An experience of young software engineers' employability in the Moroccan offshore industry

International audienceLast few years, French customers' demand for relocation of part of IT projects has allowed the emergence of an offshore software development industry in Morocco. A network of eight Moroccan universities and the University of Brest has set up a mobility scheme for Moroccan Master students. The OTI programme "Offshoring des Technologies de l'Information" is governed by the strong principle of driving skilled young engineers to the benefit of Morocco economic development. Education in Morocco and France is specialized on the issue of software development. The mobility scheme should help to reduce the socio-cultural distance that is inherent to offshore software projects. Without neglecting the need of the good quality of academic education, the programme success relies also on complementary actions: students' selection in Morocco; welcome and support in France; search, placement and follow-up of internships in France with pre-employment in Morocco. This article presents original points of the programme and an evaluation using criteria related to students' needs, business demand and institutions requirements

M-learning will disrupt educational practices

Proceedings of: 2012 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) "Collaborative Learning & New Pedagogic Approaches in Engineering Education", Marrakesh (Morocco), 17-20 April, 2012.n this paper, an overview is given about the research carried out in the area of mobile teaching and learning by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, a member of the eMadrid Excellence Network. Mobile learning is raising growing expectations and is considered by some authors the next disruptive revolution in education. Cognitive and pedagogical theories supporting this prospect are reviewed. How these theories can be translated into meaningful educational practices is analysed by exploring ways of usage of mobile devices for supporting learning and teaching. Finally, a portfolio of experiments and case studies carried out by the Gradient group of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid testing the application and effects of mobile learning are reported. These experiments show that the use of these devices is changing educational practices in a fundamental way.The eMadrid Excellence Network is being funded by the Madrid Regional Government (Comunidad de Madrid) with grant No. S2009/TIC-1650. We wish to acknowledge stimulating discussions with our partners in the context of the network. Partial support has also been received from the Learn3 project (TIN2008-05163) and the EEE project (TIN2011-28308-C03-01)

Flipped Learning and E-Learning as Training Models Focused on the Metaverse

Virtual Learning Environments (EVA) have acquired special importance in the educational field in recent years. The metaverse has been constructed as a learning space with enormous potential. As such, the immersion possibilities of the metaverse increase when compared to other methodologies that already implement technology, such as flipped learning and e-learning. In these learning environments, students require a set of specific abilities and skills. Therefore, this study aims to understand which training approach (flipped learning or e-learning) helps students acquire better skills through a teaching and learning process in the metaverse. This thesis used a pre-post quasi-experimental design of a group containing 173 Spanish high school students to achieve its aim. The data collection has been carried out by the Teaching and Learning Experiences Questionnaire (ETLQ). Among the obtained results, it is discovered that in all the dimensions analyzed, a significant relationship is observed. The greatest difference in means occurs in the LO dimension, meaning that these educational experiences directly impact the student’s academic results. It is concluded that both training approaches are adequate in preparing students for training processes carried out in the metaverse since they complement each other. Therefore, as preliminary instruction, the sequential use of these approaches is necessary when familiarizing students with a new learning reality such as the metaverse. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2022-SIED-013 Full Text: PD

Development and implementation of a virtual laboratory for fundamentals on power systems

Abstract In almost any engineering department, a laboratory is an integral part of the educational process. The laboratory is a key component in the field of engineering in general, and electrical power engineering in particular. The virtual laboratory (VL) is a simulated experiment run by students on a computer station program; it can transform the conventional laboratory experiments into an interactive virtual environment, allowing simple and complex phenomena to be investigated by students just by changing the parameters and conditions of the experiments. This paper describes the development and the implementation of a VL, named VLABPOWER, for fundamentals on power systems. Mainly, electrical power engineering students will using to increase their understanding and to bridge the gap that exists between the theoretical part in the class and the practical at the traditional (real) laboratory and to better prepare before going to the traditional laboratory. The purpose of this work is to develop and implement a VL in order to enable students to have a better understanding of the experiments done in the traditional laboratory and to familiarize themselves with the different components used for those experiments. It presents a virtual interactive experiment environment that simulates the physical conditions on the transmission line. Moreover, it discusses and explains different types of short circuit faults such as symmetrical and unsymmetrical faults, modeling of different type of lines, and load condition analysis

SimProgramming: uma abordagem motivacional para a aprendizagem de alunos intermediários de programação

Neste artigo, é apresentada uma pesquisa-ação com o objetivo de motivar os alunos a desenvolverem suas aprendizagens de programação de computadores no ensino superior, particularmente na transição da programação de nível iniciante para a programação avançada. Para alcançar este objetivo, foi desenvolvida uma abordagem motivacional denominada SimProgramming. A partir das reflexões sobre o processo desta pesquisa, conclui-se que SimProgramming em sua aplicação ao ensino de programação de computadores em turmas intermediárias é promissor e ainda apresenta potencial para ser usado em outros contextos educacionais.In this paper, an action research is presented to motivate students to develop their learning of computer programming in higher education, particularly in the transition from beginner to advanced programming. To achieve this goal, a motivational approach was developed called SimProgramming. From the reflections on the process of this research, it is concluded that SimProgramming in its application to the teaching of computer programming in intermediate classes is promising and still presents potential to be used in other educational contexts.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, pelas bolsas de doutorado SFRH/BD/91309/2012 e SFRH/BD/87815/2012.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Using a coach to improve team performance when the team uses a Kanban process methodology

Teams are increasing their use of the Kanban process methodology across a range of information system projects, including software development and data science projects. While the use of Kanban is growing, little has been done to explore how to improve team performance for teams that use Kanban. One possibility is to introduce a Kanban Coach (KC). This work reports on exploring the use of a Kanban Coach, with respect to both how the coach could interact with the team as well as how the use of a coach impacts team results. Specifically, this paper reports on an experiment where teams either had, or did not have, a Kanban Coach. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data collected during the experiment found that introducing KC led to significant improvement of team performance. Coordination Theory and Shared Mental Models were then employed to provide an explanation as to why a KC leads to better project results. While this experiment was done within a data science project context, the results are likely applicable across a range of information system projects

Using a coach to improve team performance when the team uses a Kanban process methodology

Teams are increasing their use of the Kanban process methodology across a range of information system projects, including software development and data science projects. While the use of Kanban is growing, little has been done to explore how to improve team performance for teams that use Kanban. One possibility is to introduce a Kanban Coach (KC). This work reports on exploring the use of a Kanban Coach, with respect to both how the coach could interact with the team as well as how the use of a coach impacts team results. Specifically, this paper reports on an experiment where teams either had, or did not have, a Kanban Coach. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data collected during the experiment found that introducing KC led to significant improvement of team performance. Coordination Theory and Shared Mental Models were then employed to provide an explanation as to why a KC leads to better project results. While this experiment was done within a data science project context, the results are likely applicable across a range of information system projects

Free and Open Source 3-D Model Customizer for Websites to Democratize Design with OpenSCAD

International audience3-D printing has entered the consumer market because of recent radical price declines. Consumers can save substantial money by offsetting purchases with DIY pre-designed 3-D printed products. However, even more value can be obtained with distributed manufacturing using mass customization. Unfortunately, the average consumer is not technically sophisticated enough to easily design their own products. One solution to this is the use of an overlay on OpenSCAD parametric code, although current solutions force users to relinquish all rights to their own designs. There is thus a substantial need in the open source design community for a libre 3-D model customizer, which can be used in any design repository to democratize design. This study reports on the design, function, and validation of such software: the Free Open Source 3-D Customizer. It is demonstrated with a case study of the customization of 3-D printable external breast prosthetics. The results showed that novice users can adjust the available parameters according to their needs and save these to a new file on a website. This PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) library is free and open source and has potential for increasing the usefulness of online repositories to enable distributed manufacturing using consumer customized 3-D printable products

A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Learning Analytics in Educational Games

Learning analytics (LA) in educational games is considered an emerging practice due to its potential of enhancing the learning process. Growing research on formative assessment has shed light on the ways in which students' meaningful and in-situ learning experiences can be supported through educational games. To understand learners' playful experiences during gameplay, researchers have applied LA, which focuses on understanding students' in-game behaviour trajectories and personal learning needs during play. However, there is a lack of studies exploring how further research on LA in educational games can be conducted. Only a few analyses have discussed how LA has been designed, integrated, and implemented in educational games. Accordingly, this systematic literature review examined how LA in educational games has evolved. The study findings suggest that: (1) there is an increasing need to consider factors such as student modelling, iterative game design and personalisation when designing and implementing LA through educational games; and (2) the use of LA creates several challenges from technical, data management and ethical perspectives. In addition to outlining these findings, this article offers important notes for practitioners, and discusses the implications of the study’s results

The Impact of Tablet Device Applications on Mathematics Teaching and Learning at Secondary School Level in Saudi Arabia

There has recently been a rapid rise in the use of educational applications (apps) in teaching and learning, and they are increasingly being viewed as a necessary part of instruction. However, they are still relatively new in secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of apps on mathematics teaching and learning in the 10th grade of secondary school. Also, this study will help higher education institutions to know about the supportive educational apps to continue using the beneficial apps and to support the needs of future teachers to be trained and improve the curriculum to keep pace with technology development in education. The interviews’ findings show the need to consider the integration of new technology carefully prior to launching projects involving a change in the educational system to avoid failure. The integration of educational apps helped the students develop their mathematics learning skills, and the teachers viewed it positively in terms of the impact on teaching mathematics concepts at the secondary school level. The study also investigated the obstacles encountered by teachers and students when using various apps and sought solutions. It highlights the implications of app use and makes recommendations