Measuring Business Value of Learning Technology Implementation in Higher Education Setting

AbstractThis paper introduces the concept of Business Value of Learning Technology and presents an approach how to measure the Business Value of Learning Technology in Higher Education setting based on a case study in Computational Science and cognate areas. Computational Science subject area is used as a pilot for the studies described in this paper since it is a multidisciplinary area, attracting students from diverse backgrounds and Computational Science is both the natural environment to promote collaborative teaching methods and collaborative provision of courses and as such requires more streamlined management processes. The paper, based on the above case study, presents the motivators and hygiene factors for Learning Technology Implementation in Higher Education setting. Finally, the Intersecting Influences Model presents the influences of pedagogy, technology and management over the motivation and hygiene factors, together with the corresponding generalization for PG level HE setting

COEDU-IN Project: an inclusive co-educational project for teaching computational thinking and digital skills at early ages

Learning to program is the new literacy of the 21st century. Computational thinking, closely related to programming, requires thinking and solving problems with different levels of abstraction and is independent of hardware devices. The early childhood education stage provides teachers with the opportunity to lay the foundations for a comprehensive quality education using innovative tools and technologies. Educational robotics in early childhood education becomes a tool that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge to children, playfully, based on the principles of interactivity, social interrelationships, collaborative work, creativity, constructivist and constructionist learning, and a student-centered didactic approach, allowing in turn that student can acquire digital competencies and develop logical and computational thinking in an underlying way. This project explores the current state of teaching and learning computational thinking and programming in early childhood education in an inclusive manner. Moreover, the lack of diversity and inequality is particularly latent in science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Therefore, this work considers this problem and presents an inclusive coeducation approach to this new literacy, eliminating gender stereotypes and extending them to people with Down syndrome and hospitalized minors

A Framework and an Instructional Design Model for the Development of Students\u27 Computational and Algorithmic Thinking

The authors herein, describe their efforts towards designing technology-enhanced instruction for teaching Computational and Algorithmic Thinking. This study examined students’ development of Computational and Algorithmic Thinking, by utilizing the framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and the instructional design model of Technology Mapping. Different technological tools were used for both groups of participants; the experimental and the control group. In particular, the experimental group used educational robotics and the control group used a 3D interactive programming environment. Both groups were 8th graders coming from different secondary education schools in Cyprus. A pre-post test research design was adopted in each classroom intervention. To check whether the interventions facilitated students’ development and understanding of Computational and Algorithmic Thinking concepts and competencies, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was then conducted. According to the results, the framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and the approach of Technology Mapping, which guided the design of the instructional intervention were effective in terms of fostering students’ development and understanding of Computational and Algorithmic Thinking competencies and concepts, respectively

New civil engineer : introducing undergraduate civil engineers to construction technology

Undergraduate (UG) civil engineering students should graduate from university with knowledge that links their computational competence in structural engineering and mechanics to construction technology principles, processes and practice. However, there appears to be a paucity of evidence to suggest that UG civil engineering students receive sufficient instruction in construction technology throughout their degree studies. This paper presents evidence from a study employing the weekly New Civil Engineer (NCE) publication as a vehicle for introducing construction technology to first year students. The results reveal that students found this publication interesting and inspirational. Whilst this innovative approach to teaching construction technology would be best ‘blended’ throughout the UG course, its introduction, application and success arguably requires a multi-disciplinary and carefully ‘engineered’ approach. Given the diversity of academic staff, individual motivation and the professional demands of a contemporary mass higher education system, the prospective benefits from ‘blended’ learning in UG construction technology studies will in all probability remain unfulfilled

Extended Cognition Hypothesis Applied to Computational Thinking in Computer Science Education

Computational thinking is a much-used concept in computer science education. Here we examine the concept from the viewpoint of the extended cognition hypothesis. The analysis reveals that the extent of the concept is limited by its strong historical roots in computer science and software engineering. According to the extended cognition hypothesis, there is no meaningful distinction between human cognitive functions and the technology. This standpoint promotes a broader interpretation of the human-technology interaction. Human cognitive processes spontaneously adapt available technology enhanced skills when technology is used in cognitively relevant levels and modalities. A new concept technology synchronized thinking is presented to denote this conclusion. More diverse and practical approach is suggested for the computer scienceeducation.Peer reviewe

Pirate plunder: game-based computational thinking using scratch blocks

Policy makers worldwide argue that children should be taught how technology works, and that the ‘computational thinking’ skills developed through programming are useful in a wider context. This is causing an increased focus on computer science in primary and secondary education. Block-based programming tools, like Scratch, have become ubiquitous in primary education (5 to 11-years-old) throughout the UK. However, Scratch users often struggle to detect and correct ‘code smells’ (bad programming practices) such as duplicated blocks and large scripts, which can lead to programs that are difficult to understand. These ‘smells’ are caused by a lack of abstraction and decomposition in programs; skills that play a key role in computational thinking. In Scratch, repeats (loops), custom blocks (procedures) and clones (instances) can be used to correct these smells. Yet, custom blocks and clones are rarely taught to children under 11-years-old. We describe the design of a novel educational block-based programming game, Pirate Plunder, which aims to teach these skills to children aged 9-11. Players use Scratch blocks to navigate around a grid, collect items and interact with obstacles. Blocks are explained in ‘tutorials’; the player then completes a series of ‘challenges’ before attempting the next tutorial. A set of Scratch blocks, including repeats, custom blocks and clones, are introduced in a linear difficulty progression. There are two versions of Pirate Plunder; one that uses a debugging-first approach, where the player is given a program that is incomplete or incorrect, and one where each level begins with an empty program. The game design has been developed through iterative playtesting. The observations made during this process have influenced key design decisions such as Scratch integration, difficulty progression and reward system. In future, we will evaluate Pirate Plunder against a traditional Scratch curriculum and compare the debugging-first and non-debugging versions in a series of studies

Multi-agent knowledge integration mechanism using particle swarm optimization

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier B.V.Unstructured group decision-making is burdened with several central difficulties: unifying the knowledge of multiple experts in an unbiased manner and computational inefficiencies. In addition, a proper means of storing such unified knowledge for later use has not yet been established. Storage difficulties stem from of the integration of the logic underlying multiple experts' decision-making processes and the structured quantification of the impact of each opinion on the final product. To address these difficulties, this paper proposes a novel approach called the multiple agent-based knowledge integration mechanism (MAKIM), in which a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is used as a knowledge representation and storage vehicle. In this approach, we use particle swarm optimization (PSO) to adjust causal relationships and causality coefficients from the perspective of global optimization. Once an optimized FCM is constructed an agent based model (ABM) is applied to the inference of the FCM to solve real world problem. The final aggregate knowledge is stored in FCM form and is used to produce proper inference results for other target problems. To test the validity of our approach, we applied MAKIM to a real-world group decision-making problem, an IT project risk assessment, and found MAKIM to be statistically robust.Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Korea

Investigating an Instructional Model for Integrated STEM in Teacher Education

Active learning experiences that incorporate technology, design, and making combine to form an important and necessary pedagogical approach that supports the 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, creativity, digital literacies, and computational thinking as a problem-solving framework. Active learning experiences in teacher preparation serve as a model for future educators to follow, while building the educators\u27 efficacy to conduct future implementations with their own students. In this study, a multidisciplinary Pop-Up Makerspaces activity was conducted as an active hands-on approach to interdisciplinary STEM education. The intersectionality of English language arts with integrated STEM through design and making included: (a) enriching language and integrated STEM literacy, (b) scaffolding and supporting pre- and inservice educators through well-designed active learning as these opportunities help to develop self-efficacy, and (c) exploring new models and frameworks for transdisciplinarity