mining process to compute the score. Contribution: Such knowledge helps the teachers to decide which format they must consider with respect to the objectives and expected students results. Findings: The results shown a set of factors that influence the discrepancy between answers in both formats. Recommendations for Practitioners: Teachers can make an informed decision about whether to choose multiple-choice questions or constructed-response taking into account the results of this study. Recommendation for Researchers: In this study a block of exams with CR questions is verified to complement the area of learning, returning greater performance in the evaluation of students and improving the teaching-learning process. Impact on Society: The results of this research confirm the findings of several other researchers that the use of ICT and the application of MCQ is an added value in the evaluation process. In most cases the student is more likely to succeed with MCQ, however if the teacher prefers to evaluate with CR other research approaches are needed. Future Research: Future research must include other question formats.

Aim/Purpose: This research aims to describe and demonstrate the results of an intervention through educational robotics to improve the computational thinking of student teachers. Background: Educational robotics has been increasing in school classrooms for the development of computational thinking and digital competence. However, there is a lack of research on how to prepare future teachers of Kindergarten and Elementary School in the didactic use of computational thinking, as part of their necessary digital teaching competence. Methodology: Following the Design-Based Research methodology, we designed an intervention with educational robots that includes unplugged, playing, making and remixing activities. Participating in this study were 114 Spanish university students of education. Contribution: This research helps to improve the initial training of student teachers, especially in the field of educational robotics. Findings: The student teachers consider themselves digital competent, especially in the dimensions related to social and multimedia aspects, and to a lesser extent in the technological dimension. The results obtained also confirm the effectiveness of the intervention through educational robotics in the development of computational thinking of these students, especially among male students. Recommendations for Practitioners: Teacher trainers could introduce robotics following these steps: (1) initiation and unplugged activities, (2) gamified activities of initiation to the programming and test of the robots, (3) initiation activities to Scratch, and (4) design and resolution of a challenge. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers could examine how interventions with educational robots helps to improve the computational thinking of student teachers, and thoroughly analyze gender-differences. Impact on Society: Computational thinking and robotics are one of the emerging educational trends. Despite the rise of this issue, there are still few investigations that systematize and collect evidence in this regard. This study allows to visualize an educational intervention that favors the development of the computational thinking of student teachers. Future Research: Researchers could evaluate not only the computational thinking of student teachers, but also their didactics, their ability to teach or create didactic activities to develop computational thinking in their future students.

Aim/Purpose: The study examined types of errors made by novice programmers in different Java concepts with students of different ability levels in programming as well as the perceived causes of such errors. Background: To improve code writing and debugging skills, efforts have been made to taxonomize programming errors and their causes. However, most of the studies employed omnibus approaches, i.e. without consideration of different programing concepts and ability levels of the trainee programmers. Such concepts and ability specific errors identification and classifications are needed to advance appropriate intervention strategy. Methodology: A sequential exploratory mixed method design was adopted. The sample was an intact class of 124 Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate students grouped into three achievement levels based on first semester performance in a Java programming course. The submitted codes in the course of second semester exercises were analyzed for possible errors, categorized and grouped across achievement level. The resulting data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as Pearson product correlation coefficient. Qualitative analyses through interviews and focused group discussion (FGD) were also employed to identify reasons for the committed errors. Contribution:The study provides a useful concept-based and achievement level specific error log for the teaching of Java programming for beginners. Findings: The results identified 598 errors with Missing symbols (33%) and Invalid symbols (12%) constituting the highest and least committed errors respec-tively. Method and Classes concept houses the highest number of errors (36%) followed by Other Object Concepts (34%), Decision Making (29%), and Looping (10%). Similar error types were found across ability levels. A significant relationship was found between missing symbols and each of Invalid symbols and Inappropriate Naming. Errors made in Methods and Classes were also found to significantly predict that of Other Object concepts. Recommendations for Practitioners: To promote better classroom practice in the teaching of Java programming, findings for the study suggests instructions to students should be based on achievement level. In addition to this, learning Java programming should be done with an unintelligent editor. Recommendations for Researchers: Research could examine logic or semantic errors among novice programmers as the errors analyzed in this study focus mainly on syntactic ones. Impact on Society: The digital age is code-driven, thus error analysis in programming instruction will enhance programming ability, which will ultimately transform novice programmers into experts, particularly in developing countries where most of the software in use is imported. Future Research: Researchers could look beyond novice or beginner programmers as codes written by intermediate or even advanced programmers are still not often completely error free.

Aim/Purpose: This paper reports on a case study project which had three goals; to develop a suite of original interactive digital skills e-tutorials to be embedded in undergraduate and postgraduate courses; to evaluate the students’ experience and engagement with the e-tutorials over one semester; and to explore their general attitudes towards online and blended learning. Background: Online and blended learning modes continue to grow in popularity in higher education, with the aim of streamlining and enhancing student learning, supporting collaboration and creativity, and equipping students with the skills they will require to work and live in an increasingly digitized world. This practice-based case study highlights factors which positively and negatively affect user engagement with digital learning objects and explores students’ perceptions of the role of online learning within their academic programs. Methodology: A suite of nine interactive e-tutorials, addressing essential digital literacy skills for university students, was developed through instructor and student peer collaboration using Articulate software, informed by best practice. The e-tutorials were embedded in the institutional Learning Management System for three undergraduate and postgraduate courses, in which digital literacy formed the core learning content, to complement classroom-based learning. Students in these courses were surveyed via SurveyMonkey about their specific experience of using the e-tutorials, as well as their general perceptions of digital literacy and online learning. Eighty-six students in total completed the questionnaire, which consisted of twenty-three closed- and open-ended questions. Contribution: Through highlighting both the positive and the challenging aspects of the students’ reported experience of online learning, this case study contributes useful insights to the body of literature on user engagement with digital learning objects in higher education, as well as students’ perceptions and experience of blended learning. Findings: The e-tutorials were perceived as valuable in reinforcing classroom learning, allowing respondents to revise concepts and materials covered in face-to-face classes, at their own pace and in their own time. Survey responses showed that the accessibility, ease-of-use, design and duration of the e-tutorials were deemed effective in terms of user engagement; however, several technological challenges were identified, such as browser incompatibility, uneven sound quality and general Internet connection issues, which disrupted their learning. Overall, students expressed enjoyment of the learning facilitated by the e-tutorials; however, rather than favoring online learning alone, they expressed a preference for a blended learning environment, with a combination of complementary learning approaches; survey respondents did not generally wish to forego face-to-face classes entirely. Recommendations for Practitioners: Instructors should seek to strategically embed interactive digital learning objects in their courses at defined points of need in a logical structure, e.g., to reinforce classroom-based learning, or to support specific skill development. Potential disruption to learning should be minimized by following best practice guidelines to ensure ease of access, a seamless user experience, and timely feedback, as well as providing adequate support for rapid resolution of technical glitches. Recommendation for Researchers: E-tutorials offer a useful means of exploring ways in which students acquire learning in the digital environment. A wider, collaborative exploration is needed to provide comparative studies which move beyond case studies. Impact on Society: Online learning mechanisms, such as e-tutorials, offer students different means of acquiring essential literacy skills and different ways to interact with content. E-tutorials constitute reusable learning objects, which can be accessed as just-in-time delivery modes, when students perceive they need to review particular skills or reinforce learning material. Future Research: This research is now expanding into different types of reusable learning objects. E-tutorials may be developed in multiple ways, and comparative research around e-tutorial models will deepen our understanding of how students interact with content in formal learning contexts. As the digital educational landscape continues to expand alongside traditional face-to-face and analogue learning modes, a key research focus will be student and instructor perceptions and experience of blended learning in different contexts.

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a study about changes in computer science and software engineering students’ perceptions of their soft skills during their progress through the Computer Science Soft Skills course. Background: Soft skills are often associated with a person’s social, emotional and cognitive capabilities. Soft skills are increasingly sought out and are well recognized by employers alongside standard qualifications. Therefore, high importance is attributed to soft skills in computer science and software engineering education. Methodology: Content analysis was applied to interpret, categorize and code statements from students’ course assignment answers. Data analysis was performed gradually at the three main stages of the course and by the two students’ study populations. Contribution: The paper highlights the variety of (a) soft skills that can be learnt in one course, both on the individual level and on the team level and (b) assignments that can be given to students to increase their awareness and motivation to practice and learn soft skills. Findings: Data analysis revealed the following: (a) five individual soft skills categories, with 95 skills, and five team-related soft skills categories, with 52 skills (in total, the students mentioned 147 soft skills); (b) course assignments and particularly team-based activities elicited student awareness of their individual soft skills, both as strengths and weaknesses; (c) students developed their reflection skills, particularly with respect to team-related soft skills; and (d) significant differences exist between the two groups of students in several categories. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is important to provide undergraduate students with opportunities to integrate soft skills during their training. Establishing a meaningful learning process, such as project-based learning, enables students to apply and develop soft skills when accompanied by reflective thought processes. Recommendation for Researchers: A similar course can be taught and be accompanied by similar analysis of students’ learning outcomes, to examine the influence of local culture on the characteristics of soft skills. Impact on Society: Increased awareness of soft skills in scientists and engineers’ undergraduate education. University graduates who will strengthen their variety of soft skills in their academic training process and will be more meaningful employees in the workplace and in society. Future Research: Our future research aims (a) to explore additional innovative ways to increase students’ learning processes, awareness and practices in relation to soft skills and (b) to research how students’ soft skills are developed during the entire undergraduate studies both on the individual level and the team level.

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an efficient methodology that can assist the evaluators in assessing a variable number of individuals that are working in groups and guarantee that the assessment is dependent on the group members’ performance and contribution to the work developed. Background: Collaborative work has been gaining more popularity in academic settings. However, group assessment needs to be performed according to each individual’s performance. The problem rests on the need to distinguish each member of the group in order to provide fair and unbiased assessments. Methodology: Design Science Research methodology supported the design of a framework able to provide the evaluator with the means to distinguish individuals in a workgroup and deliver fair results. Hevner’s DSR guidelines were fulfilled in order to describe WebAVALIA. To evaluate the framework, a quantitative study was performed and the first results are presented. Contribution: This paper provides a methodological solution regarding a fair evaluation of collaborative work through a tool that allows its users to perform their own assessment and peer assessment. These are made accordingly to the user’s perspectives on the performance of each group member throughout the work development. Findings: The first analysis of the results indicates that the developed method provides fairness in the assessment of group members, delivering a distinction amongst individuals. Therefore, each group member obtains a mark that corresponds to their specific contribution to the workgroup. Recommendations for Practitioners: For those who intend to apply this workgroup assessment method, it is relevant to raise student awareness about the methodology that is going to be used. That is, all the functionalities and steps in WebAVALIA have to be thoroughly explained before beginning of the project. Then, the evaluators have to decide about the students’ intermediate voting, namely if the evaluator chooses or not to publish student results throughout the project’s development. If there is the decision to display these intermediate results, the evaluator must try to encourage collaboration among workgroup members, instead of competition. Recommendation for Researchers: This study explores the design and development of an e-assessment tool – WebAVALIA. In order to assess its feasibility, its use in other institutions or contexts is recommended. The gathering of user opinions is suggested as well. It would then be interesting to compare the findings of this study with the results from other experimentations Impact on Society: Sometimes, people develop a rejection of collaborative work because they feel exploited due to the biased evaluation results. However, the group members assessment distinction, according to each one’s performance, may give each individual a sense of fairness and reward, leading to an openness/willingness towards collaborative work. Future Research: As future work, there are plans to implement the method in other group assessment contexts – such as sports and business environments, other higher education institutions, technical training students – in other cultures and countries. From this myriad of contexts, satisfaction results would be compared. Other future plans are to further explore the mathematical formulations and the respective WebAVALIA supporting algorithms.

Aim/Purpose: The current study was conducted to investigate the students’ perceived satisfaction with the use of a semantic-based online laboratory, which provides students with a search mechanism for laboratory resources, such as instruments and devices. Background: The increasing popularity of using online teaching labs, as an important element of experiential learning in STEM education, is because they represent a collection of integrated tools that allow students and teachers to interact and work collaboratively, whereas they provide an enriched learning content delivery mechanism. Moreover, several research studies have proposed various approaches for online teaching laboratories. However, there are hardly any studies that examine the student satisfaction provided by online laboratories based on students’ experiential learning. Methodology: To measure the effectiveness of the laboratory, we performed a case study in a Computer Fundamentals online course in which undergraduate students were able to manage devices and instruments remotely. Participants were a sample of 50 third semester students of Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology Administration who were divided in experimental and control groups (online laboratory vs. traditional manner). Given a laboratory assignment, students were able to carry out the management of devices and instruments through a LabView virtual environment and web services. The data of the experiment were collected through two questionnaires from both groups. The first is a system usability score (SUS) questionnaire concerning lab usability and the second one students’ cognitive load. Contribution: The results of the study showed a high correlation between usability and cognitive load-satisfaction of students who used the online teaching laboratory compared to the students who did not use it. Findings: On the one hand, the online laboratory provided students with an easy way to share and deploy instruments and devices, thus enhancing system usability. On the other hand, it offered important facilities which enabled students to customize the search for instruments and devices, which certainly had a positive impact on the relationship between cognitive load and satisfaction. Recommendations for Practitioners: In this work we propose an intuitive laboratory interface as well as easiness to use but challenging and capable of providing similar experiences to the traditional laboratory. Recommendation for Researchers: This study is one of the first to analyze the cognitive load-satisfaction relationship and compare it with usability scores. Impact on Society: Our analyses make an important contribution to the literature by suggesting a correlation analysis comparing the results of experimental and control groups that participated in this research work, in terms of usability and cognitive load-satisfaction. Future Research: Future work will also investigate other methodological aspects of instructional design with the aim to improve personalized learning and reinforce collaborative experiences, as well as to deal with problems related to laboratory access, such as authentication, scheduling, and interoperability.

Aim/Purpose: Multi-threaded software design is considered to be difficult, especially to novice programmers. In this study, we explored how students cope with a task that its solution requires a multi-threaded architecture to achieve optimal runtime. Background: An efficient exploit of multicore processors architecture requires computer programs that use parallel programming techniques. However, parallel programming is difficult to understand and apply by novice programmers. Methodology: The students had to address a two-stage problem: (1) design an optimal runtime solution to a given problem with no additional instructions; and (2) provide an optimal runtime multi-threaded design to the same problem. Interviews were conducted with a representative group of students to understand the underlying causes of their provided designs. We used qualitative research methods to gain refined insights regarding the students’ decision making during the design process. To analyze the gained data, we used content analysis tools. Contribution: The case study presented in this paper will help the teacher to stress the merits and limitations of various parallel architectures and confront students with the consequences of their solutions via performances’ benchmark. Findings: Analysis of the student’s solutions to the first stage revealed that the majority of them did not provide a multi-threaded solution ignoring the optimal runtime requirement. At the second stage, seven various architectures were provided differing in the number of involved threads, the data structures used, and the synchronization mechanism employed. The majority of the solutions were sub-optimal and only a few students provided an optimal one. Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend conducting class discussions that will follow a task similar to the one used in this study. Recommendation for Researchers: To be able to generalize the received results this research should be repeated with larger study participant groups from various academic institutions. Impact on Society: Understanding the difficulties of novice programmers may lead to quality software systems. Future Research: To be able to generalize the received results this research should be repeated with larger study participant groups from various academic institutions.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand student’s opinions and perceptions about e-assessment when the assessment process was changed from the traditional computer assisted method to a multiple-choice Moodle based method. Background: In order to implement continuous assessment to a large number of students, several shifts are necessary, which implies as many different tests as the number of shifts required. Consequently, it is difficult to ensure homogeneity through the different tests and a huge amount of grading time is needed. These problems related to the traditional assessment based on computer assisted tests, lead to a re-design of the assessment resulting in the use of multiple-choice Moodle tests. Methodology: A longitudinal, concurrent, mixed method study was implemented over a five-year period. A survey was developed and carried out by 815 undergraduate students who experienced the electronic multiple-choice questions (eMCQ) assessment in the courses of the IS department. Qualitative analyses included open-ended survey responses and interviews with repeating students in the first year. Contribution: This study provides a reflection tool on how to incorporate frequent moments of assessment in courses with a high number of students without overloading teachers with a huge workload. The research analysed the efficiency of assessing non-theoretical topics using eMCQ, while ensuring the homogeneity of assessment tests, which needs to be complemented with other assessment methods in order to assure that students develop and acquire the expected skills and competencies. Findings: The students involved in the study appreciate the online multiple-choice quiz assessment method and perceive it as fair but have a contradictory opinion regarding the preference of the assessment method, throughout the years. These changes in perception may be related to the improvement of the question bank and categorisation of questions according to difficulty level, which lead to the nullification of the ‘luck factor’. Other major findings are that although the online multiple-choice quizzes are used with success in the assessment of theoretical topics, the same is not in evidence regarding practical topics. Therefore, this assessment needs to be complemented with other methods in order to achieve the expected learning outcomes. Recommendations for Practitioners: In order to be able to evaluate the same expected learning outcomes in practical topics, particularly in technology and information systems subjects, the evaluator should complement the online multiple-choice quiz assessment with other approaches, such as a PBL method, homework assignments, and/or other tasks performed during the semester. Recommendation for Researchers: This study explores e-assessment with online multiple-choice quizzes in higher education. It provides a survey that can be applied in other institutions that are also using online multiple-choice quizzes to assess non-theorical topics. In order to better understand the students’ opinions on the development of skills and competencies with online multiple-choice quizzes and on the other hand with classical computer assisted assessment, it would be necessary to add questions concerning these aspects. It would then be interesting to compare the findings of this study with the results from other institutions. Impact on Society: The increasing number of students in higher education has led to a raised use of e-assessment activities, since it can provide a fast and efficient manner to assess a high number of students. Therefore, this research provides meaningful insight of the stakeholders’ perceptions of online multiple-choice quizzes about practical topics. Future Research: An interesting study, in the future, would be to obtain the opinions of a particular set of students on two tests, one of the tests using online multiple-choice quizzes and the other through a classical computer assisted assessment method. A natural extension of the present study is a comparative analysis regarding the grades obtained by students who performed one or another type of assessment (online multiple-choice quizzes vs. classical computer assisted assessment).

Aim/Purpose: This study seeks to understand the various ways information systems (IS) students experience introductory programming to inform IS educators on effective pedagogical approaches to teaching programming. Background: Many students who choose to major in information systems (IS), enter university with little or no experience of learning programming. Few studies have dealt with students’ learning to program in the business faculty, who do not necessarily have the computer science goal of programming. It has been shown that undergraduate IS students struggle with programming. Methodology: The qualitative approach was used in this study to determine students’ notions of learning to program and to determine their cognitive processes while learning to program in higher education. A cohort of 47 students, who were majoring in Information Systems within the Bachelor of Commerce degree programme were part of the study. Reflective journals were used to allow students to record their experiences and to study in-depth their insights and experiences of learning to program during the course. Using phenomenographic methods, categories of description that uniquely characterises the various ways IS students experience learning to program were determined. Contribution: This paper provides educators with empirical evidence on IS students’ experiences of learning to program, which play a crucial role in informing IS educators on how they can lend support and modify their pedagogical approach to teach programming to students who do not necessarily need to have the computer science goal of programming. This study contributes additional evidence that suggests more categories of description for IS students within a business degree. It provides valuable pedagogical insights for IS educators, thus contributing to the body of knowledge Findings: The findings of this study reveal six ways in which IS students’ experience the phenomenon, learning to program. These ways, referred to categories of description, formed an outcome space. Recommendations for Practitioners: Use the experiences of students identified in this study to determine approach to teaching and tasks or assessments assigned Recommendation for Researchers: Using phenomenographic methods researchers in IS or IT may determine pedagogical content knowledge in teaching specific aspects of IT or IS. Impact on Society: More business students would be able to program and improve their logical thinking and coding skills. Future Research: Implement the recommendations for practice and evaluate the students’ performance.

Aim/Purpose: This paper investigates the influence of university student multitasking on their learning success, defined as students’ learning satisfaction and performance. Background: Most research on student multitasking finds student multitasking problematic. However, this research is generally from 2010. Yet, today’s students are known to be digital natives and they have a different, more positive, relationship with mobile technologies. Based on the old findings, most instructors ban mobile technology use during instruction, and design their online courses without regard for the mobile technology use that happens regardless of their ban. This study investigates whether today’s instructors and learning management system interface designers should take into account multitasking with mobile technologies. Methodology: A quasi-experimental design was used in this study. Data were collected from 117 students across two sections of an introductory Management Information Systems class taught by the first author. We took multiple approaches and steps to control for confounding factors and to increase the internal validity of the study. We used a control group as a comparison group, we used a pre-test, we controlled for selection bias, and we tested for demographic differences between groups. Contribution: With this paper, we explicated the relationship between multitasking and learning success. We defined learning success as learning performance and learning satisfaction. Contrary to the literature, we found that multitasking involving IT texting does not decrease students’ learning performance. An explanation of this change is the change in the student population, and the digital nativeness between 2010s and 2020 and beyond. Findings: Our study showed that multitasking involving IT texting does not decrease students’ performance in class compared to not multitasking. Secondly, our study showed that, overall, multitasking reduced the students’ learning satisfaction despite the literature suggesting otherwise. We found that attitude towards multitasking moderated the relationship between multitasking and learning satisfaction as follows. Individuals who had a positive attitude towards multitasking had high learning satisfaction with multitasking. However, individuals who had positive attitude toward multitasking did not necessarily have higher learning performance. Recommendations for Practitioners: We would recommend both instructors and the designers of learning management systems to take mobile multitasking into consideration while designing courses and course interfaces, rather than banning multitasking, and assuming that the students do not do it. Furthermore, we recommend including multitasking into relevant courses such as Management Information Systems courses to make students aware of their own multitasking behavior and their results. Recommendation for Researchers: We recommend that future studies investigate multitasking with different instruction methods, especially studies that make students aware of their multitasking behavior and its outcomes will be useful for next generations. Impact on Society: This paper investigates the role of mobile multitasking on learning performance. Since mobile technologies are ubiquitous and their use in multitasking is common, their use in multitasking affects societal performance. Future Research: Studies that replicate our research with larger and more diverse samples are needed. Future research could explore research-based experiential teaching methods, similar to this study.

Aim/Purpose: To encourage students’ engagement in peer assessments and provide students with better-quality feedback, this paper describes a technique for author-reviewer matching in peer assessment systems – a Balanced Allocation algorithm. Background: Peer assessment concerns evaluating the work of colleagues and providing feedback on their work. This process is widely applied as a learning method to involve students in the progress of their learning. However, as students have different ability levels, the efficacy of the peer feedback differs from case to case. Thus, peer assessment may not provide satisfactory results for students. In order to mitigate this issue, this paper explains and evaluates an algorithm that matches the author to a set of reviewers. The technique matches authors and reviewers based on how difficult the authors perceived the assignment to be, and the algorithm then matches the selected author to a group of reviewers who may meet the author’s needs in regard to the selected assignment. Methodology: This study used the Multiple Criteria Decision-Making methodology (MCDM) to determine a set of reviewers from among the many available options. The weighted sum method was used because the data that have been collected in user profiles are expressed in the same unit. This study produced an experimental result, examining the algorithm with a real collected dataset and mock-up dataset. In total, there were 240 students in the real dataset, and it contained self-assessment scores, peer scores, and instructor scores for the same assignment. The mock-up dataset created 1000 records for self-assessment scores. The algorithm was evaluated using focus group discussions with 29 programming students and interviews with seven programming instructors. Contribution: This paper contributes to the field in the following two ways. First, an algorithm using a MCDM methodology was proposed to match authors and reviewers in order to facilitate the peer assessment process. In addition, the algorithm used self-assessment as an initial data source to match users, rather than randomly creating reviewer – author pairs. Findings: The findings show the accurate results of the algorithm in matching three reviewers for each author. Furthermore, the algorithm was evaluated based on students’ and instructors’ perspectives. The results are very promising, as they depict a high level of satisfaction for the Balanced Allocation algorithm. Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend instructors to consider using the Balanced Allocation algorithm to match students in peer assessments, and consequently to benefit from personalizing peer assessment based on students' needs. Recommendation for Researchers: Several MCDM methods could be expanded upon, such as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) if different attributes are collected, or the artificial neural network (ANN) if fuzzy data is available in the user profile. Each method is suitable for special cases depending on the data available for decision-making. Impact on Society: Suitable pairing in peer assessment would increase the credibility of the peer assessment process and encourage students’ engagement in peer assessments. Future Research: The Balanced Allocation algorithm could be applied using a single group, and a peer assessment with random matching with another group may also be conducted, followed by performing a t-test to determine the impact of matching on students’ performances in the peer assessment activity.

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this research is to determine whether ESL teaching videos as a form of asynchronous online knowledge sharing can act as an aid to ESL learners internalizing knowledge in language acquisition. In this context, internalizing knowledge carries the meaning of being able to remember language, and purposefully and accurately use it context, including appropriacy of language, and aspects of correct pronunciation, intonation, stress patterns and connected speech, these being the elements of teaching and practice that are very often lacking in asynchronous, online, instructional video. Background: Knowledge Management is the field of study, and the practice, of discovering, capturing, sharing, and applying knowledge, typically with a view to translating individuals’ knowledge into organizational knowledge. In the field of education, it is the sharing of instructors’ knowledge for students to be able to learn and usefully apply that knowledge. In recent pandemic times, however, the mode of instruction has, of necessity, transitioned from face-to-face learning to an online environment, transforming the face of education as we know it. While this mode of instruction and knowledge sharing has many advantages for the online learner, in both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments, it presents certain challenges for language learners due to the absence of interaction and corrective feedback that needs to take place for learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) to master language acquisition. Unlike other subjects where the learner has recourse to online resources to reinforce learning through referencing external information, such as facts, figures, or theories, to be successful in learning a second language, the ESL learner needs to be able to learn to process thought and speech in that language; essentially, they need to learn to think in another language, which takes time and practice. Methodology: The research employs a systematic literature review (SLR) to determine the scope and extent to which the subject is covered by existing research in this field, and the findings thereof. Contribution: Whilst inconclusive in relation to internalizing language through online, asynchronous instructional video, through its exploratory nature, the research contributes towards the body of knowledge in online learning through the drawing together of various studies in the field of learning through asynchronous video through improving video and instructional quality. Findings: The findings of the systematic literature review revealed that there is negligible research in this area, and while information exists on blended and flipped modes of online learning, and ways to improve the quality and delivery of instructional video generally, no prior research on the exclusive use of asynchronous videos as an aid to internalizing English as a second language were found. Recommendations for Practitioners: From this research, it is apparent that there is considerably more that practitioners can do to improve the quality of instructional videos that can help students engage with the learning, from which students stand a much better chance of internalizing the learning. Recommendation for Researchers: For researchers, the absence of existing research is an exciting opportunity to further explore this field. Impact on Society: Online learning is now globally endemic, but it poses specific challenges in the field of second language learning, so the development of instructional videos that can facilitate this represents a clear benefit to all ESL learners in society as a whole. Future Research: Clearly the absence of existing research into whether online asynchronous instructional videos can act as an aid to internalizing the acquisition of English as a second language would indicate that this very specific field is one that merits future research. Indeed, it is one that the author intends to exploit through primary data collection from the production of a series of asynchronous, online, instructional videos.

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a machine learning approach for analyzing Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs). The aim of this study is to find a model that can check whether a CLO is well written or not. Background: The use of machine learning algorithms has been, since many years, a prominent solution to predict learner performance in Outcome Based Education. However, the CLOs definition is still presenting a big handicap for faculties. There is a lack of supported tools and models that permit to predict whether a CLO is well written or not. Consequently, educators need an expert in quality and education to validate the outcomes of their courses. Methodology: A novel method named CLOCML (Course Learning Outcome Classification using Machine Learning) is proposed in this paper to develop predictive models for CLOs paraphrasing. A new dataset entitled CLOC (Course Learning Outcomes Classes) for that purpose has been collected and then undergone a pre-processing phase. We compared the performance of 4 models for predicting a CLO classification. Those models are Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, Naive Bayes and XGBoost. Contribution: The application of CLOCML may help faculties to make well-defined CLOs and then correct CLOs' measures in order to improve the quality of education addressed to their students. Findings: The best classification model was SVM. It was able to detect the CLO class with an accuracy of 83%. Recommendations for Practitioners: We would recommend both faculties’ members and quality reviewers to make an informed decision about the nature of a given course outcome. Recommendation for Researchers: We would highly endorse that the researchers apply more machine learning models for CLOs of various disciplines and compare between them. We would also recommend that future studies investigate on the importance of the definition of CLOs and its impact on the credibility of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) values during accreditation process. Impact on Society: The findings of this study confirm the results of several other researchers who use machine learning in outcome-based education. The definition of right CLOs will help the student to get an idea about the performances that will be measured at the end of a course. Moreover, each faculty can take appropriate actions and suggest suitable recommendations after right performance measures in order to improve the quality of his course. Future Research: Future research can be improved by using a larger dataset. It could also be improved with deep learning models to reach more accurate results. Indeed, a strategy for checking CLOs overlaps could be integrated.

Aim/Purpose: This research aims to describe layering of career-like experiences over existing curriculum to improve perceived educational value. Background: Feedback from students and regional businesses showed a clear need to increase student’s exposure to career-like software development projects. The initial goal was to develop an instructor-optional project that could be used in a single mid-level programming course; however, the pilot quickly morphed into a multi-year study examining the feasibility of agile projects in a variety of settings. Methodology: Over the course of four years, an agile project was honed through repeated Design Based Research (DBR) cycles of design, implementation, testing, communication, and reflective analysis. As is common with DBR, this study did not follow single methodology design; instead, analysis of data coupled with review of literature led to exploration and testing of a variety of methodologies. The review phase of each cycle included examination of best practices and methodologies as determined by analysis of oral and written comments, weekly journals, instructor feedback, and surveys. As a result of participant feedback, the original project was expanded to a second project, which was tested in another Software Engineering (SE) course. The project included review and testing of many academic and professional methodologies, such as Student Ownership of Learning, Flipped Classroom, active learning, waterfall, agile, Scrum, and Kanban. The study was homogenous and quasi-experimental as the population consisted solely of software engineering majors taking required courses; as based on validity of homogenous studies, class sizes were small, ranging from 8 to 20 students. Close interactions between respondents and the instructor provided interview-like settings and immersive data capture in a natural environment. Further, the iterative development practices of DBR cycles, along with the inclusion of participants as active and valued stakeholders, was seen to align well with software development practitioner practices broadly known as agile. Contribution: This study is among the first to examine layering a career-like software development project on top of a course through alteration of traditional delivery, agile development, and without supplanting existing material. Findings: In response to industry recommendations for additional career-like experiences, a standalone agile capstone-like project was designed that could be layered over an existing course. Pilot data reflected positive perceptions of the project, although students did not have enough time to develop a working prototype in addition to completing existing course materials. Participant feedback led to simultaneous development of a second, similar project. DBR examination of both projects resulted in a simplified design and the ability to develop a working prototype, if and only if the instructor was willing to make adjustments to delivery. After four years, a solution was developed that is both stable and flexible. The solution met the original charge in that it required course delivery, not course material, to be adjusted. It is critical to note that when a working prototype is desired, a portion of the lecture should be flipped allowing more time for guided instruction through project-focused active learning and study group requirements. The results support agile for standalone software development projects, as long as passive delivery methods are correspondingly reduced. Recommendations for Practitioners: Based on the findings, implementation of a career-like software development project can be well received as long as active learning components are also developed. Multiple cycles of DBR are recommended if future researchers wish to customize instructional delivery and develop complex software development projects. Programming instructors are recommended to explore hybrid delivery to support development of agile career-like experiences. Small class sizes allowed the researchers to maintain an interview-like setting throughout the study and future studies with larger classes are recommended to include additional subject matter experts such as graduate students as interaction with a subject matter expert was highly valued by students. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers are recommended to further examine career-like software development experiences that combine active learning with agile methods; more studies following agile and active learning are needed to address the challenges faced when complex software development is taught in academic settings. Further testing of standalone agile project development has now occurred in medium sized in person classes, online classes, independent studies, and creative works research settings; however, further research is needed. Future research should also examine the implementation of agile projects in larger class sizes. Increasing class size should be coupled with additional subject matter experts such as graduate students. Impact on Society: This study addresses professional recommendations for development of agile career-like experiences at the undergraduate level. This study provides empirical evidence of programming projects that can be layered over existing curriculum, with no additional cost to the students. Initial feedback from local businesses and graduates, regarding agile projects with active learning, has been positive. The area business that refused to hire our underprepared SE graduates has now hired several. Future Research: Future research should explore layering agile projects over a broader range of software development courses. Feedback from hiring professionals and former students has been positive. It is also recommended that DBR be used to develop career-like experiences for online programming courses.

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide an overview and analysis of the emerging research landscape surrounding the integration of ChatGPT into education. The main problem appears to be that this is a new, rapidly developing research area for which there is no comprehensive synthesis of the current literature. The aim of the article is to fill this gap by conducting a timely bibliometric study to map publication trends, influential works, themes, and opportunities, thus representing the growth and structure of ChatGPT educational research. Background: This article addresses the issue of the lack of a comprehensive synthesis of the new research on ChatGPT in education by conducting a bibliometric analysis. Specifically, the authors use statistical and network analysis techniques to examine the patterns of publication, citation, and keywords and map the growth, contributions, themes, structure, and opportunities in this evolving field. The bibliometric approach provides a comprehensive, evidence-based overview of the current state of the literature to uncover trends and gaps and help researchers improve their understanding of appropriate and effective applications of ChatGPT in educational contexts. Methodology: The authors used bibliometric analysis as the primary method to summarize the new research on ChatGPT in education. We searched the database of the Web of Science Core Collection to find 51 relevant documents from 2023 that included ChatGPT in the title and were classified as ‘educational research.’ The sample consisted of these 51 documents, including articles, early access articles, editorials, reviews, and letters. Statistical techniques examined publication, citation, and keyword patterns. Network analysis visualized citation and co-occurrence networks to reveal intellectual structure. The multifaceted bibliometric approach allowed a comprehensive study of the sample from a productive, conceptual, and intellectual perspective. Contribution: This article conducts comprehensive bibliometric analysis of this emerging research area and synthesizes publication, citation, and keyword data to map the growth and structure of the literature. The results reveal important trends, such as the rapid growth of publications since the release of ChatGPT, initial authorship patterns, the focus on higher education applications, and distinct research clusters around pedagogical, ethical, and assessment issues. Visualizing citation networks identifies seminal studies while mapping co-occurrence clarifies conceptual relationships between topics. The comparative analysis highlights the differences between document types, topics, and time periods. Knowledge mapping highlights gaps in the literature, such as lack of focus on K-12 contexts, and highlights opportunities for further research. Findings: Key findings from this bibliometric analysis of the emerging research land-scape surrounding ChatGPT integration in education include the following: • Since ChatGPT was released in late 2022, the number of releases has increased significantly, indicating rapid growth in this emerging space. • The most cited authors initially came primarily from Anthropic, but over time, the citations spread throughout the research community. • The topics focused primarily on higher education applications, with a clear focus on pedagogical strategies, ethical risks, and implications for assessment. • Citation networks visualized seminal studies, while the co-occurrence of keywords clarified conceptual connections. • Gaps such as applications in the K-12 context were uncovered, and opportunities for further research were highlighted. • The literature is rapidly evolving and requires ongoing monitoring of the development of this field. In general, the analysis presents the productivity, contributors, themes, struc-ture, and opportunities in this emerging area around the integration of ChatGPT in education based on current scientific evidence. The key findings focus on the growing early interest, gaps and developments that can provide insight for researchers and educators. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners should carefully integrate ChatGPT into education based on new evidence, carefully assess contextual applicability, and proactively develop guidelines for ethical and equitable implementation. Ongoing advice, impact monitoring, and research partnerships are crucial to informing best practices. Educators must be vigilant for risks such as privacy, student well-being, and competence impairment while staying abreast of advances in knowledge to dynamically adapt integration strategies. The introduction should empower diverse learners through measured, integrative approaches based on continuous contextual analysis and ethical principles. Recommendation for Researchers: This article recommends that researchers conduct more studies in under-researched contexts, use multiple methods to capture nuanced impacts, increase focus on responsible integration strategies, develop tailored assessments, conduct interdisciplinary collaborations, monitor long-term adoption, mix with interactive explain and publish open access technologies, help guide adoption pathways through actionable studies, and synthesize the exponentially growing literature through updated systematic reviews. Impact on Society: The rapid publication growth and prevailing optimism suggest that the integration of ChatGPT into education will accelerate, increasing the need for rigorous research that guides ethical, responsible innovations that avoid risks and improve outcomes in all educational contexts. The findings have broader implications for guiding adoption trajectories through ongoing evidence synthesis and expanded investigations in under-researched areas to address knowledge gaps. Ultimately, continued monitoring and updated guidance are critical to ensure that ChatGPT’s educational penetration progresses carefully by maximizing benefits and minimizing harms in rapidly evolving AI-powered learning ecosystems. Future Research: Based on the basic mapping provided by this paper, recommended research directions include longitudinal impact studies, research tailored to under-researched contexts such as K-12, qualitative research to capture stakeholder perspectives, development and testing of AI-calibrated assessments as well as explorations that combine conversational and interactive learning technologies, updated systematic reviews, and co-designed implementation research that explain pedagogical strategies that ethically unlock learning potential while mitigating risks in diverse educational environments. Such multilayered tracking can provide critical insights to guide context-specific, responsible ChatGPT integration and monitor impact within rapidly evolving AI-powered education ecosystems.

Aim/Purpose: The study examined how the developed mobile courseware can be used as instructional material to improve senior high school statistics and probability learning, particularly during distance learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also aims to assess the gamified mobile courseware’s engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information quality using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) and a researcher-made Gamified Mobile Courseware Assessment Tool (GMCET). Background: The need to investigate the effectiveness of incorporating game-based elements into mathematics courses through innovative instructional materials inspired the study. The COVID-19 pandemic has made distance learning a necessity, and gamified mobile courseware is a potential solution to improve learning outcomes and engagement in mathematics courses. Methodology: The study employed a descriptive-evaluative method with quantitative and qualitative data to achieve its objectives. Five IT practitioners assessed the developed courseware using the MARS regarding engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information. A researcher-made GMCET was also used to evaluate the app’s content quality, learning objectives, content presentation, learning assessment, and usability. Five math experts and 12 math teachers rated the app using the GMCET. The study used weighted mean to analyze the quantitative data and content analysis for the qualitative data. Contribution: The study provides insights into the strengths and weaknesses of gamified mobile courseware from the perspective of IT practitioners, math experts, and math teachers. The study’s findings can inform improvements in future iterations of courseware, and the study provides a valuable guide for practitioners looking to develop gamified mobile courseware for mathematics courses. Findings: The quantitative results based on the weighted mean indicate that the IT practitioners had a moderately positive perception of the developed courseware across all categories. At the same time, the math teachers and math experts showed highly positive perceptions of the gamified mobile courseware in Statistics and Probability, rating it highly across all categories. The qualitative data analysis through content analysis highlights the need for improving the user interface, usability, user experience design, user control, flexibility in interaction, data quality, reliability, and user privacy of the developed app. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners can use the study’s findings to improve the design of gamified mobile courseware for mathematics courses and other content areas. The study recommends that practitioners focus on improving the user interface, usability, user experience design, user control, flexibility in interaction, data quality, reliability, and user privacy of gamified mobile courseware. Recommendation for Researchers: Future research can build on this study’s findings by exploring the use of gamified mobile courseware in other mathematical courses and other subject areas. Further research can also examine how gamified mobile courseware can improve learning outcomes for students with different learning needs. Impact on Society: The study’s findings could improve the effectiveness of gamified mobile courseware in enhancing student learning outcomes in mathematics courses. This can lead to better student performance, improved engagement, and increased interest in mathematics courses, positively impacting society. Future Research: Future research can explore using gamified mobile courseware in other mathematics courses and other subject areas. Additionally, future studies can examine how gamified mobile courseware can improve learning outcomes for students with different learning needs. Further research can also investigate the impact of gamified mobile courseware on student motivation, interest, and performance in mathematics courses.

Aim/Purpose: The teaching of appropriate problem-solving techniques to novice learners in undergraduate software development education is often poorly defined when compared to the delivery of programming techniques. Given the global need for qualified designers of information technology, the purpose of this research is to produce a foundational template for an educational software development methodology grounded in the established literature. This template can be used by third-level educators and researchers to develop robust educational methodologies to cultivate structured problem solving and software development habits in their students while systematically teaching the intricacies of software creation. Background: While software development methodologies are a standard approach to structured and traceable problem solving in commercial software development, educational methodologies for inexperienced learners remain a neglected area of research due to their assumption of prior programming knowledge. This research aims to address this deficit by conducting an integrative review to produce a template for such a methodology. Methodology: An integrative review was conducted on the key components of Teaching Software Development Education, Problem Solving, Threshold Concepts, and Computational Thinking. Systematic reviews were conducted on Computational Thinking and Software Development Education by employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) process. Narrative reviews were conducted on Problem Solving and Threshold Concepts. Contribution: This research provides a comprehensive analysis of problem solving, software development education, computational thinking, and threshold concepts in computing in the context of undergraduate software development education. It also synthesizes review findings from these four areas and combines them to form a research-based foundational template methodology for use by educators and researchers interested in software development undergraduate education. Findings: This review identifies seven skills and four concepts required by novice learners. The skills include the ability to perform abstraction, data representation, decomposition, evaluation, mental modeling, pattern recognition, and writing algorithms. The concepts include state and sequential flow, non-sequential flow control, modularity, and object interaction. The teaching of these skills and concepts is combined into a spiral learning framework and is joined by four development stages to guide software problem solving: understanding the problem, breaking into tasks, designing, coding, testing, and integrating, and final evaluation and reflection. This produces the principal finding, which is a research-based foundational template for educational software development methodologies. Recommendations for Practitioners: Focusing introductory undergraduate computing courses on a programming syllabus without giving adequate support to problem solving may hinder students in their attainment of development skills. Therefore, providing a structured methodology is necessary as it equips students with essential problem-solving skills and ensures they develop good development practices from the start, which is crucial to ensuring undergraduate success in their studies and beyond. Recommendation for Researchers: The creation of educational software development methodologies with tool support is an under-researched area in undergraduate education. The template produced by this research can serve as a foundational conceptual model for researchers to create concrete tools to better support computing undergraduates. Impact on Society: Improving the educational value and experience of software development undergraduates is crucial for society once they graduate. They drive innovation and economic growth by creating new technologies, improving efficiency in various industries, and solving complex problems. Future Research: Future research should concentrate on using the template produced by this research to create a concrete educational methodology adapted to suit a specific programming paradigm, with an associated learning tool that can be used with first-year computing undergraduates.

Aim/Purpose: This paper is part of a multi-case study that aims to test whether generative AI makes an effective coding assistant. Particularly, this work evaluates the ability of two AI chatbots (ChatGPT and Bing Chat) to generate concise computer code, considers ethical issues related to generative AI, and offers suggestions for how to improve the technology. Background: Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, generative artificial intelligence has steadily gained wide use in software development. However, there is conflicting information on the extent to which AI helps developers be more productive in the long term. Also, whether using generated code violates copyright restrictions is a matter of debate. Methodology: ChatGPT and Bing Chat were asked the same question, their responses were recorded, and the percentage of each chatbot’s code that was extraneous was calculated. Also examined were qualitative factors, such as how often the generated code required modifications before it would run. Contribution: This paper adds to the limited body of research on how effective generative AI is at aiding software developers and how to practically address its shortcomings. Findings: Results of AI testing observed that 0.7% of lines and 1.4% of characters in ChatGPT’s responses were extraneous, while 0.7% of lines and 1.1% of characters in Bing Chat’s responses were extraneous. This was well below the 2% threshold, meaning both chatbots can generate concise code. However, code from both chatbots frequently had to be modified before it would work; ChatGPT’s code needed major modifications 30% of the time and minor ones 50% of the time, while Bing Chat’s code needed major modifications 10% of the time and minor ones 70% of the time. Recommendations for Practitioners: Companies building generative AI solutions are encouraged to use this study’s findings to improve their models, specifically by decreasing error rates, adding more training data for programming languages with less public documentation, and implementing a mechanism that checks code for syntactical errors. Developers can use the findings to increase their productivity, learning how to reap generative AI’s full potential while being aware of its limitations. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers are encouraged to continue where this paper left off, exploring more programming languages and prompting styles than the scope of this study allowed. Impact on Society: As artificial intelligence touches more areas of society than ever, it is crucial to make AI models as accurate and dependable as possible. If practitioners and researchers use the findings of this paper to improve coders’ experience with generative AI, it will make millions of developers more productive, saving their companies money and time. Future Research: The results of this study can be strengthened (or refuted) by a future study with a large, diverse dataset that more fully represents the programming languages and prompting styles developers tend to use. Moreover, further research can examine the reasons generative AI fails to deliver working code, which will yield valuable insights into improving these models.

Aim/Purpose: Despite playing a critical role in shaping the future, 70% of undergraduate engineers report low levels of motivation. Student disengagement and a lack of ownership of their learning are significant challenges in higher education, specifically engineering students in the computer science department. This study investigates the various causes of these problems among first-year undergraduate engineers. Background: Student disengagement has become a significant problem, especially in higher education, leading to reduced academic performance, lower graduation rates, and less satisfaction with learning. The study intends to develop approaches that encourage a more interesting and learner-motivated educational environment. Methodology: This research uses a mixed methods approach by combining quantitative data from a survey-based questionnaire with qualitative insights from focus groups to explore intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, instructional practices, and student perceptions of relevance and application of course content. The aim of this method is to make an all-inclusive exploration into undergraduate engineering students’ perspectives on factors contributing to this disengagement and the need for more ownership. Contribution: Inculcating passion for engineering among learners seems demanding, with numerous educational programs struggling with issues such as a lack of interest by students and no personal investment in learning. Understanding the causes is of paramount importance. The study gives suggestions to help teachers or institutions create a more engaged and ownership-based learning environment for engineering students. Findings: The findings revealed a tangled web influencing monotonous teaching styles, limited opportunities and applications, and a perceived gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world engineering problems. It emphasized the need to implement more active learning strategies that could increase autonomy and a stronger sense of purpose in their learning journey. It also highlights the potential use of technology in promoting student engagement and ownership. Further research is needed to explore optimal implementation strategies for online simulations, interactive learning platforms, and gamification elements in the engineering curriculum. Recommendations for Practitioners: It highlights the complex interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors and the need to re-look at instructional practice and emphasize faculty training to develop a more student-centered approach. It also stresses the need to look into the relevance and application of the course content. Recommendation for Researchers: More work needs to be done with a larger, more diverse sample population across multiple institutions and varied sociocultural and economic backgrounds. Impact on Society: Enhancing learners’ educational experience can result in creating a passionate and competent team of engineers who can face future obstacles fearlessly and reduce the production of half-baked graduates unprepared for the profession’s challenges. Future Research: Conduct long-term studies to assess the impact of active learning and technology use on student outcomes and career readiness. Investigate scaling up successful strategies across diverse engineering programs. See if promising practices work well everywhere.