International conference on software engineering and knowledge engineering: Session chair

The Thirtieth International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE 2018) will be held at the Hotel Pullman, San Francisco Bay, USA, from July 1 to July 3, 2018. SEKE2018 will also be dedicated in memory of Professor Lofti Zadeh, a great scholar, pioneer and leader in fuzzy sets theory and soft computing. The conference aims at bringing together experts in software engineering and knowledge engineering to discuss on relevant results in either software engineering or knowledge engineering or both. Special emphasis will be put on the transference of methods between both domains. The theme this year is soft computing in software engineering & knowledge engineering. Submission of papers and demos are both welcome

Transforming pedagogy using mobile Web 2.0

Blogs, wikis, podcasting, and a host of free, easy to use Web 2.0 social software provide opportunities for creating social constructivist learning environments focusing on student-centred learning and end-user content creation and sharing. Building on this foundation, mobile Web 2.0 has emerged as a viable teaching and learning tool, facilitating engaging learning environments that bridge multiple contexts. Today’s dual 3G and wifi-enabled smartphones provide a ubiquitous connection to mobile Web 2.0 social software and the ability to view, create, edit, upload, and share user generated Web 2.0 content. This article outlines how a Product Design course has moved from a traditional face-to-face, studio-based learning environment to one using mobile Web 2.0 technologies to enhance and engage students in a social constructivist learning paradigm. Keywords: m-learning; Web 2.0; pedagogy 2.0; social constructivism; product desig

Risk Mitigation Techniques in Agile Development Processes

The main purpose of agile development methods is to reduce risks leading to a more successful and effective information system. In fact, analysing priorities, finding and identifying risks are important activities in all development approaches, including Agile development. However, some studies seek to assess risk management based on agile global software development (GSD) and provide mitigation measures to address specific risks. The risk mitigation technique for good development for sustainable development is expected to be designed to achieve time efficiency improvements to obtain greater resources at lower cost and thereby gain and maintain a competitive advantage

Risk Mitigation Techniques in Agile Development Processes

The main purpose of agile development methods is to reduce risks leading to a more successful and effective information system. In fact, analysing priorities, finding and identifying risks are important activities in all development approaches, including Agile development. However, some studies seek to assess risk management based on agile global software development (GSD) and provide mitigation measures to address specific risks. The risk mitigation technique for good development for sustainable development is expected to be designed to achieve time efficiency improvements to obtain greater resources at lower cost and thereby gain and maintain a competitive advantage

The evolving landscape of learning technology

This paper provides an overview of the current and emerging issues in learning technology research, concentrating on structural issues such as infrastructure, policy and organizational context. It updates the vision of technology outlined by Squires’ (1999) concept of peripatetic electronic teachers (PETs) where Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide an enabling medium to allow teachers to act as freelance agents in a virtual world and reflects to what extent this vision has been realized The paper begins with a survey of some of the key areas of ICT development and provides a contextualizing framework for the area in terms of external agendas and policy drivers. It then focuses upon learning technology developments which have occurred in the last five years in the UK and offers a number of alternative taxonomies to describe this. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues which arise from this work

“Best Practice” without Evidence – Agile Software Methodology as Example

Despite the essentiality of education, and the widely known unscientific nature of expert opinion, education in general appears to be based on expert opinion. The example analyzed herein is of Agile software methodology, which is deemed a best practice and therefore taught in most IT studies, in Norway and most probably internationally. This is despite that it appears to be a well known fact within its respective field that the Agile methodology lacks scientific justification. A tertiary analysis was conducted to test this well known fact and to serve as basis for exploring what should be considered sufficient evidence for inclusion within official education. The result of the tertiary study is that, indeed, the evidence for the Agile methodology is scarce at best. A method to avoid such mistake is suggested, which could be valuable to science in general. This method entails employing philosophers of science, epistemologists, to counteract potential expert biases and verify the curriculum before it is accepted in official education