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The Influence of Teaching Methods on Learners’ Perception of E-safety

Aim/Purpose: The traditional method of teaching e-safety by lecturing is not very effective. Despite learners often being equipped with the right knowledge, they reject the need to act accordingly. There is a need to improve the way digital e-safety is taught. Background: The study compares four different teaching styles, examining how each affected the way students perceive a range of e-safety keywords and consequently the way they approach this issue. Methodology: The semantic differential technique was used to carry out the research. Students completed a semantic differential questionnaire before and after lessons. A total of 405 first year undergraduates took part in the study. Contribution: The paper contributes to the debate on appropriate methods for teaching e-safety, with an aim to influence learners’ attitudes. Findings: Experience-based learning seems to be very effective, confronting students with an e-safety situation and providing them with a negative experience. This teaching method had the biggest influence on students who were deceived by the prepared e-safety risk situation. Recommendations for Practitioners: E-safety instruction can be enhanced by ensuring that lessons provide students with a personal experience. Recommendation for Researchers: The semantic differential technique can be used to measure changes in learners’ attitudes during the teaching process. Impact on Society: Our findings may bring improvements to the way e-safety topics are taught, which could, in turn, evoke in learners a more positive e-safety attitude and a desire to improve their e-safety behavior. Future Research: More research needs to be carried out to examine how the experiential learning method affects the attitudes of younger learners (primary, middle, and high school students).




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The Impact of User Interface on Young Children’s Computational Thinking

Aim/Purpose: Over the past few years, new approaches to introducing young children to computational thinking have grown in popularity. This paper examines the role that user interfaces have on children’s mastery of computational thinking concepts and positive interpersonal behaviors. Background: There is a growing pressure to begin teaching computational thinking at a young age. This study explores the affordances of two very different programming interfaces for teaching computational thinking: a graphical coding application on the iPad (ScratchJr) and tangible programmable robotics kit (KIBO). Methodology : This study used a mixed-method approach to explore the learning experiences that young children have with tangible and graphical coding interfaces. A sample of children ages four to seven (N = 28) participated. Findings: Results suggest that type of user interface does have an impact on children’s learning, but is only one of many factors that affect positive academic and socio-emotional experiences. Tangible and graphical interfaces each have qualities that foster different types of learning




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The Impact of Hands-On Simulation Laboratories on Teaching of Wireless Communications

Aim/Purpose: To prepare students with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the field of wireless communications. Background: Teaching wireless communications and networking is not an easy task because it involves broad subjects and abstract content. Methodology: A pedagogical method that combined lectures, labs, assignments, exams, and readings was applied in a course of wireless communications. Contribution: Five wireless networking labs, related to wireless local networks, wireless security, and wireless sensor networks, were developed for students to complete all of the required hands-on lab activities. Findings: Both development and implementation of the labs achieved a successful outcome and provided students with a very effective learning experience. Students expressed that they had a better understanding of different wireless network technologies after finishing the labs. Recommendations for Practitioners: Detailed instructional lab manuals should be developed so that students can carry out hands-on activities in a step-by-step fashion. Recommendation for Researchers: Hands-on lab exercises can not only help students understand the abstract technical terms in a meaningful way, but also provide them with hands-on learning experience in terms of wireless network configuration, implementation, and evaluation. Impact on Society: With the help of a wireless network simulator, students have successfully enhanced their practical skills and it would benefit them should they decide to pursue a career in wireless network design or implementation. Future Research: Continuous revision of the labs will be made according to the feedback from students. Based on the experience, more wireless networking labs and network issues could be studied in the future.




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Activity Oriented Teaching Strategy for Software Engineering Course: An Experience Report

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents the findings of an Activity-Oriented Teaching Strategy (AOTS) conducted for a postgraduate level Software Engineering (SE) course with the aim of imparting meaningful software development experience for the students. The research question is framed as whether the activity-oriented teaching strategy helps students to acquire practical knowledge of Software Engineering and thus bridge the gap between academia and software industry. Background: Software Engineering Education (SEE) in India is mainly focused on teaching theoretical concepts rather than emphasizing on practical knowledge in software development process. It has been noticed that many students of CS/IT background are struggling when they start their career in the software industry due to inadequate familiarity with the software development process. In the current context of SE education, there is a knowledge gap between the theory learned in the classroom and the actual requirement demanded by the software industry. Methodology: The methodology opted for in this study was action research since the teachers are trying to solve the practical problems and deficiencies encountered while teaching SE. There are four pedagogies in AOTS for fulfilling the requirements of the desired teaching strategy. They are flipped classroom, project role-play for developing project artifacts, teaching by example, and student seminars. The study was conducted among a set of Postgraduate students of the Software Engineering programme at Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. Contribution: AOTS can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the learning process and thus helping them develop their professional skills. Findings: AOTS can be molded as a promising teaching strategy for learning Software Engineering. It focuses on the essential skill sets demanded by the software industry such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and understanding of the software development processes. Impact on Society: Activity-oriented teaching strategies can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the SE learning process and thus helping them in developing their professional skills. Future Research: AOTS can be refined by adding/modifying pedagogies and including different features like an online evaluation system, virtual classroom etc.




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Enhancing Children's Interest and Knowledge in Bioengineering through an Interactive Videogame

Aim/Purpose: Bioengineering is a burgeoning interdisciplinary learning domain that could inspire the imaginations of elementary aged children but is not traditionally taught to this age group for reasons unrelated to student ability. This pilot study presents the BacToMars videogame and accompanying curricular intervention, designed to introduce children (aged 7-11) to foundational concepts of bioengineering and to the interdisciplinary nature of scientific endeavors. Background: This pilot study explores the bioengineering-related learning outcomes and attitudes of children after engaging with the BacToMars game and curriculum intervention. Methodology: This study drew on prior findings in game-based learning and applied them to a videogame designed to connect microbiology with Constructionist microworlds. An experimental comparison showed the learning and engagement affordances of integrating this videogame into a mixed-media bioengineering curriculum. Elementary-aged children (N = 17) participated in a 9-hour learning intervention, with one group of n = 8 children receiving the BacToMars videogame and the other group (n = 9) receiving traditional learning activities on the same content. Pre- and post-surveys and interview data were collected from both groups. Contribution: This paper contributes to education research on children’s ability to meaningfully engage with abstract concepts at the intersection of science and engineering through bioengineering education, and to design research on developing educational technology for introducing bioengineering content to elementary school children. Findings: Children in both groups showed improved knowledge and attitudes related to bioengineering. Children who used BacToMars showed slightly stronger performance on game-specific concepts, while children in the control condition showed slightly higher generalized knowledge of bioengineering concepts. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners should consider bioengineering as a domain for meaningful, interdisciplinary learning in elementary education.. Recommendation for Researchers: Design researchers should develop playful ways to introduce bioengineering concepts accurately and to engage children’s imaginations and problem-solving skills. Education researchers should further investigate developmentally appropriate ways to introduce bioengineering in elementary education. Impact on Society: BacToMars introduces a meaningful scenario to contextualize complex con-cepts at the intersection of science and engineering, and to engage children in real-world, interdisciplinary problem solving. Future Research: Future research should explore BacToMars and bioengineering curricula for elementary-aged children in larger samples, with longer intervention times.




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Computer Science Education in Early Childhood: The Case of ScratchJr

Aim/Purpose: This paper aims to explore whether having state Computer Science standards in place will increase young children’s exposure to coding and powerful ideas from computer science in the early years. Background: Computer science education in the K-2 educational segment is receiving a growing amount of attention as national and state educational frameworks are emerging. By focusing on the app ScratchJr, the most popular free introductory block-based programming language for early childhood, this paper explores if there is a relationship between the presence of state frameworks and ScratchJr’s frequency of use. Methodology: This paper analyzes quantitative non-identifying data from Google Analytics on users of the ScratchJr programming app. Google Analytics is a free tool that allows access to user activity as it happens in real time on the app, as well as audience demographics and behavior. An analysis of trends by state, time of year, type of in-app activities completed, and more are analyzed with a specific focus on comparing states with K-12 Computer Science in place versus those without. Contribution: Results demonstrate the importance of having state standards in place to increase young children’s exposure to coding and powerful ideas from computer science in the early years. Moreover, we see preliminary evidence that states with Computer Science standards in place support skills like perseverance and debugging through ScratchJr. Findings: Findings show that in the case of ScratchJr, app usage decreases during the summer months and on weekends, which may indicate that coding with ScratchJr is more often happening in school than at home. Results also show that states with Computer Science standards have more ScratchJr users on average and have more total sessions with the app on average. Results also show preliminary evidence that states with Computer Science standards in place have longer average session duration as well as a higher average number of users returning to edit an existing project. Recommendations for Practitioners: Successful early childhood computer science education programs must teach powerful ideas from the discipline of computer science in a developmentally appropriate way, provide means for self-expression, prompt debugging and problem solving, and offer a low-floor/high-ceiling interface for both novices and experts. Practitioners should be aware in drops in computer science learning during the summer months when school is not in session. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers should consider the impact of state and national frameworks on computer science learning and skills mastered during the early childhood years. Researchers should look for ways to continue engaging students in computer science education during times when school is not in session. Impact on Society: Results demonstrate the importance of having state CS standards in place to increase young children’s exposure to coding and powerful ideas from computer science in the early years. Moreover, we see preliminary evidence that states with Computer Science standards in place support skills like perseverance and debugging through ScratchJr. Future Research: Future research should continue collecting Google Analytics from the ScratchJr app and track changes in usage. Future research should also collect analytics from a wide range of programming applications for young children to see if the trends identified here are consistent across different apps.




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Concept–based Analysis of Java Programming Errors among Low, Average and High Achieving Novice Programmers

Aim/Purpose: The study examined types of errors made by novice programmers in different Java concepts with students of different ability levels in programming as well as the perceived causes of such errors. Background: To improve code writing and debugging skills, efforts have been made to taxonomize programming errors and their causes. However, most of the studies employed omnibus approaches, i.e. without consideration of different programing concepts and ability levels of the trainee programmers. Such concepts and ability specific errors identification and classifications are needed to advance appropriate intervention strategy. Methodology: A sequential exploratory mixed method design was adopted. The sample was an intact class of 124 Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate students grouped into three achievement levels based on first semester performance in a Java programming course. The submitted codes in the course of second semester exercises were analyzed for possible errors, categorized and grouped across achievement level. The resulting data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as Pearson product correlation coefficient. Qualitative analyses through interviews and focused group discussion (FGD) were also employed to identify reasons for the committed errors. Contribution:The study provides a useful concept-based and achievement level specific error log for the teaching of Java programming for beginners. Findings: The results identified 598 errors with Missing symbols (33%) and Invalid symbols (12%) constituting the highest and least committed errors respec-tively. Method and Classes concept houses the highest number of errors (36%) followed by Other Object Concepts (34%), Decision Making (29%), and Looping (10%). Similar error types were found across ability levels. A significant relationship was found between missing symbols and each of Invalid symbols and Inappropriate Naming. Errors made in Methods and Classes were also found to significantly predict that of Other Object concepts. Recommendations for Practitioners: To promote better classroom practice in the teaching of Java programming, findings for the study suggests instructions to students should be based on achievement level. In addition to this, learning Java programming should be done with an unintelligent editor. Recommendations for Researchers: Research could examine logic or semantic errors among novice programmers as the errors analyzed in this study focus mainly on syntactic ones. Impact on Society: The digital age is code-driven, thus error analysis in programming instruction will enhance programming ability, which will ultimately transform novice programmers into experts, particularly in developing countries where most of the software in use is imported. Future Research: Researchers could look beyond novice or beginner programmers as codes written by intermediate or even advanced programmers are still not often completely error free.




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A Study on the Effectiveness of an Undergraduate Online Teaching Laboratory With Semantic Mechanism From a Student Perspective

Aim/Purpose: The current study was conducted to investigate the students’ perceived satisfaction with the use of a semantic-based online laboratory, which provides students with a search mechanism for laboratory resources, such as instruments and devices. Background: The increasing popularity of using online teaching labs, as an important element of experiential learning in STEM education, is because they represent a collection of integrated tools that allow students and teachers to interact and work collaboratively, whereas they provide an enriched learning content delivery mechanism. Moreover, several research studies have proposed various approaches for online teaching laboratories. However, there are hardly any studies that examine the student satisfaction provided by online laboratories based on students’ experiential learning. Methodology: To measure the effectiveness of the laboratory, we performed a case study in a Computer Fundamentals online course in which undergraduate students were able to manage devices and instruments remotely. Participants were a sample of 50 third semester students of Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology Administration who were divided in experimental and control groups (online laboratory vs. traditional manner). Given a laboratory assignment, students were able to carry out the management of devices and instruments through a LabView virtual environment and web services. The data of the experiment were collected through two questionnaires from both groups. The first is a system usability score (SUS) questionnaire concerning lab usability and the second one students’ cognitive load. Contribution: The results of the study showed a high correlation between usability and cognitive load-satisfaction of students who used the online teaching laboratory compared to the students who did not use it. Findings: On the one hand, the online laboratory provided students with an easy way to share and deploy instruments and devices, thus enhancing system usability. On the other hand, it offered important facilities which enabled students to customize the search for instruments and devices, which certainly had a positive impact on the relationship between cognitive load and satisfaction. Recommendations for Practitioners: In this work we propose an intuitive laboratory interface as well as easiness to use but challenging and capable of providing similar experiences to the traditional laboratory. Recommendation for Researchers: This study is one of the first to analyze the cognitive load-satisfaction relationship and compare it with usability scores. Impact on Society: Our analyses make an important contribution to the literature by suggesting a correlation analysis comparing the results of experimental and control groups that participated in this research work, in terms of usability and cognitive load-satisfaction. Future Research: Future work will also investigate other methodological aspects of instructional design with the aim to improve personalized learning and reinforce collaborative experiences, as well as to deal with problems related to laboratory access, such as authentication, scheduling, and interoperability.




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Innovative Pedagogical Strategies of Streaming, Just-in-Time Teaching, and Scaffolding: A Case Study of Using Videos to Add Business Analytics Instruction Across a Curriculum

Aim/Purpose: Business analytics is a cross-functional field that is important to implement for a college and has emerged as a critically important core component of the business curriculum. It is a difficult task due to scheduling concerns and limits to faculty and student resources. This paper describes the process of creating a central video repository to serve as a platform for just in time teaching and the impact on student learning outcomes. Background: Industry demand for employees with analytical knowledge, skills, and abilities requires additional analytical content throughout the college of business curriculum. This demand needs other content to be added to ensure that students have the prerequisite skills to complete assignments. Two pedagogical approaches to address this issue are Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) and scaffolding, grounded in the Vygoskian concept of “Zone of Proximal Development. Methodology: This paper presents a case study that applies scaffolding and JiTT teaching to create a video repository to add business analytics instruction to a curriculum. The California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and Major Field Test (MFT) scores were analyzed to assess learning outcomes. Student and faculty comments were considered to inform the results of the review. Contribution: This paper demonstrates a practical application of scaffolding and JiTT theory by outlining the process of using a video library to provide valuable instructional resources that support meaningful learning, promote student academic achievement, and improve program flexibility. Findings: A centrally created library is a simple and inexpensive way to provide business analytics course content, augmenting standard content delivery. Assessment of learning scores showed an improvement, and a summary of lessons learned is provided to guide implications. Recommendations for Practitioners: Pedagogical implications of this research include the observation that producing a central library of instructor created videos and assignments can help address knowledge and skills gaps, augment the learning of business analytics content, and provide a valuable educational resource throughout the college of business curriculum. Recommendation for Researchers: This paper examines the use of scaffolding and JiTT theories. Additional examination of these theories may improve the understanding and limits of these concepts as higher education evolves due to the combination of market forces changing the execution of course delivery. Impact on Society: Universities are tasked with providing new and increasing skills to students while controlling the costs. A centrally created library of instructional videos provides a means of delivering meaningful content while controlling costs. Future Research: Future research may examine student success, including the immediate impact of videos and longitudinally using video repositories throughout the curriculum. Studies examining the approach across multiple institutions may help to evaluate the success of video repositories. Faculty acceptance of centrally created video libraries and assignments should be considered for the value of faculty recruiting and use in the classroom. The economic impact on both the university and students should be evaluated.




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Matching Authors and Reviewers in Peer Assessment Based on Authors’ Profiles

Aim/Purpose: To encourage students’ engagement in peer assessments and provide students with better-quality feedback, this paper describes a technique for author-reviewer matching in peer assessment systems – a Balanced Allocation algorithm. Background: Peer assessment concerns evaluating the work of colleagues and providing feedback on their work. This process is widely applied as a learning method to involve students in the progress of their learning. However, as students have different ability levels, the efficacy of the peer feedback differs from case to case. Thus, peer assessment may not provide satisfactory results for students. In order to mitigate this issue, this paper explains and evaluates an algorithm that matches the author to a set of reviewers. The technique matches authors and reviewers based on how difficult the authors perceived the assignment to be, and the algorithm then matches the selected author to a group of reviewers who may meet the author’s needs in regard to the selected assignment. Methodology: This study used the Multiple Criteria Decision-Making methodology (MCDM) to determine a set of reviewers from among the many available options. The weighted sum method was used because the data that have been collected in user profiles are expressed in the same unit. This study produced an experimental result, examining the algorithm with a real collected dataset and mock-up dataset. In total, there were 240 students in the real dataset, and it contained self-assessment scores, peer scores, and instructor scores for the same assignment. The mock-up dataset created 1000 records for self-assessment scores. The algorithm was evaluated using focus group discussions with 29 programming students and interviews with seven programming instructors. Contribution: This paper contributes to the field in the following two ways. First, an algorithm using a MCDM methodology was proposed to match authors and reviewers in order to facilitate the peer assessment process. In addition, the algorithm used self-assessment as an initial data source to match users, rather than randomly creating reviewer – author pairs. Findings: The findings show the accurate results of the algorithm in matching three reviewers for each author. Furthermore, the algorithm was evaluated based on students’ and instructors’ perspectives. The results are very promising, as they depict a high level of satisfaction for the Balanced Allocation algorithm. Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend instructors to consider using the Balanced Allocation algorithm to match students in peer assessments, and consequently to benefit from personalizing peer assessment based on students' needs. Recommendation for Researchers: Several MCDM methods could be expanded upon, such as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) if different attributes are collected, or the artificial neural network (ANN) if fuzzy data is available in the user profile. Each method is suitable for special cases depending on the data available for decision-making. Impact on Society: Suitable pairing in peer assessment would increase the credibility of the peer assessment process and encourage students’ engagement in peer assessments. Future Research: The Balanced Allocation algorithm could be applied using a single group, and a peer assessment with random matching with another group may also be conducted, followed by performing a t-test to determine the impact of matching on students’ performances in the peer assessment activity.




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Categorizing Well-Written Course Learning Outcomes Using Machine Learning

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a machine learning approach for analyzing Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs). The aim of this study is to find a model that can check whether a CLO is well written or not. Background: The use of machine learning algorithms has been, since many years, a prominent solution to predict learner performance in Outcome Based Education. However, the CLOs definition is still presenting a big handicap for faculties. There is a lack of supported tools and models that permit to predict whether a CLO is well written or not. Consequently, educators need an expert in quality and education to validate the outcomes of their courses. Methodology: A novel method named CLOCML (Course Learning Outcome Classification using Machine Learning) is proposed in this paper to develop predictive models for CLOs paraphrasing. A new dataset entitled CLOC (Course Learning Outcomes Classes) for that purpose has been collected and then undergone a pre-processing phase. We compared the performance of 4 models for predicting a CLO classification. Those models are Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, Naive Bayes and XGBoost. Contribution: The application of CLOCML may help faculties to make well-defined CLOs and then correct CLOs' measures in order to improve the quality of education addressed to their students. Findings: The best classification model was SVM. It was able to detect the CLO class with an accuracy of 83%. Recommendations for Practitioners: We would recommend both faculties’ members and quality reviewers to make an informed decision about the nature of a given course outcome. Recommendation for Researchers: We would highly endorse that the researchers apply more machine learning models for CLOs of various disciplines and compare between them. We would also recommend that future studies investigate on the importance of the definition of CLOs and its impact on the credibility of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) values during accreditation process. Impact on Society: The findings of this study confirm the results of several other researchers who use machine learning in outcome-based education. The definition of right CLOs will help the student to get an idea about the performances that will be measured at the end of a course. Moreover, each faculty can take appropriate actions and suggest suitable recommendations after right performance measures in order to improve the quality of his course. Future Research: Future research can be improved by using a larger dataset. It could also be improved with deep learning models to reach more accurate results. Indeed, a strategy for checking CLOs overlaps could be integrated.




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Unveiling the Digital Equation Through Innovative Approaches for Teaching Discrete Mathematics to Future Computer Science Educators

Aim/Purpose: This study seeks to present a learning model of discrete mathematics elements, elucidate the content of teaching, and validate the effectiveness of this learning in a digital education context. Background: Teaching discrete mathematics in the realm of digital education poses challenges, particularly in crafting the optimal model, content, tools, and methods tailored for aspiring computer science teachers. The study draws from both a comprehensive review of relevant literature and the synthesis of the authors’ pedagogical experiences. Methodology: The research utilized a system-activity approach and aligned with the State Educational Standard. It further integrated the theory of continuous education as its psychological and pedagogical foundation. Contribution: A unique model for instructing discrete mathematics elements to future computer science educators has been proposed. This model is underpinned by informative, technological, and personal competencies, intertwined with the mathematical bedrock of computer science. Findings: The study revealed the importance of holistic teaching of discrete mathematics elements for computer science teacher aspirants in line with the Informatics educational programs. An elective course, “Elements of Discrete Mathematics in Computer Science”, comprising three modules, was outlined. Practical examples spotlighting elements of mathematical logic and graph theory of discrete mathematics in programming and computer science were showcased. Recommendations for Practitioners: Future computer science educators should deeply integrate discrete mathematics elements in their teaching methodologies, especially when aligning with professional disciplines of the Informatics educational program. Recommendation for Researchers: Further exploration is recommended on the seamless integration of discrete mathematics elements in diverse computer science curricula, optimizing for varied learning outcomes and student profiles. Impact on Society: Enhancing the quality of teaching discrete mathematics to future computer science teachers can lead to better-educated professionals, driving advancements in the tech industry and contributing to societal progress. Future Research: There is scope to explore the wider applications of the discrete mathematics elements model in varied computer science sub-disciplines, and its adaptability across different educational frameworks.




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COVID-19 Pandemic and the Use of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) Platforms: Lessons From a Nigerian University

Aim/Purpose: This study examines the use of the Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) platform by undergraduates of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, during the COVID-19 pandemic using the constructs of the UTAUT2 model. Five constructs of the UTAUT2 model were adopted to investigate the use of the ERT platform by undergraduates of the university. Background: The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak disrupted academic activities in educational institutions, leading to an unprecedented school closure globally. In response to the pandemic, higher educational institutions adopted different initiatives aimed at ensuring the uninterrupted flow of their teaching and learning activities. However, there is little research on the use of ERT platforms by undergraduates in Nigerian universities. Methodology: The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 334 undergraduates at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, while a questionnaire was used to collect data from 271 students. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and regression analysis. Contribution: The study contributes to understanding ERT use in the educational institutions of Nigeria – Africa’s most populous country. Furthermore, the study adds to the existing body of knowledge on how the UTAUT2 Model could explain the use of information technologies in different settings. Findings: Findings revealed that there was a positive significant relationship between habit, hedonic motivation, price value, and social influence on the use of ERT platforms by undergraduates. Hedonic motivation strongly predicted the use of ERT platforms by most undergraduates. Recommendations for Practitioners: As a provisional intervention in times of emergencies, the user interface, navigation, customization, and other aesthetic features of ERT platforms should be more appealing and enjoyable to ensure their optimum utilization by students. Recommendation for Researchers: More qualitative research is required on users’ satisfaction, concerns, and support systems for ERT platforms in educational institutions. Future studies could consider the use of ERT by students in different countries and contexts such as students participating in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and the English for Speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs. Impact on Society: As society faces increased uncertainties of the next global pandemic, this article reiterates the crucial roles of information technology in enriching teaching and learning activities in educational institutions. Future Research: Future research should focus on how different technology theories and models could explain the use of ERT platforms at different educational institutions in other geographical settings and contexts.




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Unveiling Learner Emotions: Sentiment Analysis of Moodle-Based Online Assessments Using Machine Learning

Aim/Purpose: The study focused on learner sentiments and experiences after using the Moodle assessment module and trained a machine learning classifier for future sentiment predictions. Background: Learner assessment is one of the standard methods instructors use to measure students’ performance and ascertain successful teaching objectives. In pedagogical design, assessment planning is vital in lesson content planning to the extent that curriculum designers and instructors primarily think like assessors. Assessment aids students in redefining their understanding of a subject and serves as the basis for more profound research in that particular subject. Positive results from an evaluation also motivate learners and provide employment directions to the students. Assessment results guide not just the students but also the instructor. Methodology: A modified methodology was used for carrying out the study. The revised methodology is divided into two major parts: the text-processing phase and the classification model phase. The text-processing phase consists of stages including cleaning, tokenization, and stop words removal, while the classification model phase consists of dataset training using a sentiment analyser, a polarity classification model and a prediction validation model. The text-processing phase of the referenced methodology did not utilise tokenization and stop words. In addition, the classification model did not include a sentiment analyser. Contribution: The reviewed literature reveals two major omissions: sentiment responses on using the Moodle for online assessment, particularly in developing countries with unstable internet connectivity, have not been investigated, and variations of the k-fold cross-validation technique in detecting overfitting and developing a reliable classifier have been largely neglected. In this study we built a Sentiment Analyser for Learner Emotion Management using the Moodle for assessment with data collected from a Ghanaian tertiary institution and developed a classification model for future sentiment predictions by evaluating the 10-fold and the 5-fold techniques on prediction accuracy. Findings: After training and testing, the RF algorithm emerged as the best classifier using the 5-fold cross-validation technique with an accuracy of 64.9%. Recommendations for Practitioners: Instead of a closed-ended questionnaire for learner feedback assessment, the open-ended mechanism should be utilised since learners can freely express their emotions devoid of restrictions. Recommendation for Researchers: Feature selection for sentiment analysis does not always improve the overall accuracy for the classification model. The traditional machine learning algorithms should always be compared to either the ensemble or the deep learning algorithms Impact on Society: Understanding learners’ emotions without restriction is important in the educational process. The pedagogical implementation of lessons and assessment should focus on machine learning integration Future Research: To compare ensemble and deep learning algorithms




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Playable Experiences Through Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges for Teaching Simulation Learning and Extended Reality Solution Creation

Aim/Purpose: This paper describes a technologies education model for introducing Simulation Learning and Extended Reality (XR) solution creation skills and knowledge to students at the tertiary education level, which is broadly applicable to higher education-based contexts of teaching and learning. Background: This work is made possible via the model’s focus on advancing knowledge and understanding of a range of digital resources, and the processes and production skills to teach and produce playable educational digital content, including classroom practice and applications. Methodology: Through practice-based learning and technology as an enabler, to inform the development of this model, we proposed a mixed-mode project-based approach of study within a transdisciplinary course for Higher Education students from the first year through to the post-graduate level. Contribution: An argument is also presented for the utility of this model for upskilling Pre-service Teachers’ (PSTs) pedagogical content knowledge in Technologies, which is especially relevant to the Australian curriculum context and will be broadly applicable to various educative and non-Australian settings. Findings: Supported by practice-based research, work samples and digital projects of Simulation Learning and XR developed by the authors are demonstrated to ground the discussion in examples; the discussion that is based around some of the challenges and the technical considerations, and the scope of teaching digital solutions creation is provided. Recommendations for Practitioners: We provide a flexible technologies teaching and learning model for determining content for inclusion in a course designed to provide introductory Simulation Learning and XR solution creation skills and knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers: The goal was to provide key criteria and an outline that can be adapted by academic researchers and learning designers in various higher education-based contexts of teaching and inclusive learning design focused on XR. Impact on Society: We explore how educators work with entities in various settings and contexts with different priorities, and how we recognise expertise beyond the institutional interests, beyond discipline, and explore ‘what is possible’ through digital technologies for social good and inclusivity. Future Research: The next step for this research is to investigate and explore how XR and Simulation Learning could be utilised to accelerate student learning in STEM and HASS disciplines, to promote knowledge retention and a higher level of technology-enhanced learning engagement.




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Android malware analysis using multiple machine learning algorithms

Currently, Android is a booming technology that has occupied the major parts of the market share. However, as Android is an open-source operating system there are possibilities of attacks on the users, there are various types of attacks but one of the most common attacks found was malware. Malware with machine learning (ML) techniques has proven as an impressive result and a useful method for malware detection. Here in this paper, we have focused on the analysis of malware attacks by collecting the dataset for the various types of malware and we trained the model with multiple ML and deep learning (DL) algorithms. We have gathered all the previous knowledge related to malware with its limitations. The machine learning algorithms were having various accuracy levels and the maximum accuracy observed is 99.68%. It also shows which type of algorithm is preferred depending on the dataset. The knowledge from this paper may also guide and act as a reference for future research related to malware detection. We intend to make use of Static Android Activity to analyse malware to mitigate security risks.




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Investigation of user perception of software features for software architecture recovery in object-oriented software

A well-documented architecture can greatly improve comprehension and maintainability. However, shorter release cycles and quick delivery patterns results in negligence of architecture. In such situations, the architecture can be recovered from its current implementation based on considering dependency relations. In literature, structural and semantic dependencies are commonly used software features, and directory information along with co-change/change history information are among rarely utilised software features. But, they are found to help improve architecture recovery. Therefore, we consider investigating various features that may further improve the accuracy of existing architecture recovery techniques and evaluate their feasibility by considering them in different pairs. We compared five state-of-the-art methods under different feature subsets. We identified that two of them commonly outperform others but surprisingly with low accuracy in some evaluations. Further, we propose a new subset of features that reflects more accurate user perceptions and hence, results in improving the accuracy of architecture recovery techniques.




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A longitudinal study of user perceptions of information quality of Chinese users of the internet

More than a half billion people use the internet in China, and the environment in which these users work, study, and play using the internet is a rapidly changing one. User perceptions of the quality of information accessed through the internet and through more traditional sources of information may shift over time as the underlying social, cultural, and political environment changes. This study reports the results of a longitudinal survey study of perceptions of information quality of young adults using the internet in China. Results suggest that perceptions of the information quality of internet-based information have shifted more from 2007 to 2012 than perceptions of traditional text sources of information. Implications of the findings for researchers, educators, and information providers are discussed.




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Bi-LSTM GRU-based deep learning architecture for export trade forecasting

To assess a country's economic outlook and achieve higher economic growth, econometric models and prediction techniques are significant tools. Policymakers are always concerned with the correct future estimates of economic variables to take the right economic decisions, design better policies and effectively implement them. Therefore, there is a need to improve the predictive accuracy of the existing models and to use more sophisticated and superior algorithms for accurate forecasting. Deep learning models like recurrent neural networks are considered superior for forecasting as they provide better predictive results as compared to many of the econometric models. Against this backdrop, this paper presents the feasibility of using different deep-learning neural network architectures for trade forecasting. It predicts export trade using different recurrent neural architectures such as 'vanilla recurrent neural network (VRNN)', 'bi-directional long short-term memory network (Bi-LSTM)', 'bi-directional gated recurrent unit (Bi-GRU)' and a hybrid 'bi-directional LSTM and GRU neural network'. The performances of these models are evaluated and compared using different performance metrics such as Mean Square Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Root Mean Squared Logarithmic Error (RMSLE) and coefficient of determination <em>R</em>-squared (<em>R</em>²). The results validated the effective export prediction for India.




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Student advisement on courses sequencing in teaching-focused business-schools

Students in teaching-focused business-schools need a level of assistance and advisement broader and more profound than what is needed in R1&R2 schools. We investigate the informal interdependencies among marketing, finance, operation, and management core courses in these schools. By conducting hypothesis tests on a large dataset, we identify a flexible network showing the preferred sequencing of these courses to improve students' performance as measured by the course grade. Better performances in this context may also lead to higher retention-rates and lower time-to-degree. We recommend taking Finance or Finance and Management as the first course(s). Marketing should be the next course before or concurrent with Operations Management. Regarding the lower division courses, it is recommended to take Statistics before Economics and Accounting courses and Accounting before or concurrent with Economics. We also consider the significant role of a milestone course that links the lower division and core courses.




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International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies




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Evaluation method for the effectiveness of online course teaching reform in universities based on improved decision tree

Aiming at the problems of long evaluation time and poor evaluation accuracy of existing evaluation methods, an improved decision tree-based evaluation method for the effectiveness of college online course teaching reform is proposed. Firstly, the teaching mode of college online course is analysed, and an evaluation system is constructed to ensure the applicability of the evaluation method. Secondly, AHP entropy weight method is used to calculate the weights of evaluation indicators to ensure the accuracy and authority of evaluation results. Finally, the evaluation model based on decision tree algorithm is constructed and improved by fuzzy neural network to further optimise the evaluation results. The parameters of fuzzy neural network are adjusted and gradient descent method is used to optimise the evaluation results, so as to effectively evaluate the effect of college online course teaching reform. Through experiments, the evaluation time of the method is less than 5 ms, and the evaluation accuracy is more than 92.5%, which shows that the method is efficient and accurate, and provides an effective evaluation means for the teaching reform of online courses in colleges and universities.




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A method for evaluating the quality of college curriculum teaching reform based on data mining

In order to improve the evaluation effect of current university teaching reform, a new method for evaluating the quality of university course teaching reform is proposed based on data mining algorithms. Firstly, the optimal data clustering criterion was used to select evaluation indicators and a quality evaluation system for university curriculum teaching reform was established. Next, a reform quality evaluation model is constructed using BP neural network, and the training process is improved through genetic algorithm to obtain the model weight and threshold of the optimal solution. Finally, the calculated parameters are substituted into the model to achieve accurate evaluation of the quality of university curriculum teaching reform. Selecting evaluation accuracy and evaluation efficiency as evaluation indicators, the practicality of the proposed method was verified through experiments. The experimental results showed that the proposed method can mine teaching reform data and evaluate the quality of teaching reform. Its evaluation accuracy is higher than 96.3%, and the evaluation time is less than 10ms, which is much better than the comparison method, fully demonstrating the practicality of the method.




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Evaluation method of teaching reform quality in colleges and universities based on big data analysis

Research on the quality evaluation of teaching reforms plays an important role in promoting improvements in teaching quality. Therefore, an evaluation method of teaching reform quality in colleges and universities based on big data analysis is proposed. A multivariate logistic model is used to select the evaluation indicators for the quality evaluation of teaching reforms in universities. And clustering and cleaning of the evaluation indicator data are performed through big data analysis. The evaluation indicator data is used as input vectors, and the results of the teaching reform quality evaluation are used as output vectors. A support vector machine model based on the whale algorithm is built to obtain the relevant evaluation results. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves a minimum recall rate of 98.7% for evaluation indicator data, the minimum data processing time of 96.3 ms, the accuracy rate consistently above 97.1%.




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A personalised recommendation method for English teaching resources on MOOC platform based on data mining

In order to enhance the accuracy of teaching resource recommendation results and optimise user experience, a personalised recommendation method for English teaching resources on the MOOC platform based on data mining is proposed. First, the learner's evaluation of resources and resource attributes are abstracted into the same space, and resource tags are established using the Knowledge graph. Then, interest preference constraints are introduced to mine sequential patterns of user historical learning behaviour in the MOOC platform. Finally, a graph neural network is used to construct a recommendation model, which adjusts users' short-term and short-term interest parameters to achieve dynamic personalised teaching recommendation resources. The experimental results show that the accuracy and recall of the resource recommendation results of the research method are always higher than 0.9, the normalised sorting gain is always higher than 0.5.




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Integrating MOOC online and offline English teaching resources based on convolutional neural network

In order to shorten the integration and sharing time of English teaching resources, a MOOC English online and offline mixed teaching resource integration model based on convolutional neural networks is proposed. The intelligent integration model of MOOC English online and offline hybrid teaching resources based on convolutional neural network is constructed. The intelligent integration unit of teaching resources uses the Arduino device recognition program based on convolutional neural network to complete the classification of hybrid teaching resources. Based on the classification results, an English online and offline mixed teaching resource library for Arduino device MOOC is constructed, to achieve intelligent integration of teaching resources. The experimental results show that when the regularisation coefficient is 0.00002, the convolutional neural network model has the best training effect and the fastest convergence speed. And the resource integration time of the method in this article should not exceed 2 s at most.




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Prediction method of college students' achievements based on learning behaviour data mining

This paper proposes a method for predicting college students' performance based on learning behaviour data mining. The method addresses the issue of limited sample size affecting prediction accuracy. It utilises the K-means clustering algorithm to mine learning behaviour data and employs a density-based approach to determine optimal clustering centres, which are then output as the results of the clustering process. These clustering results are used as input for an attention encoder-decoder model to extract features from the learning behaviour sequence, incorporating an attention mechanism, sequence feature generator, and decoder. The characteristics derived from the learning behaviour sequence are then used to establish a prediction model for college students' performance, employing support vector regression. Experimental results demonstrate that this method accurately predicts students' performance with a relative error of less than 4% by leveraging the results obtained from learning behaviour data mining.




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A method for evaluating the quality of teaching reform based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation

In order to improve the comprehensiveness of evaluation results and reduce errors, a teaching reform quality evaluation method based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is proposed. Firstly, on the premise of meeting the principles of indicator selection, factor analysis is used to construct an evaluation indicator system. Then, calculate the weights of various evaluation indicators through fuzzy entropy, establish a fuzzy evaluation matrix, and calculate the weight vector of evaluation indicators. Finally, the fuzzy cognitive mapping method is introduced to improve the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, obtaining the final weight of the evaluation indicators. The weight is multiplied by the fuzzy evaluation matrix to obtain the comprehensive evaluation result. The experimental results show that the maximum relative error of the proposed method's evaluation results is about 2.0, the average comprehensive evaluation result is 92.3, and the determination coefficient is closer to 1, verifying the application effect of this method.




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An evaluation of English distance information teaching quality based on decision tree classification algorithm

In order to overcome the problems of low evaluation accuracy and long evaluation time in traditional teaching quality evaluation methods, a method of English distance information teaching quality evaluation based on decision tree classification algorithm is proposed. Firstly, construct teaching quality evaluation indicators under different roles. Secondly, the information gain theory in decision tree classification algorithm is used to divide the attributes of teaching resources. Finally, the rough set theory is used to calculate the index weight and establish the risk evaluation index factor set. The result of teaching quality evaluation is obtained through fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The experimental results show that the accuracy rate of the teaching quality evaluation of this method can reach 99.2%, the recall rate of the English information teaching quality evaluation is 99%, and the time used for the English distance information teaching quality evaluation of this method is only 8.9 seconds.




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Research on construction of police online teaching platform based on blockchain and IPFS technology

Under the current framework of police online teaching, in order to effectively solve the lack of high-quality resources of the traditional platform, backward sharing technology, poor performance of the digital platform and the privacy problems faced by each subject in sharing. This paper designs and implements the online teaching platform based on blockchain and interplanetary file system (IPFS). Based on the architecture of a 'decentralised' police online teaching platform, the platform uses blockchain to store hashes of encrypted private information and user-set access control policies, while the real private information is stored in IPFS after encryption. In the realisation of privacy information security storage at the same time to ensure the effective control of the user's own information. In order to achieve flexible rights management, the system classifies private information. In addition, the difficulties of police online teaching and training reform in the era of big data are solved one by one from the aspects of communication mode, storage facilities, incentive mechanism and confidentiality system, which effectively improves the stability and security of police online teaching.




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Quantitative evaluation method of ideological and political teaching achievements based on collaborative filtering algorithm

In order to overcome the problems of large error, low evaluation accuracy and long evaluation time in traditional evaluation methods of ideological and political education, this paper designs a quantitative evaluation method of ideological and political education achievements based on collaborative filtering algorithm. First, the evaluation index system is constructed to divide the teaching achievement evaluation index data in a small scale; then, the quantised dataset is determined and the quantised index weight is calculated; finally, the collaborative filtering algorithm is used to generate a set with high similarity, construct a target index recommendation list, construct a quantitative evaluation function and solve the function value to complete the quantitative evaluation of teaching achievements. The results show that the evaluation error of this method is only 1.75%, the accuracy can reach 98%, and the time consumption is only 2.0 s, which shows that this method can improve the quantitative evaluation effect.




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The performance evaluation of teaching reform based on hierarchical multi-task deep learning

The research goal is to solve the problems of low accuracy and long time existing in traditional teaching reform performance evaluation methods, a performance evaluation method of teaching reform based on hierarchical multi-task deep learning is proposed. Under the principle of constructing the evaluation index system, the evaluation indicator system should be constructed. The weight of the evaluation index is calculated through the analytic hierarchy process, and the calculation result of the evaluation weight is taken as the model input sample. A hierarchical multi-task deep learning model for teaching reform performance evaluation is built, and the final teaching reform performance score is obtained. Through relevant experiments, it is proved that compared with the experimental comparison method, this method has the advantages of high evaluation accuracy and short time, and can be further applied in relevant fields.




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Online allocation of teaching resources for ideological and political courses in colleges and universities based on differential search algorithm

In order to improve the classification accuracy and online allocation accuracy of teaching resources and shorten the allocation time, this paper proposes a new online allocation method of college ideological and political curriculum teaching resources based on differential search algorithm. Firstly, the feedback parameter model of teaching resources cleaning is constructed to complete the cleaning of teaching resources. Secondly, according to the results of anti-interference consideration, the linear feature extraction of ideological and political curriculum teaching resources is carried out. Finally, the online allocation objective function of teaching resources for ideological and political courses is constructed, and the differential search algorithm is used to optimise the objective function to complete the online allocation of resources. The experimental results show that this method can accurately classify the teaching resources of ideological and political courses, and can shorten the allocation time, with the highest allocation accuracy of 97%.




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Stock market response to mergers and acquisitions: comparison between China and India

This research delves into the wealth effect of shareholders from bidding firms created by mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in China and India, two of the world's most populous nations. The study reveals that on average, M&A deals create wealth for shareholders of the acquiring firms, as determined by abnormal percentage returns in a five-day event window. Regarding the further classification of acquiring firms based on industry, the abnormal percentage returns vary in different sectors in both countries. In China, shareholders benefit in seven out of ten industries, while in India, they gain in five out of nine industries. Moreover, the stock markets' responses vary depending on the type of M&A in each country. Cross-industry M&A deals in China generate higher gains for shareholders than within-industry deals, whereas, in India, within-industry M&A deals generate higher gains.




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Beyond The Low Hanging Fruit: Data Services and Archiving at the University of New Mexico

Open data is becoming increasingly important in research. While individual researchers are slowlybecoming aware of the value, funding agencies are taking the lead by requiring data be made available, and also by requiring data management plans to ensure the data is available in a useable form. Some journals also require that data be made available. However, in most cases, “available upon request” is considered sufficient. We describe a number of historical examples of data use and discovery, then describe two current test cases at the University of New Mexico. The lessons learned suggest that an instituional data services program needs to not only facilitate fulfilling the mandates of granting agencies but to realize the true value of open data. Librarians and institutional archives should actively collaborate with their researchers. We should also work to find ways to make open data enhance a researchers career. In the long run, better quality data and metadata will result if researchers are engaged and willing participants in the dissemination of their data.




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REDDNET and Digital Preservation in the Open Cloud: Research at Texas Tech University Libraries on Long-Term Archival Storage

In the realm of digital data, vendor-supplied cloud systems will still leave the user with responsibility for curation of digital data. Some of the very tasks users thought they were delegating to the cloud vendor may be a requirement for users after all. For example, cloud vendors most often require that users maintain archival copies. Beyond the better known vendor cloud model, we examine curation in two other models: inhouse clouds, and what we call "open" clouds—which are neither inhouse nor vendor. In open clouds, users come aboard as participants or partners—for example, by invitation. In open cloud systems users can develop their own software and data management, control access, and purchase their own hardware while running securely in the cloud environment. To do so will still require working within the rules of the cloud system, but in some open cloud systems those restrictions and limitations can be walked around easily with surprisingly little loss of freedom. It is in this context that REDDnet (Research and Education Data Depot network) is presented as the place where the Texas Tech University (TTU)) Libraries have been conducting research on long-term digital archival storage. The REDDnet network by year's end will be at 1.2 petabytes (PB) with an additional 1.4 PB for a related project (Compact Muon Soleniod Heavy Ion [CMS-HI]); additionally there are over 200 TB of tape storage. These numbers exclude any disk space which TTU will be purchasing during the year. National Science Foundation (NSF) funding covering REDDnet and CMS-HI was in excess of $850,000 with $850,000 earmarked toward REDDnet. In the terminology we used above, REDDnet is an open cloud system that invited TTU Libraries to participate. This means that we run software which fits the REDDnet structure. We are beginning to complete the final design of our system, and starting to move into the first stages of construction. And we have made a decision to move forward and purchase one-half petabyte of disk storage in the initial phase. The concerns, deliberations and testing are presented here along with our initial approach.




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Exploring Change and Innovation by ICT Teaching Staff in the New Zealand Polytechnic Sector




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A Comparison of Learning and Teaching Styles – Self-Perception of IT Students




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Searching for Tomorrow's Programmers




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Teaching and Learning with BlueJ: an Evaluation of a Pedagogical Tool




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A Single Case Study Approach to Teaching: Effects on Learning and Understanding




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Does Technology Impact on Teaching Styles or Do Teaching Styles Impact on Technology in the Delivery of Higher Education?




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A Framework for Teaching Mobile and Wireless Technology




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Using a Blackboard Architecture in a Web Application




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Matching:  Discrimination, Misinformation, and Sudden Death




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Towards an Information System Making Transparent Teaching Processes and Applying Informing Science to Education




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A Perspective on Achieving Information Security Awareness




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Teaching System Access Control




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Online Securities Trading in China




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New Pathways to Learning: The Team Teaching Approach. A Library and Information Science Case Study