24,282 research outputs found
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The THREAT-ARREST Cyber-Security Training Platform
Cyber security is always a main concern for critical infrastructures and nation-wide safety and sustainability. Thus, advanced cyber ranges and security training is becoming imperative for the involved organizations. This paper presets a cyber security training platform, called THREAT-ARREST. The various platform modules can analyze an organizationâs system, identify the most critical threats, and tailor a training program to its personnel needs. Then, different training programmes are created based on the trainee types (i.e. administrator, simple operator, etc.), providing several teaching procedures and accomplishing diverse learning goals. One of the main novelties of THREAT-ARREST is the modelling of these programmes along with the runtime monitoring, management, and evaluation operations. The platform is generic. Nevertheless, its applicability in a smart energy case study is detailed
Engineering lecturersâ and studentsâ perceptions about teaching and learning practices in a South African University of Technology
This thesis investigated engineering lecturersâ and studentsâ perceptions about teaching and learning practices in the Faculty of Engineering at a South African University of Technology. The Faculty of Engineering had experienced low student success rates in many of its programmes and courses over a long time. This study was premised upon the concern that the teaching knowledge competencies of the engineering lecturers might be inadequate to facilitate meaningful learning and to motivate their students to learn better and achieve excellent success rates. The overarching construct of investigation was the lecturersâ teaching knowledge. The teaching and learning theories of constructivism and pedagogical content knowledge were used as the main frameworks which guided the study. The teaching knowledge domains investigated in this study were instructional repertoire, representational repertoire, subject matter knowledge, and knowledge of student understanding. Sources of the lecturersâ teaching knowledge professional development were also investigated.The study was approached from two perspectives â the studentsâ and lecturersâ views on teaching and learning. Three research questions guided this study. 1. What are studentsâ perceptions of their lecturersâ teaching knowledge in their engineering classrooms? 2. What are the lecturersâ perceptions of their own teaching knowledge in engineering classrooms? 3. What are the lecturersâ perceptions of their own professional development?A mixed methods design incorporated qualitative and quantitative approaches and techniques to collect and analyse data. Students completed the Studentsâ Perceptions of Teacher Knowledge (SPOTK) questionnaire. Lecturers completed the Teachersâ Beliefs about Teaching and Learning in Engineering Questionnaire (TBTLE). Data from 450 completed students questionnaires and 24 completed lecturers questionnaires and interviews with nine lecturers were used to provide answers to the three research questions. The SPOTK and TBTLE questionnaires were found to be both valid and reliable instruments in this higher education context.The main findings from the study: Students and lecturers perceived teaching knowledge in their classrooms both positively and negatively. Teacherâcentred teaching approaches and strategies were still predominantly used in many of the classrooms. Many lecturers had limited knowledge about teaching. Both students and lecturers raised concerns about the ineffectiveness of teaching methodologies and assessment practices to facilitate meaningful learning. Lecturers perceived their teaching approaches and studentsâ attitude towards learning as possible causes of low success rates. The findings confirmed that teaching and learning approaches used by lecturers were not consistent with the teaching and learning theories supported by constructivism and pedagogical content knowledge principles. Lecturersâ participation in teaching professional development was based on personal choices. The most predominant sources of professional development were associated with advancement of disciplinary knowledge as opposed to collegiality and attendance of teaching and learning development courses. In addition, both lecturers and students raised dissatisfaction with the some aspects of the engineering curriculum structure and psychosocial factors of an affective nature as possible causes of teaching and learning difficulties.This study has successfully identified limitations in lecturersâ knowledge of teaching. The information has implications for the conceptualisation of teaching knowledge in professional development for engineering lecturers. The findings have the potential to influence curriculum reform in engineering in South Africa. Therefore curriculum design, planning and implementation by decision makers may benefit from the use of these findings.In conclusion, the study has revealed that the SPOTK and TBTLE questionnaires, used for the first time in a higher education environment, were successful in eliciting studentsâ and lecturersâ perceptions about teaching and learning practices in engineering classrooms. This finding adds to the body of knowledge in the use of these tools in teaching knowledge studies
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Integrated technologies instructional method to enhance bilingual undergraduate engineering students
This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonMathematics permeates almost every aspect of human life and it is a skill much needed by the increasingly complex technological world. It is necessary that this essential skill must be properly developed among students to prepare them for future academic and professional careers. An assessment of the research-based instructional strategies blending with old traditional methods with the modern technological development is a must. Due to the complexity of mathematics learning and the varied learning styles of learners, an integration of appropriate multiple instructional strategies into mathematics education will positively impact mathematical achievement of students. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of the use of Integrated Technologies Instructional Method (ITIM) as a supplement to the traditional lecture method on mathematics achievement of the Integral Calculus students at the College of Engineering, University of Ha'il, Saudi Arabia. The ITIM includes the four instructional strategies such as the use of the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, the collaborative learning, the bilingual support and the study support. Different types of academic supports have been used to examine their effects on students achievement in mathematics. Mathematics, the bedrock of science and engineering, is considered a very important indicator of a student's academic success in professional higher education. Undergraduate engineering students' low achievement in the first year mathematics is an issue demands much attention. The study was undertaken to address students' weak background in mathematics and particularly their high failure rates in this particular course. A total of 218 undergraduate engineering students, comprising of both the experimental and the control groups, were involved in this experimental design study. The control group was taught by the traditional lecture method whereas the experimental group was exposed to the ITIM as a supplement to the traditional lecture method. Apart from the effects of the use of ITIM, students' performance in the previous courses (covariates) such as mathematics, computer, and the English language were compared with their final grades of the Integral Calculus course. The final grades of students were taken as the dependent variable and the ITIM and students' scores in the previous courses as the independent variables. It has been noticed from the literature review that the application of only one instructional strategy does not address the needs of the diverse learning styles of students. A mixed mode method, quantitative and qualitative, was used to collect and analyse data. The quantitative data instruments included students' final exam grades and the student questionnaires. Interviews with students were used as qualitative tools of data collection. An independent t-test, ANOVA, univariate analysis and the stepwise multiple regression analysis were performed to determine the overall statistical significance. The study concluded that there was a statistically significant difference in the performance of the experimental group of students' in terms of their end-of-course grades compared to that of the control group. The regression model revealed significance of covariates on the dependent variable. However, no significant relationship was found between the mathematics achievement and attitudes towards the use of ITIM. The study was an attempt to demonstrate the suitability of the instructional strategies on the bilingual Arab undergraduate engineering students; however, they can probably be applicable to other bilingual students
Every student counts: promoting numeracy and enhancing employability
This three-year project investigated factors that influence the development of undergraduatesâ numeracy skills, with a view to identifying ways to improve them and thereby enhance student employability. Its aims and objectives were to ascertain: the generic numeracy skills in which employers expect their graduate recruits to be competent and the extent to which employers are using numeracy tests as part of graduate recruitment processes; the numeracy skills developed within a diversity of academic disciplines;
the prevalence of factors that influence undergraduatesâ development of their numeracy skills; how the development of numeracy skills might be better supported within undergraduate curricula; and the extra-curricular support necessary to enhance undergraduatesâ numeracy skills
Attributing meanings to representations of data: the case of statistical process control
This article is concerned with the meanings that employees in industry attribute to representations of data and the contingencies of these meanings upon context. Our primary concern is to characterise more precisely how the context of the industrial process is constitutive of the meaning of graphs of data derived from this process. We draw on data from a variety of sources including ethnographic studies of workplaces and reflections on the design of prototype learning activities supplemented by insights obtained from trying out these activities with a range of employees. The core of this article addresses how different groups of employees react to graphs used as part of statistical process control, focussing in particular on the meanings they ascribe to mean, variation, target, specification, trend and scale as depicted in the graphs. Using the notion of boundary crossing we try to characterise a method that helps employees to communicate about graphs and come to data-informed decisions
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