While many institutions provide centralized technology support for faculty, there is a lack of centralized professional development opportunities that focus on simultaneously developing instructors’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) in higher education. Additionally, there are few professional development opportunities for faculty that continue throughout the practice of teaching with technology. We propose a model of continuing professional development that provides instructors with the ability to meaningfully integrate technology into their teaching practices through centralized support for developing TPACK. In doing so, we draw upon several theoretical frameworks and evidence based practices.

The use of blended learning is well suited for classes that involve a high level of experiential inquiry such as internship courses. These courses allow students to combine applied, face-to-face fieldwork activities with a reflective academic component delivered online. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe the pedagogical design and implementation of a pilot blended learning format internship course. After implementation, the pilot class was assessed. Results of the survey and focus group revealed high levels of student satisfaction in the areas of course structure, faculty-student interaction, and application of theory to the “real-world” experience undertaken by students during the internship. Lower levels of satisfaction with the course’s academic rigor and a sense of community were also reported. Notably, students with experience in blended learning expressed lower levels of overall satisfaction, but reported higher levels of satisfaction with the course’s rigor and sense of community. The paper concludes by offering implications for instructors seeking to implement blended learning approaches.

Many parents, educators, and policy makers see great potential for leveraging tools like laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones in the classrooms of the world. Although increasing students’ technology access may be associated with increased student achievement, there is little research directly investigating objective measures of student achievement. This study addresses the short-term and long-term quantitative impacts of one of the world’s first school efforts to provide Kindergarten through 3rd grade classrooms with 1:1 iPad access and a range of English Language Arts (ELA) and math Apps. This report summarizes two investigations conducted during this iPad implementation. First, a 9-week pre/post randomized control trial was conducted in which 8 Kindergarten classes used literacy and numeracy apps while another 8 Kindergarten classes used their traditional (non-iPad) resources. At the end of this short implementation period, slightly stronger literacy performance gains were observed in the iPad settings. In a second longitudinal study, three years of assessment data were explored before and after the 1:1 iPad implementation in grades K to 2. Results from the longitudinal study provide emerging evidence of potential increases in ELA achievement, but no consistent results in math achievement. This paper adds to the sparse literature in this area and provides a springboard for further research.

Teaching advanced programming can be a challenge, especially when the students are pursuing different majors with diverse analytical and problem-solving capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the efficacy of using a particular problem as a vehicle for imparting a broad set of programming concepts and problem-solving techniques. We present a classic brain teaser that is used to communicate and demonstrate advanced software development concepts and techniques. Our results show that students with varied academic experiences and goals, assuming at least one procedural/structured programming pre-requisite, can benefit from and also be challenged by such an exercise. Although this problem has been used by others in the classroom, we believe that our use of this problem in imparting such a broad range of topics to a diverse student population is unique.

As mobile devices become prevalent, there is always a need for apps.  How hard is it to develop an app especially a cross-platform app? The paper shares an experience in a project involved the development of a student services web app that can be run on cross-platform mobile devices.  The paper first describes the background of the project, the clients, and the proposed solution.  Then, it focuses on the step-by-step development processes and provides the illustration of written codes and techniques used.  The goal is for readers to gain an understanding on how to develop a mobile-friendly web app.  The paper concludes with teaching implications and offers thoughts for further development.  

New web technologies have enabled online education to take on a massive scale, prompting many universities to create massively open online courses (MOOCs) that take advantage of these technologies in a seemingly effortless manner. Designing a MOOC, however, is anything but trivial. It involves developing content, learning activities, and assessments to accommodate both the massiveness and openness of the course. To design an effective MOOC, instructors need to integrate both pedagogical and information systems theory. In this paper, we present a case study of a MOOC grant and a series of decisions made in its development. These decisions, when paired with the theoretical framework, suggest five principles – meaningful, engaging, measurable, accessible, and scalable – may be applicable to future MOOC development projects.

Technology skills are assumed to be a necessity for college and career success, but technology is constantly evolving. Thus, development of students’ technology skills is an on-going and persistent issue. Standards from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the International Society for Technology in Education encourage educators to teach skills that help students adapt to changing working environments. These skills resemble the National Association for Gifted Children’s program and teacher preparation standards. Descriptive research about what is already occurring in classrooms has been done, but the information is frequently limited to a list of activities. A qualitative multi-case phenomenological study of six Alabama teachers of the gifted examined how they use and shape technology experiences with students, and promote student learning of 21st century skills. The teachers were chosen for the case study due to their reputation as teachers skilled in using technology with students. Lesson plans, interviews, and observations were used to discover themes between the teachers. Findings from the research indicate that educational technology use with students is shaped by factors such as teacher attitudes and expertise, available equipment and support, pedagogical decisions related to working with technology, and the particular student group participating in the technology use.

As both the frequency and the severity of network breaches have increased in recent years, it is essential that cybersecurity is incorporated into the core of business operations. Evidence from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012) indicates that there is, and will continue to be, a severe shortage of cybersecurity professionals nationwide throughout the next decade. To fill this job shortage we need a workforce with strong hands-on experience in the latest technologies and software tools to catch up with the rapid evolution of network technologies. It is vital that the IT professionals possess up-to-date technical skills and think and act one step ahead of the cyber criminals who are constantly probing and exploring system vulnerabilities. There is no perfect security mechanism that can defeat all the cyber-attacks; the traditional defensive security mechanism will eventually fail to the pervasive zero-day attacks. However, there are steps to follow to reduce an organization’s vulnerability to cyber-attacks and to mitigate damages. Active security tests of the network from a cyber-criminal’s perspective can identify system vulnerabilities that may lead to future breaches. “If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. But if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of hundred battles” (Sun, 2013). Penetration testing is a discipline within cybersecurity that focuses on identifying and exploiting the vulnerabilities of a network, eventually obtaining access to the critical business information. The pentesters, the security professionals who perform penetration testing, or ethical hackers, break the triad of information security - Confidentiality, Integrity, and Accountability (CIA) - as if they were a cyber-criminal. The purpose of ethical hacking or penetration testing is to know what the “enemy” can do and then generate a report for the management team to aid in strengthening the system, never to cause any real damages. This paper introduces the development of a penetration testing curriculum as a core class in an undergraduate cybersecurity track in Information Technology. The teaching modules are developed based on the professional penetration testing life cycle. The concepts taught in the class are enforced by hands-on lab exercises. This paper also shares the resources that are available to institutions looking for teaching materials and grant opportunities to support efforts when creating a similar curriculum in cybersecurity.

This research study explores peer teaching and learning without a domain expert teacher, within the context of an activity where teams of second level students (~16 years old) are required to create a learning experience for their peers. The study looks at how participants would like to be taught and how they would teach their peers if given the opportunity and examines the support they require, their motivation levels, and if they actually learn curriculum content using this approach. An exploratory case study methodology was used, and the findings suggest that students want varied learning experiences that include many of the elements which would fall under the heading of 21st century learning, that with some support and encouragement they can create innovative learning experiences for their peers, and that they can learn curriculum content from the process.

An online Moodle Workshop was evaluated for peer assessment effectiveness. A quasi-experiment was designed using a Seminar in Professionalism course taught in face-to-face mode to undergraduate students across two campuses. The first goal was to determine if Moodle Workshop awarded a fair peer grader grade. The second objective was to estimate if students were consistent and reliable in performing their peer assessments. Statistical techniques were used to answer the research hypotheses. Although Workshop Moodle did not have a built-in measure for peer assessment validity, t-tests and reliability estimates were calculated to demonstrate that the grades were consistent with what faculty expected. Implications were asserted to improve teaching and recommendations were provided to enhance Moodle.