Virtual reality learning environments : Development of multi-user reference support experiences

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a case study on virtual reality (VR) learning environments, focused on the development and integration of multi-user reference support.This paper used a case study methodology to understand applied software development incorporating textual browsing experiences within the HTC Vive virtual reality headset. An open corpus of text from the HathiTrust Digital Library accessed via the API was used as a data source. In collaboration with students from a senior undergraduate Computer Science project course, the project team developed software to pilot a multi-user VR experience, with functionality for users to search, discover and select e-books and other digitized content from the HathiTrust digital library. Overall, the system has been developed as a prototype e-book experiment to model several VR affordances for browsing, user support and educational endeavors within libraries. Within the VR reading room pilot, users are able collaboratively explore digital collections. Aspects of reference librarian user support were modeled in the VR system including communication in real-time using chat features and text highlighting and manipulation tools that are unique to learning in VR environments.Ope

Mejores prácticas y criterios de calidad en el proceso de desarrollo de código en los cursos de programación en la enseñanza superior

The interest of this study lies in contributing to investigate the challenges that programming students face, who invest time developing poor programs. For this reason, this article offers a perspective of the programming situation in higher education in Mexico based on interviews conducted to teachers who teach programming classes in different colleges in Mexico, as well as studies made in higher education institutes (HEI) regarding programming subjects. Likewise, an investigation about software engineering practices and quality criteria (QC) used in the programming courses in the university environment, considering teachers from public universities, is presented. The objective of this study is to stablish a set of good practices, both administrative and engineering, and QC in the development process, in the life cycle (LC), to improve programming courses and encourage the students to adopt good practices in the early stages of their professional training. The above will contribute to improve their development process and will help create better programs with optimal results.El interés de este estudio radica en contribuir a investigar las dificultades que presentan los estudiantes en los cursos de programación, quienes invierten tiempo al desarrollar programas con deficiencias. Por esta razón, este artículo ofrece una perspectiva de la situación de la programación en la educación superior en México basándose en entrevistas realizadas a docentes que imparten clases de programación en diferentes universidades de la República Mexicana, así como en estudios efectuados en instituciones de educación superior (IES) sobre el tema de la programación. Asimismo, se expone la investigación realizada sobre las prácticas de ingeniería de software y los criterios de calidad (CC) utilizados en los cursos de programación en el ámbito universitario, considerando a docentes de universidades públicas. El objetivo de este estudio es establecer un conjunto de buenas prácticas, administrativas y de ingeniería, y CC en el proceso de desarrollo, en el ciclo de vida (CV), para mejorar los cursos de programación y para alentar a los estudiantes a adoptar buenas prácticas en las primeras fases de su formación profesional. Lo anterior contribuirá a que mejoren su proceso de desarrollo y a que creen programas con resultados óptimos