Towards a multidimensional self-assessment for software process improvement: a pilot tool

The SPI Manifesto provides a framework for guiding software development organisations in their improvement efforts. Based on the Values of People, Business and Change, which are supported and informed by one or more of the ten principles, the designer and developer can avoid pitfalls, minimise risks and make their business successful. It has been established, in theory and practice, that improving the process results in improvement of the products and services emanating from that process. Following a number of earlier multidimensional analyses of the SPI Manifesto, carried out by the authors, a series of tabular representations identifying the nature, importance and strength of relationships between the Manifesto’s Values and Principles in terms of eight dimensions encapsulated in the acronym STEEPLED (Sociocultural, Technical, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical and Demographic) were developed. In this paper, we present a conceptualisation of a pilot automated tool (based on the STEEPLED Analysis), which could, potentially, be implemented/realised and used for self-assessment by software developing organisations. Starting with a self-assessment, current issues and requirements could be identified and revealed. The self-assessment using the pilot automated tool would, additionally, reveal areas requiring improvement, and would serve as a guide for the participating organisation to put focus on prioritising candidate process areas that require improvement. Also, the field testing of the pilot tool could enable the design and improvement of the tool itself, which, in turn, will be used in future for expert external/independent process assessment

Classifying previously undefined days from eleven years of aerosol-particle-size distribution data from the SMEAR II station, Hyytiälä, Finland

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Rapid migration from traditional or hybrid to fully virtual education in the age of the coronavirus pandemic: challenges, experiences and views of college and university students

The abrupt outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic throughout the world in March 2020 resulted in the sudden closure of all schools, colleges and universities, institutions, and an unprecedented pivot to remote learning. Students and teachers were confronted with the overwhelming challenge of migrating from the traditional face-to-face or hybrid mode of education to fully virtual learning and assessment environments within an extremely short amount of time. This migration was exceptionally difficult, as it took place halfway through the academic or school year in most countries. While pandemic restrictions currently vary across different regions, the 2020-2021 academic session continues to pose challenges despite the experience gained. In addition to a review of the current state-of-the-art in relation to the effects of COVID-19 on teaching and learning, this paper reports on an empirical study carried out in 26 countries (from Asia, Europe, Africa and America), by 36 academics from 29 academic institutions. Through an extensive global survey of college and university students, information was collected about the challenges (technological, economic, psychological) faced by them, as a result of the pandemic. We also asked the students’ to offer their ideas and suggestions for further improvements in teaching and learning, as we look toward a post-COVID world. In this paper, we address issues relating to the availability of, and accessibility to, necessary digital technologies (e.g., learning and communication platforms), isolation, disconnection, and loneliness among students, the overall impact of the pandemic on learning and academic performance, and the reliability of assessment methods., cybercrime dangers and fake information. A total of 1005 responses to the survey were received and analysed. The results are presented in this paper together with reflections of the authors. The paper concludes with a summary of suggestions for process improvements in distance education, and the need for preventive preparedness in the post-COVID period

Challenges of rapid migration to fully virtual education in the age of the Corona virus pandemic: experiences from across the world

The social disruption caused by the sudden eruption of the Corona Virus pandemic has shaken the whole world, influencing all levels of education immensely. Notwithstanding there was a lack of preparedness for this global public health emergency which continues to affect all aspects of work and life. The problem is, naturally, multifaceted, fast evolving and complex, affecting everyone, threatening our well-being, the global economy, the environment and all societal and cultural norms and our everyday activities. In a recent UNESCO report it is noted that nearly a billion and a quarter (which is 67,7 % of the total number) of learners have been affected by the Corona Virus pandemic worldwide. The education sector at all levels has been one of the hardest hit sectors particularly as the academic/school year was in full swing. The impact of the pandemic is widespread, representing a health hazard worldwide. Being such, it profoundly affects society as a whole, and its members that are, in particular, i) individuals (the learners, their parents, educators, support staff), ii) schools, training organisations, pedagogical institutions and education systems, iii) quickly transformed policies, methods and pedagogies to serve the newly appeared needs of the latter. Lengthy developments of such scale usually take years of consultation, strategic planning and implementation. In addition to raising awareness across the population of the dangers of the virus transmission and instigating total lockdown, it has been necessary to develop mechanisms for continuing the delivery of education as well as demanding mechanisms for assuring the quality of the educational experience and educational results. There is often scepticism about securing quality standards in such a fast moving situation. Often in the recent past, the perception was that courses and degrees leading to an award are inferior if the course modules (and sometimes its assessment components) were wholly online. Over the last three decades most Higher Education institutions developed both considerable infrastructure and knowhow enabling distance mode delivery schools (Primary and Secondary) had hardly any necessary infrastructure nor adequate knowhow for enabling virtual education. In addition, community education and various training providers were mainly delivered face-to-face and that had to either stop altogether or rapidly convert materials, exercises and tests for online delivery and testing. A high degree of flexibility and commitment was demanded of all involved and particularly from the educators, who undertook to produce new educational materials in order to provide online support to pupils and students. Apart from the delivery mode of education, which is serving for certificated programmes, it is essential to ensure that learners’ needs are thoroughly and continuously addressed and are efficiently supported throughout the Coronavirus or any other future lockdown. The latter can be originated by various causes and reasons that vary in nature, such as natural or socioeconomical. Readiness, thus, in addition to preparedness, is the primary key question and solution when it comes to quality education for any lockdown. In most countries, the compulsory primary and secondary education sectors have been facing a more difficult challenge than that faced by Higher Education. The poor or in many cases non-existent technological infrastructure and low technological expertise of the teachers, instructors and parents, make the delivery of virtual education difficult or even impossible. The latter, coupled with phenomena such as social exclusion and digital divide where thousands of households do not have adequate access to broadband Internet, Wi-Fi infrastructure and personal computers hamper the promising and strenuous virtual solutions. The shockwaves of the sudden demands on all sectors of society and on individuals required rapid decisions and actions. We will not attempt to answer the question “Why was the world unprepared for the onslaught of the Coronavirus pandemic” but need to ascertain the level of preparedness and readiness particularly of the education sector, to effect the required rapid transition. We aimed to identify the challenges, and problems faced by the educators and their institutions. Through first-hand experiences we also identify best practices and solutions reached. Thus we constructed a questionnaire to gather our own responses but also experiences from colleagues and members of our environment, family, friends, and colleagues. This paper reports the first-hand experiences and knowledge of 33 co-authors from 27 institutions and from 13 different countries from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The communication technologies and development platforms used are identified; the challenges faced as well as solutions and best practices are reported. The findings are consolidated into the four areas explored i.e. Development Platforms, Communications Technologies, Challenges/Problems and Solutions/Best Practices. The conclusion summarises the findings into emerging themes and similarities. Reflections on the lasting impact of the effect of Coronavirus on education, limitations of study, and indications of future work complete the paper

Systematic Review of Mucosal Immunity Induced by Oral and Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccines against Virus Shedding following Oral Poliovirus Challenge

Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) may be used in mass vaccination campaigns during the final stages of polio eradication. It is also likely to be adopted by many countries following the coordinated global cessation of vaccination with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) after eradication. The success of IPV in the control of poliomyelitis outbreaks will depend on the degree of nasopharyngeal and intestinal mucosal immunity induced against poliovirus infection. We performed a systematic review of studies published through May 2011 that recorded the prevalence of poliovirus shedding in stool samples or nasopharyngeal secretions collected 5–30 days after a “challenge” dose of OPV. Studies were combined in a meta-analysis of the odds of shedding among children vaccinated according to IPV, OPV, and combination schedules. We identified 31 studies of shedding in stool and four in nasopharyngeal samples that met the inclusion criteria. Individuals vaccinated with OPV were protected against infection and shedding of poliovirus in stool samples collected after challenge compared with unvaccinated individuals (summary odds ratio [OR] for shedding 0.13 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.08–0.24)). In contrast, IPV provided no protection against shedding compared with unvaccinated individuals (summary OR 0.81 [95% CI 0.59–1.11]) or when given in addition to OPV, compared with individuals given OPV alone (summary OR 1.14 [95% CI 0.82–1.58]). There were insufficient studies of nasopharyngeal shedding to draw a conclusion. IPV does not induce sufficient intestinal mucosal immunity to reduce the prevalence of fecal poliovirus shedding after challenge, although there was some evidence that it can reduce the quantity of virus shed. The impact of IPV on poliovirus transmission in countries where fecal-oral spread is common is unknown but is likely to be limited compared with OPV

Viidesluokkalaisten käsityksiä kiusaamisesta sekä kiusaamisen ennaltaehkäiseminen prosessidraaman avulla

Kiusaaminen on vakava ongelma koulussa. Kiusaamisen ennaltaehkäisemiseksi on tehty paljon työtä jo pitkään, mutta uusia keinoja tarvitaan. Draamakasvatus antaa monipuolisia välineitä käsitellä vaikeita asioita lasten kanssa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää lasten käsityksiä kiusaamisesta, sekä kokeilla prosessidraaman käyttämistä kiusaamisen ennaltaehkäisyssä. Tutkimuksessa on kolme tutkimuskysymystä: Miten lapset määrittelevät ja kertovat kokemuksistaan kiusaamisesta? Miten kiusaamiseen puututaan ja kuinka sitä ennaltaehkäistään koulussa? Mitkä ovat prosessidraaman haasteet ja mahdollisuudet kiusaamisen ennaltaehkäisemisessä? Aineisto hankittiin haastattelemalla erään koulun viidesluokkalaisia heidän kiusaamiskäsityksistään. Lisäksi oppilaiden kanssa tehtiin prosessidraama kiusaamisaiheesta. Tutkimuksen teoreettisena viitekehyksenä toimii kiusaamisesta aiemmin tehty tutkimus. Lisäksi tutkimuksen teoriaosassa käsitellään kokemuksellista oppimista, josta draamakasvatus on yksi esimerkki. Kokemuksellisen oppimisen mukaan oppiminen on ympäristön ja henkilön välistä vuorovaikutusta, jossa aiemmat kokemukset vaikuttavat siihen, mitä henkilö oppii. Prosessidraamassa hyödynnetään kokemuksellista oppimista, sillä draaman maailmassa oppilas saa kokemuksen siitä, millaista kiusaaminen on. Lisäksi hän pääsee reflektoimaan kokemuksiaan muiden kanssa ja oppii näin uutta. Teoreettisessa viitekehyksessä esitellään myös Cooling conflict- niminen menetelmä, jossa konflikteihin puututaan draaman ja vertaissovittelun avulla. Tutkimus kuuluu kvalitatiivisen tutkimuksen kenttään ja tutkimusmenetelmänä toimii fenomenografia, joka tarkastelee ihmisten käsityksiä tietystä aiheesta. Tutkimuksen draamaosuus kuuluu toimintatutkimuksen piiriin. Haastattelut olivat puolistrukturoituja parihaastatteluja. Yhteensä haastateltiin kuutta oppilasta. Haastatteluista muodostettiin neljä kategoriaa lasten puheessa esiintyneiden teemojen mukaan. Prosessidraamaan osallistui koko parikymmenhenkinen luokka. Sekä haastattelut, että draama videokuvattiin. Prosessidraamasta on analysoitu harjoitusten toimivuutta kiusaamisaiheen käsittelyssä sekä opettajan ja oppilaiden toimintaa draaman aikana. Haastatteluiden perusteella oppilailla oli selkeä käsitys siitä, mitä kiusaaminen on, ja se vastasi aiemmin tehtyjen tutkimusten tuloksia. Kiusaamiseksi mainittiin sekä fyysisiä, että henkisiä kiusaamismuotoja. Lasten mukaan kiusaaminen on kaikkea, mistä tulee toiselle paha mieli. Lapset kokivat, että kiusaamiseen tulee puuttua koulussa, ja he totesivat opettajan roolin olevan tärkeä kiusaamiseen puuttumisessa. Tosin myös oppilaiden oma vastuu siitä, että ketään ei kiusata, korostui lasten puheessa. Prosessidraaman haasteena on, että lapset voivat olla arkoja ilmaisemaan mielipiteensä ja mukailevat helposti kavereidensa tai suosittujen oppilaiden mielipiteitä. Opettajan tehtävänä on saada kaikki oppilaat osallistumaan draamaan. Draama on osalle luontainen tapa toimia ja oppia uutta, mutta ujommille oppilaille se on haastavaa. Draaman hyvä puoli on se, että vaikeaa asiaa voidaan käsitellä huumorin avulla. Draaman maailmassa käsiteltyjä asioita voidaan reflektoida yhdessä ja näin voidaan syventää oppilaiden kokemuksia ja saadaan uusia näkökulmia. Prosessidraamassa oppilaat oppivat kokemuksen ja reflektoinnin avulla kiusaamisesta ilmiönä, heidän empatiakykynsä kasvoi ja heidän sosiaaliset taitonsa kehittyivät. Prosessidraama on erittäin hyvä tapa käsitellä vaikeita asioita, kuten kiusaamista. Sen käyttöä tulisikin lisätä peruskoulussa

Features for Suitable Problems: IT Professionals' and IT Students' Opinions

One cannot be a problem solver without deep understanding of what constitutes a problem. Failing to recognise and define problems presents obstacles in constructing and applying knowledge in problem solving. This has been the motivation for the authors to re-examine in the context of IT (Information Technology) the concept, nature and types of a problem. The most and least important features of a problem are scrutinized, considering the problem-based learning experts’ opinions and a collection of IT students’ viewpoints. The authors (i) identify and critically comment on the features of a problem that are still needed in problem-based learning, and (ii) provide insights and guidelines on the position and use of problems for IT curriculum designers and IT professionals in problem-focused higher education