Process Change Patterns: Recent Research, Use Cases, Research Directions

In previous work, we introduced change patterns to foster a systematic comparison of process-aware information systems with respect to change support. This paper revisits change patterns and shows how our research activities have evolved. Further, it presents characteristic use cases and gives insights into current research directions

Using New Technologies to Learn Programming Languages

Current eLearning systems are increasingly used by both students and professors, considering the various facilities they offer. In the field of computer science, these eLearning platforms need to provide integrated program editors with facilities for compiling and running them. We propose a creative architecture of an eLearning system for Python which comes with new facilities related to the possibility to create content (lessons, exercises, content, and tests) inside of this platform. Thus, the professors can fully prepare their lessons and homework on our CSP (computer science platform) platform via the web interface. Similarly, the students can access this content via the platform and can solve their homework in this special space. Depending on the number of users the allocated resources dynamically change in order to ensure the proper functioning of the application, trying to keep lower operative costs

Jolie Microservices: An Experiment

Os microsserviços estão cada vez mais presentes no mundo das tecnologias de informação, por providenciarem uma nova forma construir sistemas mais escaláveis, ágeis e flexíveis. Apesar disto, estes trazem consigo o problema da complexidade de comunicação entre microsserviços, fazendo com que o sistema seja difícil de manter e de se perceber. Linguagens de programação específicas a microsserviços como Jolie entram em cena para tentar resolver este problema e simplificar a construção de sistemas com arquiteturas de microsserviços. Este trabalho fornece uma visão ampla do estado da arte da linguagem de programação Jolie onde é primeiramente detalhado o porquê de surgirem linguagens específicas a microsserviços e como a linguagem Jolie está construída de maneira a coincidir com as arquiteturas de microsserviços através de recursos nativos. Para demonstrar todas as vantagens de usar esta linguagem em comparação com as abordagens mais mainstream é pensado um experimento de desenvolvimento de um sistema de microsserviços no âmbito de uma aplicação de e-commerce. Este sistema é construído de forma igual usando duas bases tecnológicas – Jolie e Spring Boot. O Spring Boot é considerado a tecnologia mais usada para desenvolver sistemas de microsserviços sendo o candidato ideal para comparação. É pensada toda a análise e design deste experimento. Em seguida, a implementação da solução é detalhada a partir das configurações do sistema, escolhas arquitetónicas e como elas são implementadas. Componentes como API gateway, mediadores de mensagens, bases de dados, orquestração de microsserviços, e conteinerização para cada microsserviço e outros componentes do sistema. Pol último as soluções são comparadas e analisadas com base na abordagem Goals, Questions, Metrics (GQM). São analisadas relativamente a atributos de qualidade como manutenção, escalabilidade, desempenho e testabilidade. Após esta análise pode-se concluir que a solução construída com Jolie apresenta diferenças na manutenção sendo significativamente superior à solução baseada em Spring Boot e apresenta diferenças em termos de performance sendo ligeiramente inferior à solução construída com Spring Boot. O trabalho termina com a indicação das conquistas, dificuldades, ameaças à validade, possíveis trabalhos futuros e observações finais.Microservices are increasingly present in the world of information technologies, as they provide a new way to build more scalable, agile, and flexible systems. Despite this, they bring with them the problem of communication complexity between microservices, making the system difficult to maintain and understand. Microservices-specific programming languages like Jolie come into play to try to solve this problem and simplify the construction of systems with microservices architectures. This work provides a broad view of the State of Art of the Jolie programming language, where it is first detailed why microservices-specific languages emerge and how the Jolie language is built to match microservices architectures through native resources. To demonstrate all the advantages of using this language compared to more mainstream approaches, an experiment is designed to develop a microservices system within an e-commerce application. This system is built equally using two technological foundations – Jolie and Spring Boot. Spring Boot is considered the most used technology to develop microservices systems and is an ideal candidate for comparison. The entire analysis and design of this experiment are thought through. Then the implementation of the solution is detailed from system configurations, architectural choices, and how they are implemented. Components such as API gateway, message brokers, databases, microservices orchestration, and containerization for each microservice and other components of the system. Finally, the solutions are compared and analyzed based on the Goals, Questions, Metrics (GQM) approach. They are analyzed for quality attributes such as maintainability, scalability, performance, and testability. After this analysis, it can be concluded that the solution built with Jolie presents differences in maintenance being significant superior to the solution based on Spring Boot, and it presents differences in terms of performance being slightly inferior to the solution built with Spring Boot. The work ends with an indication of the achievements, difficulties, threats to validity, possible future work, and final observations

Rigorous Development of Composite Grid Services

CRESS (Communication Representation Employing Systematic Specification) is introduced as notation, a methodology and a toolset for service development. The article focuses on rigorous development of composite grid services, with particular emphasis on the principles behind the methodology. A straightforward graphical notation is used to describe grid services. These are then automatically specified, analysed and implemented. Analysis includes formal verification of desirable service properties, formal validation of test scenarios, testing of implementation functionality, and evaluation of implementation performance. The case study that illustrates the approach is document content analysis to compare two pieces of text. This involves two composite services supported by two partner services. The usability of the service design notation is assessed, and a comparison is made of the approach with similar ones. These show that the CRESS approach to developing services is usable and more complete than other comparable approaches

Progettazione formativa come base per la professionalità dei formatori degli adulti nell’ambito dell’apprendimento intergenerazionale

The educational interventions dealing with the ill-defined educational problems frequently found in the field of adults’ education require high professionalism. Intergenerational Learning,a trend of growing importance for lifelong learning, is a case that illustrates particularly well this situation. Emerging strategies and technologies like Learning Design could support educators’professionalism, aiming to work in a more effective way. In this article, the following research question was explored: Can the process of design for learning, intended as forward orientedand creative process, support the achievement of adult educators’ professionalism? The research consisted on a case study based on an European training programme, the “ALICE (Adults’Learning for Intergenerational Creative Experiences) training of trainers”. The programme adopted several means, from more traditional residential and online training activities, to thedeployment of an experimental idea based on the ALICE educational framework, the ALPP (Adult Learning Pilot Programme). Learning Design was introduced as concept entailing a set oftools along the whole process of implementation of the ALPP. The phases of this creative process (contextualizing, planning, implementing, evaluating and sharing) were analyzedthrough a holistic and mostly interpretivist (yet mixed methods) approach. As a result, the connections between learning design as forward oriented process and the adult educators’ professionalismwere observed, documented and discussed.Gli interventi formativi che hanno a che fare con problemi poco definiti, come quelli relativi alla formazione degli adulti, richiedono un’alta professionalità. L’apprendimento intergenerazionale,una tendenza di crescente importanza nel contesto del apprendimento permanente è un caso che illustra particolarmente questa situazione. Alcune strategie e tecnologie emergenticome il Learning Design (progettazione formativa con uso di supporti digitali per la visualizzazione di specifiche dimensioni didattiche e pedagogiche) potrebbero diventare un validosupporto per lo sviluppo professionale degli formatori degli adulti, mirando a migliorare l’efficacia del loro lavoro. In questo articolo, la seguente domanda di ricerca è stata esplorata: Può essere il processo di progettazione formativa supportato da tecnologie, inteso come processo creativo e orientato ai risultati, un valido supporto per lo sviluppo professionale dei formatoridegli adulti? La ricerca ha focalizzato un caso di studio all’interno di un programma europeo di formazione dei formatori nel contesto del progetto ALICE (Formazione degli Adulti per la generazionedi esperienze intergenerazionali creative). Il programma ha adottato diverse modalità per la formazione, dallla più tradizionale attività in presenza e le attività di formazione in rete,all’implementazione di una sperimentazione formativa consistente in attività pilota informali con adulti (Adults Learning Pilot Programmes, ALPP). La progettazione formativa supportata dastrumenti digitali è stata introdotta attraverso una serie di strumenti digitali da utilizzare dalla pianificazione all’implementazione degli ALPP. Le fasi di questo processo creativo (contestualizzazione, pianificazione, implementazione, valutazione e condivisione) sono state analizzate attraverso un approccio olistico e interpretativo dei dati (ma basato su metodi misti). Come risultato, sono state osservate, documentate e discusse le connessioni tra progettazione formativa supportata da strumenti digitali e lo sviluppo professionale dei formatori

Co-designing MOOCs with CoDe-Graph

As MOOCs have become a standard format of online learning, it is increasingly important to design courses that ft the needs and contexts of the targeted learners. One way to do so is by actively designing with the subject experts, instructors, and other stakeholders. Within the context of designing MOOCs for disadvantaged groups in Southeast Asia, we explore the three-phase process of co-design. We present a graphical modeling language, CoDe-Graph, which can be used to facilitate the co-design process. We examine how diverse groups of experts provide feedback on design elements and create a com mon understanding using shared artifacts. Four case studies illustrate how the tool can be used by co-design teams to create and visualize custom MOOC designs