TLAD 2010 Proceedings:8th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the eighth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2010), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2010 - the 27th International Information Systems Conference. TLAD 2010 is held on the 28th June at the beautiful Dudhope Castle at the Abertay University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.This year, the workshop includes an invited talk given by Richard Cooper (of the University of Glasgow) who will present a discussion and some results from the Database Disciplinary Commons which was held in the UK over the academic year. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will also present seven peer reviewed papers, and six refereed poster papers. Of the seven presented papers, three will be presented as full papers and four as short papers. These papers and posters cover a number of themes, including: approaches to teaching databases, e.g. group centered and problem based learning; use of novel case studies, e.g. forensics and XML data; techniques and approaches for improving teaching and student learning processes; assessment techniques, e.g. peer review; methods for improving students abilities to develop database queries and develop E-R diagrams; and e-learning platforms for supporting teaching and learning

TLAD 2010 Proceedings:8th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the eighth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2010), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2010 - the 27th International Information Systems Conference. TLAD 2010 is held on the 28th June at the beautiful Dudhope Castle at the Abertay University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.This year, the workshop includes an invited talk given by Richard Cooper (of the University of Glasgow) who will present a discussion and some results from the Database Disciplinary Commons which was held in the UK over the academic year. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will also present seven peer reviewed papers, and six refereed poster papers. Of the seven presented papers, three will be presented as full papers and four as short papers. These papers and posters cover a number of themes, including: approaches to teaching databases, e.g. group centered and problem based learning; use of novel case studies, e.g. forensics and XML data; techniques and approaches for improving teaching and student learning processes; assessment techniques, e.g. peer review; methods for improving students abilities to develop database queries and develop E-R diagrams; and e-learning platforms for supporting teaching and learning

Generating SQL queries from visual specifications

Abstract: Structured Query Language (SQL) is the most widely used declarative language for accessing relational databases, and an essential topic in introductory database courses in higher learning institutions. Despite the intuitiveness of SQL, formulating and comprehending written queries can be confusing, especially for undergraduate students. One major reason for this is that the simple syntax of SQL is often misleading and hard to comprehend. A number of tools have been developed to aid the comprehension of queries and improve the mental models of students concerning the underlying logic of SQL. Some of these tools employed visualisation and animation in their approach to aid the comprehension of SQL. This paper presents an interactive comprehension aid based on visualisation, specifically designed to support the SQL SELECT statement, an area identified in the literature as problematic for students. The visualisation tool uses visual specifications depicting SQL operations to build queries. This is expected to reduce the cognitive load of a student who is learning SQL. We have shown with an online survey that adopting visual specifications in teaching systems assist students in attaining a richer learning experience in introductory database courses

Design and implementation of a web application for practising internet reading skills

Being able to critically evaluate the reliability of sources is an important skill, and a part of digital literacy competences and internet reading. Conducting research on the matter and teaching the skills related to internet reading in a digital environment require discrete software that is designed for said purposes. This thesis is associated with a project where one of the objectives is to design and implement a new web application, StudentNet, where pupils can practise and improve their skills in internet reading by completing assignments. Internet reading is goal-directed activity where the reader a) searches for information to set questions from the Internet, b) evaluates the reliability of the found information, and c) composes a synthesis based on several online sources. The basis of StudentNet is a web application called Neurone, which main purpose is research and measurement instead of education, and it provides a linear user flow. In contrast, StudentNet should provide a nonlinear model regarding the application’s user flow. In this thesis it is studied how this nonlinear model works in practice especially when the users are children, and what specific things should be considered when developing software for educational purposes. Several practical experiments were organised during the project. In these experiments, each participant completed an assignment in StudentNet and answered a set of statements in an end questionnaire. In addition, log data of users’ interactions in the application was recorded. The data collected from the questionnaire was analysed and utilised to get some information on what could be improved, and ideas for the development of new features as well as improving existing ones. In addition, the gathered feedback was used to answer the research question considering the application’s nonlinear model. It was found out that the model works very well for most pupils but for some individuals there should be additional support in the application in order to ensure a great user experience. The results also indicate that StudentNet was perceived useful, and it has good potential for further development and to be used as a complementary learning tool

Proceedings TLAD 2012:10th International Workshop on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases

This is the tenth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2012). TLAD 2012 is held on the 9th July at the University of Hertfordshire and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors. The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics and teachers from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will present eight peer reviewed papers. Of these, six will be presented as full papers and two as short papers. These papers cover a number of themes, including: the teaching of data mining and data warehousing, SQL and NoSQL, databases at school, and database curricula themselves. The final paper will give a timely ten-year review of TLAD workshops, and it is expected that these papers will lead to a stimulating closing discussion, which will continue beyond the workshop. We also look forward to a keynote presentation by Karen Fraser, who has contributed to many TLAD workshops as the HEA organizer. Titled “An Effective Higher Education Academy”, the keynote will discuss the Academy’s plans for the future and outline how participants can get involved

Proceedings TLAD 2012:10th International Workshop on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases

This is the tenth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2012). TLAD 2012 is held on the 9th July at the University of Hertfordshire and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors. The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics and teachers from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will present eight peer reviewed papers. Of these, six will be presented as full papers and two as short papers. These papers cover a number of themes, including: the teaching of data mining and data warehousing, SQL and NoSQL, databases at school, and database curricula themselves. The final paper will give a timely ten-year review of TLAD workshops, and it is expected that these papers will lead to a stimulating closing discussion, which will continue beyond the workshop. We also look forward to a keynote presentation by Karen Fraser, who has contributed to many TLAD workshops as the HEA organizer. Titled “An Effective Higher Education Academy”, the keynote will discuss the Academy’s plans for the future and outline how participants can get involved

Teaching Introductory Statistics with DataCamp

We designed a sequence of courses for the DataCamp online learning platform that approximates the content of a typical introductory statistics course. We discuss the design and implementation of these courses and illustrate how they can be successfully integrated into a brick-and-mortar class. We reflect on the process of creating content for online consumers, ruminate on the pedagogical considerations we faced, and describe an R package for statistical inference that became a by-product of this development process. We discuss the pros and cons of creating the course sequence and express our view that some aspects were particularly problematic. The issues raised should be relevant to nearly all statistics instructors. Supplementary materials for this article are available online

Collective Learning for Developing Cyber Defense Consciousness: An Activity System Analysis

This paper explores the perceptions of undergraduate students experiencing an educational intervention in a cybersecurity course. The intervention was developed using activity theory. Laboratory activities were designed to ‘protect’ and ‘poke around’ systems and networks in a sandbox cloud environment. These activities provided dynamic opportunities to tackle cyber challenges through teamwork. Transcripts of interviews with students (working as system administrators) were analyzed to describe the development of their cyber defense consciousness. Activity system node analysis reveals the transformative development of cybersecurity consciousness over time that involves the internalization of skills and knowledge; reliance on community for support, information, and acculturation; working with others through the division of labor; as well as their struggle with the demands of cybersecurity work. The cyber defense activity model further unveils the potential of collective learning in teams as depicted by four mediated relationships. The study contributes by building a foundation for a pedagogical approach that transforms the cyber defense consciousness through the collective learning activity model