Utilizing a Virtual Internet Testbed and Private Cloud to Teach Organizational Cloud Integration

Cloud based technologies have steadily diffused into corporations, and even while educational institutions have adopted such resources to improve student experiences, little has been done to educate students on how such services are integrated into an organization. We posit that it is vital to enhance the ability of IS professionals in training to perform successfully in post academic environments that utilize cloud technologies. Unfortunately, the very nature of cloud technology requires public IP’s, DNS servers to route to external cloud resources, organizational credentials, and more. To minimize organizational overhead, we use a private cloud, existing within an Internet-Scale Event and Attack Generation Environment (ISEAGE) testbed, to mimic real-world processes required for deployment of these services. This, compared via post and pretest surveys, will be directly compared to more traditional deployment methods to view any statistical differences in the pedagogical efficacy of such an environment

Computational thinking and online learning: A systematic literature review

This paper introduces research concerned with investigating how Computational Thinking and online learning can be successfully married to help empower secondary teachers to teach this subject. To aid this research, a systematic literature review was undertaken to investigate what is currently known in the academic literature on where Computational Thinking and online learning intersect. This paper presents the findings of this systematic literature review. It outlines the methodology used and presents the current data available in the literature on how Computational Thinking is taught online. Using a systematic process eight hundred articles were initially identified and then subsequently narrowed down to forty papers. These papers were analysed to answer the following two questions: 1. What are the current pedagogical approaches to teaching Computational Thinking online? 2. What were the categories of online learning observed in the teaching of Computational Thinking? Our findings show that a wide range of pedagogical approaches are used to teach Computational Thinking online, with the constructivist theory of learning being the most popular. The tools used to teach Computational Thinking were also varied, video game design, playing video games, competitions, and unplugged activities, to name a few. A significant finding was the dependency between the tool used and the definition of the term Computational Thinking. Computational Thinking lacks consensus on a definition, and thus the definition stated in the literature changed depending on the tool. By considering a significant body of research up to the present, our findings contribute to teachers, researchers and policy makers understanding of how computational thinking may be taught online at second level

A Systematic Literature Review of Student Assessment Framework in Software Engineering Courses

Background: Software engineering are courses comprising various project types, including simple assignments completed in supervised settings and more complex tasks undertaken independently by students, without the oversight of a constant teacher or lab assistant. The imperative need arises for a comprehensive assessment framework to validate the fulfillment of learning objectives and facilitate the measurement of student outcomes, particularly in computer science and software engineering. This leads to the delineation of an appropriate assessment structure and pattern. Objective: This study aimed to acquire the expertise required for assessing student performance in computer science and software engineering courses. Methods: A comprehensive literature review spanning from 2012 to October 2021 was conducted, resulting in the identification of 20 papers addressing the assessment framework in software engineering and computer science courses. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were meticulously applied in two rounds of assessment to identify the most pertinent studies for this investigation. Results: The results showed multiple methods for assessing software engineering and computer science courses, including the Assessment Matrix, Automatic Assessment, CDIO, Cooperative Thinking, formative and summative assessment, Game, Generative Learning Robot, NIMSAD, SECAT, Self-assessment and Peer-assessment, SonarQube Tools, WRENCH, and SEP-CyLE. Conclusion: The evaluation framework for software engineering and computer science courses required further refinement, ultimately leading to the selection of the most suitable technique, known as learning framework. Keywords: Computer science course, Software engineering course, Student assessment, Systematic literature revie

Faculty Perceptions of Open Educational Resources in Cyber Curriculum: A Pilot Study

The cyber landscape is growing and evolving at a fast pace. Public and private industries need qualified applicants to protect and defend information systems that drive the digital economy. Currently, there are not enough candidates in the pipeline to fill this need in the workforce. The digital economy is still growing, thus presenting an even greater need for skilled workers in the future. The lack of a strong workforce in cybersecurity presents many challenges to safeguarding U.S. national security and citizens across the world. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation, and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. OERs weaken barriers to learning by reducing costs, increasing access, and allowing adaptability of educational materials to meet the needs of an instructor in their field. In this study, the research aims to study cyber faculty members from higher educational institutions in the United States to determine their perceptions of using OER for cyberlearning. A survey instrument from the Babson Survey Research Group was adopted and adapted by the researcher for use in statistical analysis. Individuals from cyber professional organizations, an academic conference, and professional development opportunities in the Summer of 2019 completed the survey to help build the sample for data analysis. The research questions in the study aim to look for statistically significant differences in perceptions of cyber faculty by looking at their years of experience and the number of specialty roles faculty fill in their cyber endeavors. Further understanding of the perceptions of OER by cyber faculty will help understand the roles these educational tools play in tackling the challenges that exist in the cyber landscape

A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

ITiCSE'10 - Proceedings of the 2010 ACM SIGCSE Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education: Foreword

[No abstract available

Engaging Government-Industry-University Partnerships to Further Gender Equity in STEM Workforce Education Through Technology and Information System Learning Tools

This paper has two goals: First, to detail processes through which a project funded under a National Science Foundation workforce development program (Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers, ITEST) leveraged active partnerships among government agencies, industry firms, and universities to develop and study an innovative, out-of-school information system and technology workforce education program. The aim of the program was to improve equity of opportunity for high school girls. The program engaged young women from underrepresented subgroups in data science, analytics, information communication technology, and programming learning activities in an experiential, law enforcement computer forensics context. This description of the research team’s process is intended as inspiration and guidance to others considering developing similar programs targeting workforce development in science and technical fields through an equity lens. Second, this paper shares reflections from senior project personnel on lessons learned while working with cross-sector collaborations, including challenges encountered while implementing components of the program facilitated by the partnership model. The authors adopt a reflective practice orientation, considering implications regarding the most useful—and evolving—roles that cross-sector partnerships might play in developing programs to help students traditionally underrepresented in technical fields be more aware of, interested in, and prepared for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In so doing, the authors offer insights about how university partners might address potential tensions involved in such collaborations

A Human-Centric System for Symbolic Reasoning About Code

While testing and tracing on specific input values are useful starting points for students to understand program behavior, ultimately students need to be able to reason rigorously and logically about the correctness of their code on all inputs without having to run the code. Symbolic reasoning is reasoning abstractly about code using arbitrary symbolic input values, as opposed to specific concrete inputs. The overarching goal of this research is to help students learn symbolic reasoning, beginning with code containing simple assertions as a foundation and proceeding to code involving data abstractions and loop invariants. Toward achieving this goal, this research has employed multiple experiments across five years at three institutions: a large, public university, an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and an HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution). A total of 862 students participated across all variations of the study. Interactive, online tools can enhance student learning because they can provide targeted help that would be prohibitively expensive without automation. The research experiments employ two such symbolic reasoning tools that had been developed earlier and a newly designed human-centric reasoning system (HCRS). The HCRS is a first step in building a generalized tutor that achieves a level of resolution necessary to identify difficulties and suggest appropriate interventions. The experiments show the value of tools in pinpointing and classifying difficulties in learning symbolic reasoning, as well as in learning design-by-contract assertions and applying them to develop loop invariants for code involving objects. Statistically significant results include the following. Students are able to learn symbolic reasoning with the aid of instruction and an online tool. Motivation improves student perception and attitude towards symbolic reasoning. Tool usage improves student performance on symbolic reasoning, their explanations of the larger purpose of code segments, and self-efficacy for all subpopulations

Degree Completion of Underrepresented Minorities Majoring in Mathematics as a Function of Undergraduate Student Programs

Abstract Students with disabilities, minorities, and women are underrepresented in the critical demand courses of study in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) undergraduate college enrollment. Institutions of higher education in the United States of America are challenged with a continuous need for undergraduate students to choose and earn a STEM degree. The 2019 annual report of Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering indicated these groups continue to be disproportionately underrepresented relative to the U.S. population. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education reported that upon graduation students studying mathematics in college have higher employment rates and salaries as compared to other college majors. National, federal, state, nonprofit, and private programs aimed at increasing underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate degree completion and integrating student involvement through delivery of targeted programs are active in trying to meet this demand for STEM college to career. A causal comparative quantitative research design was utilized to analyze the program and degree completion of African American students at colleges and universities seeking an undergraduate degree in mathematics. The researcher used Alexander W. Astin’s theory of student involvement (1984) to examine elements of program delivery. The analyses indicate a statistically significant finding for degree completion at the colleges and universities which completed proposals and were awarded funding to initiate a program. The results of the independent samples t-test p \u3c 0.001 and a Hedges’ g large effect size = 0.8 suggests that colleges and universities advocate to access and implement the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program to increase URM degree completion integrating as core the student involvement. Based on the results of the study, the future research of comparable programs for other underrepresented groups, such as students with disabilities and undergraduate majors, such as engineering are recommended

When Michigan Changed the World

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168165/1/2020-Feb_When_UM_Changed_the_World.pd