Computer-mediated communication (CMC) and English for specific purposes (ESP): an investigation of the use of synchronous CMC to meet the needs of computer science students

The purpose of this research was to investigate whether synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) would be an effective tool to meet the English for specific purposes (ESP) needs of language learners. A single tertiary education institution in Malaysia was used as the context of the study. A preliminary investigation was conducted to analyze present and target situation needs and lacks of Computer Science students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Results revealed Computer Science students at UTM need training and practice in the specific communication skills of interviewing and group discussion for systems analysis and design for their current academic needs and future career as CSPs. In order to be successful CSPs the students need to be competent in both face-to-face and electronic forms of communication which include synchronous CMC to elicit information or conduct group discussions such as joint application design (JAD) with their clients. Findings also indicated that Computer Science students and CSPs who graduated from local universities experienced problems articulating orally in English due to speech anxiety, lack of confidence and lack of practice. A set of tasks called CMC ESP tasks were designed and conducted via a synchronous CMC environment to address these needs and lacks. Prior to the Main Study, I conducted two feasibility studies to find out the practicality and suitability of using CMC tools and CMC task types with Computer Science students at UTM. Seventy-two second year Computer Science students participated in the first feasibility study and tested the practicality of using two synchronous CMC tools: 1) NetMeeting for computer-mediated written interaction and 2) Device Duo for computer-mediated oral interaction. Results suggested it was logistically possible to use both synchronous CMC tools but it was more feasible to use Net Meeting because it can simulate real-time text-based discussions and meetings which are common among CSPs. Twenty-seven first year Computer Science students participated in the second feasibility study which confirmed the usability of several CMC ESP task types for investigating the effects of the CMC ESP method on Computer Science students at UTM. I then conducted a longitudinal study. During the main study, an intact group of 32 first year Computer Science undergraduates were subjected to the CMC ESP method (treatment) as part of the activities in their English for Academic Communication (EAC) module. Students were given pre- and post-treatment oral assessment to find out the short term effect of the CMC ESP method on the development of their interviewing and group discussion skills for systems analysis and design. Findings from these assessments were triangulated with the results of pre- and post-treatment self-assessment attitude questionnaires and the analysis of the chat transcripts from the tasks. Results were encouraging. Participants achieved a significant gain in their overall oral performance and in terms of task fulfilment, language and communication ability in the oral assessment

Promoting Programming Learning. Engagement, Automatic Assessment with Immediate Feedback in Visualizations

The skill of programming is a key asset for every computer science student. Many studies have shown that this is a hard skill to learn and the outcomes of programming courses have often been substandard. Thus, a range of methods and tools have been developed to assist students’ learning processes. One of the biggest fields in computer science education is the use of visualizations as a learning aid and many visualization based tools have been developed to aid the learning process during last few decades. Studies conducted in this thesis focus on two different visualizationbased tools TRAKLA2 and ViLLE. This thesis includes results from multiple empirical studies about what kind of effects the introduction and usage of these tools have on students’ opinions and performance, and what kind of implications there are from a teacher’s point of view. The results from studies in this thesis show that students preferred to do web-based exercises, and felt that those exercises contributed to their learning. The usage of the tool motivated students to work harder during their course, which was shown in overall course performance and drop-out statistics. We have also shown that visualization-based tools can be used to enhance the learning process, and one of the key factors is the higher and active level of engagement (see. Engagement Taxonomy by Naps et al., 2002). The automatic grading accompanied with immediate feedback helps students to overcome obstacles during the learning process, and to grasp the key element in the learning task. These kinds of tools can help us to cope with the fact that many programming courses are overcrowded with limited teaching resources. These tools allows us to tackle this problem by utilizing automatic assessment in exercises that are most suitable to be done in the web (like tracing and simulation) since its supports students’ independent learning regardless of time and place. In summary, we can use our course’s resources more efficiently to increase the quality of the learning experience of the students and the teaching experience of the teacher, and even increase performance of the students. There are also methodological results from this thesis which contribute to developing insight into the conduct of empirical evaluations of new tools or techniques. When we evaluate a new tool, especially one accompanied with visualization, we need to give a proper introduction to it and to the graphical notation used by tool. The standard procedure should also include capturing the screen with audio to confirm that the participants of the experiment are doing what they are supposed to do. By taken such measures in the study of the learning impact of visualization support for learning, we can avoid drawing false conclusion from our experiments. As computer science educators, we face two important challenges. Firstly, we need to start to deliver the message in our own institution and all over the world about the new – scientifically proven – innovations in teaching like TRAKLA2 and ViLLE. Secondly, we have the relevant experience of conducting teaching related experiment, and thus we can support our colleagues to learn essential know-how of the research based improvement of their teaching. This change can transform academic teaching into publications and by utilizing this approach we can significantly increase the adoption of the new tools and techniques, and overall increase the knowledge of best-practices. In future, we need to combine our forces and tackle these universal and common problems together by creating multi-national and multiinstitutional research projects. We need to create a community and a platform in which we can share these best practices and at the same time conduct multi-national research projects easily.Siirretty Doriast

An Applied Study on Educational Use of Facebook as a Web 2.0 Tool: The Sample Lesson of Computer Networks and Communication

The main aim of the research was to examine educational use of Facebook. The Computer Networks and Communication lesson was taken as the sample and the attitudes of the students included in the study group towards Facebook were measured in a semi-experimental setup. The students on Facebook platform were examined for about three months and they continued their education interactively in that virtual environment. After the-three-month-education period, observations for the students were reported and the attitudes of the students towards Facebook were measured by three different measurement tools. As a result, the attitudes of the students towards educational use of Facebook and their views were heterogeneous. When the average values of the group were examined, it was reported that the attitudes towards educational use of Facebook was above a moderate level. Therefore, it might be suggested that social networks in virtual environments provide continuity in life long learning.Comment: 11 page

Emergent requirements for supporting introductory programming

The problems associated with learning and teaching first year University Computer Science (CS1) programming classes are summarized showing that various support tools and techniques have been developed and evaluated. From this review of applicable support the paper derives ten requirements that a support tool should have in order to improve CS1 student success rate with respect to learning and understanding

Defining Technology for Learning: Cognitive and Physical Tools of Inquiry

This essay explores definitions of technology and educational technology. The authors argue the following points: 1. Educational stakeholders, and the public at large, use the term technology as though it has a universally agreed upon definition. It does not, and how technology is defined matters. 2. For technology in schools to support student learning, it must to be defined in a way that describes technology as a tool for problem-solving. 3. Integration of technology, particularly when paired with teacher-centered practices, has the potential of reinforcing and heightening the negative consequences of a conception of learning that positions students as recipients of knowledge instead constructors of knowledge. Essay concludes with a call for leaders in the field of educational technology to provide guidance by adopting a definition that encapsulates the third point above

Visual and Textual Programming Languages: A Systematic Review of the Literature

It is well documented, and has been the topic of much research, that Computer Science courses tend to have higher than average drop out rates at third level. This is a problem that needs to be addressed with urgency but also caution. The required number of Computer Science graduates is growing every year but the number of graduates is not meeting this demand and one way that this problem can be alleviated is to encourage students at an early age towards studying Computer Science courses. This paper presents a systematic literature review on the role of visual and textual programming languages when learning to program, particularly as a first programming language. The approach is systematic, in that a structured search of electronic resources has been conducted, and the results are presented and quantitatively analysed. This study will give insight into whether or not the current approaches to teaching young learners programming are viable, and examines what we can do to increase the interest and retention of these students as they progress through their education.Comment: 18 pages (including 2 bibliography pages), 3 figure

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) and English for specific purposes (ESP) : an investigation of the use of synchronous CMC to meet the needs of computer science students

The purpose of this research was to investigate whether synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) would be an effective tool to meet the English for specific purposes (ESP) needs of language learners. A single tertiary education institution in Malaysia was used as the context of the study. A preliminary investigation was conducted to analyze present and target situation needs and lacks of Computer Science students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Results revealed Computer Science students at UTM need training and practice in the specific communication skills of interviewing and group discussion for systems analysis and design for their current academic needs and future career as CSPs. In order to be successful CSPs the students need to be competent in both face-to-face and electronic forms of communication which include synchronous CMC to elicit information or conduct group discussions such as joint application design (JAD) with their clients. Findings also indicated that Computer Science students and CSPs who graduated from local universities experienced problems articulating orally in English due to speech anxiety, lack of confidence and lack of practice. A set of tasks called CMC ESP tasks were designed and conducted via a synchronous CMC environment to address these needs and lacks. Prior to the Main Study, I conducted two feasibility studies to find out the practicality and suitability of using CMC tools and CMC task types with Computer Science students at UTM. Seventy-two second year Computer Science students participated in the first feasibility study and tested the practicality of using two synchronous CMC tools: 1) NetMeeting for computer-mediated written interaction and 2) Device Duo for computer-mediated oral interaction. Results suggested it was logistically possible to use both synchronous CMC tools but it was more feasible to use Net Meeting because it can simulate real-time text-based discussions and meetings which are common among CSPs. Twenty-seven first year Computer Science students participated in the second feasibility study which confirmed the usability of several CMC ESP task types for investigating the effects of the CMC ESP method on Computer Science students at UTM. I then conducted a longitudinal study. During the main study, an intact group of 32 first year Computer Science undergraduates were subjected to the CMC ESP method (treatment) as part of the activities in their English for Academic Communication (EAC) module. Students were given pre- and post-treatment oral assessment to find out the short term effect of the CMC ESP method on the development of their interviewing and group discussion skills for systems analysis and design. Findings from these assessments were triangulated with the results of pre- and post-treatment self-assessment attitude questionnaires and the analysis of the chat transcripts from the tasks. Results were encouraging. Participants achieved a significant gain in their overall oral performance and in terms of task fulfilment, language and communication ability in the oral assessment.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Mobile technologies: prospects for their use in learning in informal science settings

Recent developments in mobile technologies have offered the potential to support learners studying a variety of subjects. In this paper we explore the possibilities related to science learners and in particular focus on science learners in informal settings and reflect on a number of recent projects in order to consider the prospects for such work. The debate on informal learning acknowledges the complexity of the area and the difficulty of defining informal learning. One view is to consider the settings in which learning takes place as a continuum from formal settings, e.g. university, to social structures, e.g. friendship groups (Sefton-Green, 2004). The literature on science learning with mobile devices at this very 'informal' end of the spectrum is currently sparse and so in the paper we reflect on some projects and possibilities across the continuum. Our main focus is how mobile devices can support informal learning in science and research possibilities. Some of the recent research on mobile learning has used an activity theoretical perspective, including one of the case studies we discuss and in the final part of the paper we highlight the influence of activity theory in helping us to consider the complexity of the learning settings