Search

The paper proposes a novel index to classify how well UK Computer Science courses articulate cybersecurity-related content through their course/module pages. The aim of this work is to raise awareness among British Universities to pay more attention to include and standardize cybersecurity content in computer science courses. Our results show that 80% of analyzed courses scored 1 or 2-stars on a 5-Stars scale. The results also suggest the need for a formal delivery of cybersecurity content from the first year of the courses and possibly in a collaborative manner with the British Computer Society (BCS). To emphasize cybersecurity education in mitigating security lapses, the analogy is: it is better if most people know how to use a match than to train many fire-fighters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are widely used by many of the top recruiters of computer science and business school graduates, providing significant business benefits when implemented effectively. While ERP concepts are taught within Universities from a theoretical point of view, few students have any hands-on experience of using an ERP system when they graduate. As a result, there is a significant gap between the way in which ERP concepts are applied in practice and the way in which they are taught in Universities. This paper describes the adoption of new, innovative material during 2006 which enhances two postgraduate courses taught at a leading UK management school and provides students with hands-on experience with an ERP system. It is argued here that this enhances their student experience, improves their employability and increases their 'readiness' for industry, thereby contributing to aligning the objectives of higher education institutions and practitioners. The paper also describes how a number of challenges to incorporating the new material within existing course structures were overcome, providing guidance for fellow academics embarking on similar ventures. Issues discussed include: coping with the uncertainty of new material, maintaining academic integrity and encouraging critical self reflection and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computing, Computer Science and Information Science are the nearest UK equivalents of the European Informatics degree. Informatics is a term more often associated with research or multidisciplinary applications of Computing. Barely five percent of UK departments concerned with the discipline actually use the word Informatics in their title, and potential students searching the application clearing house for university undergraduate courses would not find Informatics in its subject index. However the components of European understanding of the Informatics discipline are widely researched, taught and studied throughout UK Higher Education. If we are to support mobility of study in Europe or to successfully pursue international educational collaboration, then understanding the realisation of the discipline in the UK and how it relates to understanding in other countries, is important and necessary to support constructive future discussion, planning and action. This paper presents data collected via surveys of existing practice, individual interviews and group discussions. It summarises and analyses the structure of current practice, and draws on current debate and technological trends to suggest future direction of our fields of study in the short and medium term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the results of a survey of all universities in Great Britain to establish the extent and nature of group learning and group assessment on undergraduate computing courses. Amount and control of group learning and assessment methods; Attitudes to group learning and group assessment; Uncertainty about group assessment.

This research is concerned with the development of a knowledge-based expert system for supporting human experts in assessing applications for the house renovation grant system. The development of the system followed the task structure analysis and the client-centred approach. The task structure analysis describes the system at knowledge level in terms of tasks, problem-solving methods and knowledge types. The implementation of the system followed the client-centred approach. The resulting system implements a frame- work that integrates case-based reasoning, abductive assembly, decomposition and associative methods. In addition, this framework combines different types of knowledge, which are required by the problem-solving methods. The implementation was carried out together with verification and validation, making it possible to have the system more valid after each stage of the client-centred approach. The system has demonstrated that various problem-solving methods are required for performing the different tasks of the assessment of application for the house renovation grant system. Therefore the system has proved to perform as accurately as human experts do for all of the tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]