223,041 research outputs found
An Interactive Zoo Guide: A Case Study of Collaborative Learning
Real Industry Projects and team work can have a great impact on student
learning but providing these activities requires significant commitment from
academics. It requires several years planning implementing to create a
collaborative learning environment that mimics the real world ICT (Information
and Communication Technology) industry workplace. In this project, staff from
all the three faculties, namely the Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science,
Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development, and Faculty of Business and
Law in higher education work together to establish a detailed project
management plan and to develop the unit guidelines for participating students.
The proposed project brings together students from business, multimedia and
computer science degrees studying their three project-based units within each
faculty to work on a relatively large IT project with our industry partner,
Melbourne Zoo. This paper presents one multimedia software project accomplished
by one of the multi-discipline student project teams. The project was called
'Interactive ZooOz Guide' and developed on a GPS-enabled PDA device in 2007.
The developed program allows its users to navigate through the Zoo via an
interactive map and provides multimedia information of animals on hotspots at
the 'Big Cats' section of the Zoo so that it enriches user experience at the
Zoo. A recent development in zoo applications is also reviewed. This paper is
also intended to encourage academia to break boundaries to enhance students'
learning beyond classroom.Comment: 11 Page
Examining the Experiences of First-Year Honors Engineering Students in Service-Learning
Although research projects and skill-based courses are central to engineering and computer science curricula, service-learning has also been highlighted as a pedagogy that has proven beneficial to students\u27 learning within these disciplines. This qualitative investigation examines the experiences of two cohorts of students in an Honors Introduction to Engineering course during Fall 2016 and Fall 2017. As part of a mandatory service-learning project, students worked in teams to deliver a presentation and prepare a hands-on activity to expose underprivileged adolescents to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Participants in this study were surveyed to assess the efficacy of service-learning. In particular, students\u27 abilities to develop their skills in effective communication, practice strategic teamwork, and develop a clear self-concept as engineers or computer scientists were examined following their service-learning experiences. Learning how to communicate with a non-technical audience was noted as an important takeaway by both cohorts of student-participants. The second cohort of students highlighted teamwork as a major obstacle that they had to work through to successfully execute their projects. Finally, students voiced a feeling of duty to improve access to higher education for underprivileged adolescents in the community, seeing themselves as peers with an obligation to improve the educational prospects of these local adolescents, rather than as future professionals in a technical environment
The Effect of Varied Gender Groupings on Argumentation Skills among Middle School Students in Different Cultures
The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the effect of varied gender groupings on argumentation skills among middle school students in Taiwan and the United States in a project-based learning environment that incorporated a graph-oriented computer-assisted application (GOCAA). A total of 43 students comprised the treatment condition and were engaged in the collaborative argumentation process in same-gender groupings. Of these 43 students, 20 were located in the U.S. and 23 were located in Taiwan. A total of 40 students comprised the control condition and were engaged in the collaborative argumentation process in mixed-gender groupings. Of these 40 students, 19 were in the U.S. and 21 were in Taiwan. In each country, verbal collaborative argumentation was recorded and the studentsâ post essays were collected. Among females in Taiwan, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that statistically a significant gender-grouping effect was evident on the total argumentation skills outcome, while MANOVA indicated no significant gender-grouping effect on the combined set of skill outcomes. Among females in the U.S., MANOVA indicated statistically significant gender-grouping effect on the combined set of argumentation skills outcomes Specifically, U.S. female students in mixed-gender groupings (the control condition) significantly outperformed female students in single-gender groupings (the treatment condition) in the counterargument and rebuttal skills. No significant group differences were observed among males. A qualitative analysis was conducted to examine how the graph-oriented computer-assisted application supported studentsâ development of argumentation skills in different gender groupings in both countries. In each country, all teams in both conditions demonstrated a similar pattern of collaborative argumentation with the exception of three female teams in the U.S. Female teams, male teams, (the treatment condition) and mixed-gender teams (the control condition) demonstrated metacognition regulation skills in different degrees and with different scaffolding
Exploring collaboration patterns among global software development teams.
This study examines communication behaviors in
global software student teams. The authors of the
paper characterize the types of communication
behaviors that occur when student teams are engaged
in a software development project. The authors
present findings from a one-semester study that
examined factors contributing to successful distributed
programming interactions among students enrolled at
the University of Atilim (Turkey), Universidad
TecnolĂłgica de PanamĂĄ, University of North Texas,
and Middlesex University (UK). Using content and
cluster analyses techniques, we identified distinct
patterns of collaboration and examined how these
patterns were associated with task, culture, GPA, and
performance of collaborative teams. Our results
suggest that communication patterns among global
software learners may be related to task type, culture
and GPA. It is hoped that these findings will lead to the
development of new strategies for improving
communication among global software teams
Software Engineering for Millennials, by Millennials
Software engineers need to manage both technical and professional skills in
order to be successful. Our university offers a 5.5 year program that mixes
computer science, software and computer engineering, where the first two years
are mostly math and physics courses. As such, our students' first real teamwork
experience is during the introductory SE course, where they modify open source
projects in groups of 6-8. However, students have problems working in such
large teams, and feel that the course material and project are "disconnected".
We decided to redesign this course in 2017, trying to achieve a balance between
theory and practice, and technical and professional skills, with a maximum
course workload of 150 hrs per semester. We share our experience in this paper,
discussing the strategies we used to improve teamwork and help students learn
new technologies in a more autonomous manner. We also discuss what we learned
from the two times we taught the new course.Comment: 8 pages, 9 tables, 4 figures, Second International Workshop on
Software Engineering Education for Millennial
Experimenting with Realism in Software Engineering Team Projects: An Experience Report
Over Several years, we observed that our students were sceptical of Software Engineering practices, because we did not convey the experience and demands of production quality software development. Assessment focused on features delivered, rather than imposing responsibility for longer term `technical debt'. Academics acting as 'uncertain' customers were rejected as malevolent and implausible. Student teams composed of novices lacked the benefits of leadership provided by more experienced engineers. To address these shortcomings, real customers were introduced, exposing students to real requirements uncertainty. Flipped classroom teaching was adopted, giving teams one day each week to work on their project in a redesigned laboratory. Software process and quality were emphasised in the course assessment, imposing technical debt. Finally, we introduced a leadership course for senior students, who acted as mentors to the project team students. This paper reports on the experience of these changes, from the perspective of different stakeholders
The impact of Group Intelligence software on enquiry-based learning
Despite the increasing use of groupware technologies in education, there is little evidence of their impact, especially within an enquiry-based learning (EBL) context. In this paper, we examine the use of a commercial standard Group Intelligence software called GroupSystemsÂźThinkTank. To date, ThinkTank has been adopted mainly in the USA and supports teams in generating ideas, categorising, prioritising, voting and multi-criteria decision-making and automatically generates a report at the end of each session. The software was used by students carrying out an EBL project, set by employers, for a full academic year. The criteria for assessing the impact of ThinkTank on student learning were those of creativity, participation, productivity, engagement and understanding. Data was collected throughout the year using a combination of interviews and questionnaires, and written feedback from employers. The overall findings show an increase in levels of productivity and creativity, evidence of a deeper understanding of their work but some variation in attitudes towards participation in the early stages of the project
A collaborative and experiential learning model powered by real-world projects
Information Technology (IT) curricula\u27s strong application component and its focus on user centeredness and team work require that students experience directly real-world projects for real users of IT solutions. Although the merit of this IT educational tenet is universally recognized, delivering collaborative and experiential learning has its challenges.
Reaching out to identify projects formulated by actual organizations adds significantly to course preparation. There is a certain level of risk involved with delivering a useful solution while, at the same time, enough room should be allowed for students to experiment with, be wrong about, review, and learn. Challenges pertaining to the real-world aspect of problem-based learning are compounded by managing student teams and assessing their work such that both individual and collective contributions are taken into account. Finally, the quality of the project releases is not the only measure of student learning. Students should be given meaningful opportunities to practice, improve, and demonstrate their communication and interpersonal skills.
In this paper we present our experience with two courses in which teams of students worked on real-world projects involving three external partners. We describe how each of the challenges listed above has impacted the course requirements, class instruction, team dynamics, assessment, and learning in these courses. Course assessment and survey data from students are linked to learning outcomes and point to areas where the collaborative and experiential learning model needs improvement
Complexity-based learning and teaching: a case study in higher education
This paper presents a learning and teaching strategy based on complexity science and explores its impacts on a higher education game design course. The strategy aimed at generating conditions fostering individual and collective learning in educational complex adaptive systems, and led the design of the course through an iterative and adaptive process informed by evidence emerging from course dynamics. The data collected indicate that collaboration was initially challenging for students, but collective learning emerged as the course developed, positively affecting individual and team performance. Even though challenged, students felt highly motivated and enjoyed working on course activities. Their perception of progress and expertise were always high, and the academic performance was on average very good. The strategy fostered collaboration and allowed students and tutors to deal with complex situations requiring adaptation
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Developing Online Team Skills
This paper discusses the development and delivery of a new course at the UK Open University (OU). The course makes a virtue of the fact that OU students study in a predominantly distance learning environment, by providing a structure within which team working activities are carried out with no face-to-face contact whatsoever. Issues that were considered in designing this course and decisions about tutoring and assessing the students' team working experience are discussed. Preliminary results from the first delivery of the course, including analysis of archived team conferences, are presented. Directions for future development and enhancement are indicated
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