Teaching Computer Science to Students with Asperger’s Syndrome

As more young people enter higher education, there will be an increasing number of students with physical and mental disabilities. Hidden disabilities like dyslexia, Attention Deficit (Hyperactive) Disorders, (ADD and ADHD), Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), and various degrees of reading and learning difficulties can be hard to spot, and university and college teachers are not trained to handle these students. Empirical studies show that there is an overrepresentation of people with Asperger’s Syndrome in computer science studies and in the computer industry. There are many programmers with autistic traits, many of whom are autodidacts. The profession attracts Aspergers and others with personality disorders who prefer computers to social settings, and the computer industry would be wise in trying to attract more varied personality types. Aspergers have narrow fields of interest, lack empathy, have difficulties reading other peoples mental states and understanding the needs of others. This causes problems with group tasks, and understanding user needs. The education institutions are being blamed for not being good enough, as they turn out computer professionals with little understanding of user needs. These are serious concerns in an age where focus is on accessible and user-friendly computer systems, user requirements and usability testing and involving users in the development process. This paper presents discussions on Asperger’s Syndrome found in sociological and psychological studies, guidelines for pedagogical methods, as well as personal experience with students with Asperger’s Syndrome. Some pedagogical techniques based on experience are suggested. Most of these techniques can be beneficial for all students and influence the way computer science is taught

Developing national level informatics competencies for undergraduate nurses : methodological approaches from Australia and Canada

Health information systems are being implemented in countries by governments and regional health authorities in an effort to modernize healthcare. With these changes, there has emerged a demand by healthcare organizations for nurses graduating from college and university programs to have acquired nursing informatics competencies that would allow them to work in clinical practice settings (e.g. hospitals, clinics, home care etc). In this paper we examine the methods employed by two different countries in developing national level nursing informatics competencies expected of undergraduate nurses prior to graduation (i.e. Australia, Canada). This work contributes to the literature by describing the science and methods of nursing informatics competency development at a national level

Enriching the values of micro and small business research projects : two sides of a story

Copyright and all rights therein are retained by the authors. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and conditions invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be re-posted without the explicit permission of the copyright holdersThe research aim was to critically examine the two sides of co-creation from the small business and GCU researcher perspectives. The interest is in the value created and delivered. Previous studies have suggested the importance of identity and trust in these types of collaborative projects. The approach used a single case study to explore indepth the development of identity and trust, and the subsequent movement of the project participants to the creation of value. The results of the study revealed important action learning and knowledge management developments. A strong focus at the beginning on identifying key propositional knowledge needs, later led to more opportunities to co-create value for both parties. The understanding of the processes and importance of trust in these significant knowledge exchange projects reveals both a strength and weakness in these university-business collaborative projects. The indepth undersrtanding and interpretation of the value derived in-action and on-action speaks highly of the role of these university-business collaborative projects. Suggesting that the university has a key role to play in future economic development. KeywordsFinal Published versio

Exploring roles and relationships in the production of the built environment

Given the number of different agencies and the complexity of institutional and professional relationships in the production, management and regulation of the built environment, many students entering built environment professions leave university education to take up work placements or employment without a sufficient understanding of the different actors and the formal and informal interactions and social relationships between them. Furthermore, destructive stereotypes may form during the educational process as students construct their own professional identity, in part learnt from their teachers and peers, and naturalised by the academic and professional institutions that form the context of their education – a process of enculturation termed ‘professional socialization’ by social scientists (Cuff, 1991: 118). These stereotypes may lead ultimately to inter-professional tensions and hostilities. Innovations in practice often involve challenges to established roles or joined-up thinking which breaches institutional structures, for all of which graduates may be ill-prepared

Engaging with childhood: student placements and the employability agenda.

Employability is a particular organising narrative within the global, neoliberal economic discourse, with increasing relevance across different educational contexts. For universities in the UK, student employability, that is the readiness of students to gain and maintain employment and contribute to the economy, is a significant feature of accountability with employability outcomes increasingly used by students in making their decision of which university to attend. Yet little attention is paid to the organizing power of the employability agenda and to university students’ participation in that agenda apart from focussing on knowledge and skills relevant to gain employment. This is particularly concerning in university programmes that develop professionals who work with children. Placement, gaining knowledge, skills and experience in the places where children and young people are found, is a common aspect of employability being embedded within programme curricula. This article explores the organising power of the employability agenda for children and young people in a context of university placements. Focused on student experiences on placement in primary school settings in the north of England analysis considers students’ engagement with their own learning and the children who are essential to that learning

A research agenda for career development learning in higher education

The theme of the NAGCAS conference 2010—Through the Looking Glass: Career Development in the 21st Century—brings into focus notions that are inherent in higher education: self-assessment; reflection; surface and depth; the personal ideal that is held in hope, and the reality that is perceived. This paper is an exploration of those notions in terms of career development learning (CDL) and adult learning. Moreover, this paper explicates the correspondence between CDL and theories of adult learning with the intention of formulating a research agenda for CDL in higher education