MIRTO: an open-source robotic platform for education

This paper introduces the MIddlesex RoboTic platfOrm (MIRTO), an open-source platform that has been used for teaching First Year Computer Science students since the academic year 2013/2014, with the aim of providing a physical manifestation of Software Engineering concepts that are often delivered using only abstract or synthetic case studies. In this paper we provide a detailed description of the platform, whose hardware specifications and software libraries are all released open source; we describe a number of teaching usages of the platform, report students’ projects, and evaluate some of its aspects in terms of effectiveness, usability, and maintenance

MIRTO: an open-source robotic platform for education

This paper introduces the MIddlesex RoboTic platfOrm (MIRTO), an open-source platform that has been used for teaching First Year Computer Science students since the academic year 2013/2014, with the aim of providing a physical manifestation of Software Engineering concepts that are often delivered using only abstract or synthetic case studies. In this paper we provide a detailed description of the platform, whose hardware specifications and software libraries are all released open source; we describe a number of teaching usages of the platform, report students’ projects, and evaluate some of its aspects in terms of effectiveness, usability, and maintenance

Software platform virtualization in chemistry research and university teaching

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Modern chemistry laboratories operate with a wide range of software applications under different operating systems, such as Windows, LINUX or Mac OS X. Instead of installing software on different computers it is possible to install those applications on a single computer using Virtual Machine software. Software platform virtualization allows a single guest operating system to execute multiple other operating systems on the same computer. We apply and discuss the use of virtual machines in chemistry research and teaching laboratories.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Virtual machines are commonly used for cheminformatics software development and testing. Benchmarking multiple chemistry software packages we have confirmed that the computational speed penalty for using virtual machines is low and around 5% to 10%. Software virtualization in a teaching environment allows faster deployment and easy use of commercial and open source software in hands-on computer teaching labs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Software virtualization in chemistry, mass spectrometry and cheminformatics is needed for software testing and development of software for different operating systems. In order to obtain maximum performance the virtualization software should be multi-core enabled and allow the use of multiprocessor configurations in the virtual machine environment. Server consolidation, by running multiple tasks and operating systems on a single physical machine, can lead to lower maintenance and hardware costs especially in small research labs. The use of virtual machines can prevent software virus infections and security breaches when used as a sandbox system for internet access and software testing. Complex software setups can be created with virtual machines and are easily deployed later to multiple computers for hands-on teaching classes. We discuss the popularity of bioinformatics compared to cheminformatics as well as the missing cheminformatics education at universities worldwide.</p

Teaching Software Engineering in the Cloud: Applying Cloud Computing Services in E-Business Education

Teaching Business Information Systems topics at academic institutions can profit a lot from applying the theoretical knowledge in hands‐on exercises in‐ and outside the class room employing standard software. Most software vendors provide academic licenses for their products which can be utilized by academic institution. The installation and maintenance of software products especially at Universities of Applied Sciences is usually not feasible due to staffing, knowledge, and funding restrictions. Cloud services lower these “barriers of entry”. This paper provides a show case which demonstrates how cloud services can be combined in a course setting teaching “E‐Business” in an undergraduate course at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. During exercises in a PC lab and on their own devices, the usage of Cloud services allowed students to gain practical experience in working with an industry standard collaborative code versioning system (git)

Learning technology in Scottish higher education ‐ a survey of the views of senior managers, academic staff and ‘experts’

As part of an evaluation of the Scottish Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative (LTDI), a survey was conducted of the views of academic staff, members of computer‐assisted learning and staff development units, and senior managers in all Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs). Most respondents across all subject areas and types of institutions (including those who rated themselves as less experienced with use of C&IT in teaching than their colleagues) believed that learning technology (LT) had moderate to very high potential for improving the way in which students learn. Awareness of the various agencies which have been established to promote its use in HEIs was very high, with few staff being unaware of any of them. Senior staff largely agreed that the value of these approaches lay in the improvement or maintenance of quality rather than in creating efficiency gains. Whilst there was a mostly positive view of the value of learning technology there are still significant barriers to its uptake by staff, the most important being lack of time, infrastructure, software and training, plus a failure (perceived or actual) of institutions to value teaching. The rather pessimistic view of ‘experts’ of the willingness of their less committed colleagues to make use of learning technology contrasted with the generally positive responses obtained from a broad group of 1,000 academic staff on their awareness of and attitudes to it. An analysis of the SHEFC's Teaching Quality Assessment reports during 1992–6 revealed substantial variability between and within subject assessments as to whether specific comments were made about IT provision and its use in learning and teaching

Developing Instructional Material for Teaching Software Comprehension/Maintenance

Software maintenance is a costly problem for industry. Traditional Computer Science programs often do not prepare students to face this problem. Since a large part of software maintenance is software comprehension, better comprehension methods are part of the answer to the problem. Students often do not know how to comprehend already written code. Students should be taught a standardized way of software comprehension in preparation for the software maintenance jobs most will have. The comprehension/maintenance area of computer science education has not been extensively covered as a research topic. This work is a detailed proposal for a software maintenance course, using techniques utilized by other researchers to teach software maintenance and software comprehension techniques in a required course. The course includes best practices, a large-scale project, and focuses primarily on code comprehension methods in order to prepare students for a job in industry..Computer Science Departmen

RANCARancang Bangun Website E-Learning Program Studi Pendidikan Jasmani, Kesehatan dan Rekreasi Jurusan Ilmu Pendidikan FKIP Universitas Palangka Raya

Physical Education and Recreation Study Program is one of Study Programs of Education Stream of Faculty of Teacher and Education of Palangka Raya University. During this time, learning and teaching activity in Physical Education and Recreation Study Program (PJKR) happens with one condition in which there is a meeting between students and lecturer in a class. If the meeting does not happen this means the learning and teaching activity will be interrupted or delayed. To solve the problem of delayed learning and teaching activity, it is needed a certain facility which is available to maximize the learning and teaching process through the development of technology in education area. This is known as website e-learning. This website was constructed using PHP, database MySQL and also phases of waterfall software development method; Analysis and Definition of Need, System Plan and Software, Implementation and Test of Unit, Integration and Test of System, and Operation and Maintenance. The result of the blackbox test showed that website e-learning PJKR Program Study could manage feature of e-learning which were lecture materials and assignments or quizes. This e-learning ran well accordance with its desig

Role-playing software architecture styles

[Abstract]: Software Architecture, from definition to maintenance and evolution, is a complex aspect of software development and, consequently, a challenging subject when it comes to teaching it, and learning it.Many research efforts have been devoted to designing teaching approaches, strategies and tools. Most of them, however, focus on the knowledge itself and the ways to convey it to students, rather than on the different learning styles of students themselves.Teaching methods which predominantly rely on verbal and written communication, are very well aligned with some learning styles. However, students with learning styles that benefit more from physical activity or first-hand experience, need to defer to cognitive processes that are less natural to them.In this work, we propose an innovative use of role-playing as teaching strategy for architecture models of reference (i.e. layered, pipe & filter, client-server, etc.). This role-playing of different software architectures, in which students play the part of specific components in the system, intends to complement other classical teaching materials, such as in-person or recorded lectures, lab assignments, or development projects.Addressing all learning styles within a classroom is key to ensure that we favour and foster the students' different learning processes, and give everyone an even playfield in which to best develop their capabilities as Software Architects.Supported by the Centro de Investigación de Galicia “CITIC”, funded by Xunta de Galicia and the European Regional Development Fund (grant ED431G 2019/01).Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/0

Making the Switch from Learningzone to UUM Online Learning

A Learning Management System (LMS) was developed for UUM lecturers and students as a complement to the existing conventional teaching and learning methods. UUM Online Learning was the third LMS used by Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) to perform all teaching and learning activities through web applicatons.The first LMS introduced in UUM was the Learning Care which was a third party software that incurred high maintenance costs.Consequently, it was instantly replaced by an inhouse developed LMS, known as Learningzone, in July 2009.The transition time from the Learning Care to Learningzone took approximately TWO (2) semesters from July 2009 until Januari 2010 before the Learning Care was fully replaced

ICT (WEB.DESIGN)AND JAVANESE LANGUAGE LEARNING IN INDONESIA: REVITALIZATION INDIGENOUS LANGUGES

In this paper, I would like to focus on Javanese language as indigenous language in Indonesia that needs to preserve and develop especially Javanese letters and naturalness conversation. This paper also describes important areas in which technology plays a role in language and culture revitalization and explores efforts made by Indigenous communities to preserve, maintain and revitalize their Indigenous language with the help of computer technology. Why Javanese language?, The Javanese language is becoming endangered, even though it is one of the compulsory subjects taught at Javanese schools. Students become unmotivated when they learn the language at school because of boring and irrelevant teaching and learning materials. Furthermore, their closest mentors such as teachers, parents and relatives cannot provide motivating conditions to learn the Javanese language. In order to preserve the Javanese language through education at schools, ICT-Web Design is an approach proposed for Javanese language learning. The students can learn the usage of Javanese language at a proper Javanese letters, level of politeness through a natural dialogue with ICT. An approach that is not new, but which has been under-utilized and has yet to be proven useful in Indigenous communities is the integration of technology to supplement efforts in Indigenous language education, revitalization and maintenance programs. Many Indigenous communities have embraced technologies, such as audio, video, multimedia, Internet and etc as a means to revitalize their language. However, the language revitalization employs the following categories: Indigenous language preservation; documentation and material development; and building communicative community can be applied to other Indigenous languages as well