Smart cards: State-of-the-art to future directions

The evolution of smart card technology provides an interesting case study of the relationship and interactions between security and business requirements. This paper maps out the milestones for smart card technology, discussing at each step the opportunities and challenges. The paper reviews recently proposed innovative ownership/management models and the security challenges associated with them. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible future directions for the technology, and the challenges these present

Pathways to Improvement: Using Psychological Strategies to Help College Students Master Developmental Math

Some 60 percent of the nation's 13 million community college students are unprepared for college-level courses and must enroll in at least one developmental course....[and] less than a quarter of students in developmental math courses earn a degree or credential within eight years.Faced with a long sequence of pre-college-level, non-credit courses, often repeating math material they've failed before, half of them quit within the first few weeks of enrolling in the courses. They quit because they believe they aren't smart enough to do math, that the class itself has little relevance to their personal or academic goals, and that they don't really belong in the course or in college at all. And because such students cannot get to graduation if they cannot get past mathematics, the result is not just a dropped class, but the end of college and the economic insecurity that often results from not earning a degree. This report examines the success of the Pathways programs created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching which is currently being taught in 28 different community colleges nationwide. The Pathways program differs from traditional developmental math courses in that it is a yearlong class for academic credit with fewer students dropping out, most earning college credit toward graduation, and some even discovering a predilection for mathematics

Vulnerabilities and responsibilities: dealing with monsters in computer security

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze information security assessment in terms of cultural categories and virtue ethics, in order to explain the cultural origin of certain types of security vulnerabilities, as well as to enable a proactive attitude towards preventing such vulnerabilities.\ud \ud Design/methodology/approach – Vulnerabilities in information security are compared to the concept of “monster” introduced by Martijntje Smits in philosophy of technology. The applicability of different strategies for dealing with monsters to information security is discussed, and the strategies are linked to attitudes in virtue ethics.\ud \ud Findings – It is concluded that the present approach can form the basis for dealing proactively with unknown future vulnerabilities in information security.\ud \ud Research limitations/implications – The research presented here does not define a stepwise approach for implementation of the recommended strategy in practice. This is future work.\ud \ud Practical implications – The results of this paper enable computer experts to rethink their attitude towards security threats, thereby reshaping their practices.\ud \ud Originality/value – This paper provides an alternative anthropological framework for descriptive and normative analysis of information security problems, which does not rely on the objectivity of risk

Comprendiendo el potencial y los desafíos del Big Data en las escuelas y la educación

In recent years, the world has experienced a huge revolution centered around the gathering and application of big data in various fields. This has affected many aspects of our daily life, including government, manufacturing, commerce, health, communication, entertainment, and many more. So far, education has benefited only a little from the big data revolution. In this article, we review the potential of big data in the context of education systems. Such data may include log files drawn from online learning environments, messages on online discussion forums, answers to open-ended questions, grades on various tasks, demographic and administrative information, speech, handwritten notes, illustrations, gestures and movements, neurophysiologic signals, eye movements, and many more. Analyzing this data, it is possible to calculate a wide range of measurements of the learning process and to support various educational stakeholders with informed decision-making. We offer a framework for better understanding of how big data can be used in education. The framework comprises several elements that need to be addressed in this context: defining the data; formulating data-collecting and storage apparatuses; data analysis and the application of analysis products. We further review some key opportunities and some important challenges of using big data in educationEn los últimos años, el mundo ha experimentado una gran revolución centrada en la recopilación y aplicación de big data en varios campos. Esto ha afectado muchos aspectos de nuestra vida diaria, incluidos el gobierno, la manufactura, el comercio, la salud, la comunicación, el entretenimiento y muchos más. Hasta ahora, la educación se ha beneficiado muy poco de la revolución del big data. En este artículo revisamos el potencial de los macrodatos en el contexto de los sistemas educativos. Dichos datos pueden incluir archivos de registro extraídos de entornos de aprendizaje en línea, mensajes en foros de discusión en línea, respuestas a preguntas abiertas, calificaciones en diversas tareas, información demográfica y administrativa, discurso, notas escritas a mano, ilustraciones, gestos y movimientos, señales neurofisiológicas, movimientos oculares y muchos más. Analizando estos datos es posible calcular una amplia gama de mediciones del proceso de aprendizaje y apoyar a diversos interesados educativos con una toma de decisiones informada. Ofrecemos un marco para una mejor comprensión de cómo se puede utilizar el big data en la educación. El marco comprende varios elementos que deben abordarse en este contexto: definición de los datos; formulación de aparatos de recolección y almacenamiento de datos; análisis de datos y aplicación de productos de análisis. Además, revisamos algunas oportunidades clave y algunos desafíos importantes del uso de big data en la educació

Student-Centered Learning Opportunities For Adolescent English Learners In Flipped Classrooms

This study documents opportunities for diverse adolescent English learners to deeply engage with content and language in flipped learning environments. Through a linked description of teaching practices and student learning experiences in an urban New England high school, the study attempts to understand the potential of flipped instruction in preparing a traditionally underserved population for post-secondary education. Our research partner Patriot High School (PHS) is one of the New England schools implementing flipped learning. PHS represents a typical secondary school context for adolescent English learners: More than half of students speak a language other than English at home and the majority of students are from minority and low-income homes (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2014). PHS is also an urban school committed to implementing student-centered learning strategies to meet the needs of its diverse students