Student-centered learning objects to support the self-regulated learning of computer science

The most current computing curriculum guidelines focus on designing learning materials to prepare students for lifelong learning. Under the lifelong learning paradigm, students are responsible for controlling and monitoring their learning processes. This undoubtedly includes the ability to choose suitable learning materials. Correspondingly, instructional paradigms are shifting from teacher-centered to more student-centered models that require students to be self-regulated learners. On the other hand, recent trends in learning materials’ instructional design focus on moving toward the concept of Learning Object-based instructional technology. A learning object is a unit of instruction with a specific pedagogical objective that can be used and reused in different learning contexts. Designing learning objects to support students in their self-regulated learning is not an easy task due to the lack of underlying pedagogical frameworks. It is difficult to find learning objects related to students’ specific preferences and requirements. In this study, a number of learning objects are designed to support the self-regulated learning of programming languages concepts based on the theory of learning styles. Students’ interactions with these learning objects are managed using an online learning object repository. The repository helps students identify their preferred learning styles and find the relevant learning objects. The results of the evaluations of these learning objects revealed that students perceive them to be easy to use and effective in supporting their learning about different programming languages concepts

Software reverse engineering education

Software Reverse Engineering (SRE) is the practice of analyzing a software system, either in whole or in part, to extract design and implementation information. A typical SRE scenario would involve a software module that has worked for years and carries several rules of a business in its lines of code. Unfortunately the source code of the application has been lost; what remains is “native ” or “binary ” code. Reverse engineering skills are also used to detect and neutralize viruses and malware as well as to protect intellectual property. It became frighteningly apparent during the Y2K crisis that reverse engineering skills were not commonly held amongst programmers. Since that time, much research has been undertaken to formalize the types of activities that fall into the category of reverse engineering so that these skills can be taught to computer programmers and testers. To help address the lack of software reverse engineering education, several peer-reviewed articles on software reverse engineering, re-engineering, reuse, maintenance, evolution, and security were gathered with the objective of developing relevant, practical exercises for instructional purposes. The research revealed that SRE is fairly well described and most of the related activities fall into one of tw