Information Systems Undergraduate Degree Project: Gaining a Better Understanding of the Final Year Project Module

The place of an individual project in the final year of Information Systems (IS) undergraduate degrees at UK universities is well established. In this paper we compare the final year project modules at four UK universities: the University of Brighton, the University of South Wales, University of West London and the University of Westminster. We find that the aims of the projects are similar, emphasising the application of the knowledge and skills from the taught element of their course in a complex development project, often including interactions with a real client. Although we show in this analysis that projects serve a similar purpose in the IS degree courses, the associated learning outcomes and the assessment practice varies across the institutions. We identify some gaps in the skills and abilities that are not being assessed. In further work we are planning to consult final year students undertaking their projects and their supervisors, in order to gain an understanding of how project assessment criteria are actually put to use

Analysis and evaluation of uncertainty for conducted and radiated emissions tests

Whenever an EMC measurement is made, there are numerous uncertainties in different parts of the measurement system and even in the EMC performance of the equipment under test (EUT) which is being measured. It is important to be able to estimate the overall uncertainty, in particular, the test setup and measurement equipment uncertainty. However, making repetitive measurements can reduce the measurement uncertainty, but often economics of time do not permit that. Therefore, a practical process, which is used to evaluate uncertainty in EMC measurement a, according to the principle of uncertainty and conditions in EMC measurement is presented. In this study, an efficient analysis of uncertainty for both radiated and conducted emissions tests is performed. The uncertainty of each contributor had been calculated and evaluating the reported expanded uncertainty of measurement is stated as the standard uncertainty of measurement. This standard uncertainty is multiplied by the coverage factor k=2, which for a normal distribution corresponds to a coverage probability of approximately 95%. The result of calculating the uncertainty for both conducted and radiated emission tests showed that the overall uncertainty of the system is high and it must be lowered by reducing the expanded uncertainty for the dominant contributors for both tests. In addition, the result of applying the concept of CISPR uncertainty for both conducted and radiated emission tests showed that non-compliance is deemed to occur for both EUT of both tests. This is due to the result that the measured disturbances increased by ( ), above the disturbance limit

Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Abstracts 2004

Proceedings of the Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Regional Conference held at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2004

Development and evaluation of a web-based learning system based on learning object design and generative learning to improve higher-order thinking skills and learning

This research aims to design, develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a Webbased learning system prototype called Generative Object Oriented Design (GOOD) learning system. Result from the preliminary study conducted showed most of the students were at lower order thinking skills (LOTS) compared to higher order thinking skills (HOTS) based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Based on such concern, GOOD learning system was designed and developed based on learning object design and generative learning to improve HOTS and learning. A conceptual model design of GOOD learning system, called Generative Learning Object Organizer and Thinking Tasks (GLOOTT) model, has been proposed from the theoretical framework of this research. The topic selected for this research was Computer System (CS) which focused on the hardware concepts from the first year Diploma of Computer Science subjects. GOOD learning system acts as a mindtool to improve HOTS and learning in CS. A pre-experimental research design of one group pretest and posttest was used in this research. The samples of this research were 30 students and 12 lecturers. Data was collected from the pretest, posttest, portfolio, interview and Web-based learning system evaluation form. The paired-samples T test analysis was used to analyze the achievement of the pretest and posttest and the result showed that there was significance difference between the mean scores of pretest and posttest at the significant level a = 0.05 (p=0.000). In addition, the paired-samples T test analysis of the cognitive operations from Bloom’s Taxonomy showed that there was significance difference for each of the cognitive operation of the students before and after using GOOD learning system. Results from the study showed improvement of HOTS and learning among the students. Besides, analysis of portfolio showed that the students engaged HOTS during the use of the system. Most of the students and lecturers gave positive comments about the effectiveness of the system in improving HOTS and learning in CS. From the findings in this research, GOOD learning system has the potential to improve students’ HOTS and learning