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Few high schools offer Information Technology (IT)) as a subject in South Africa. This paper used Bourdieu's conception of cultural capital to investigate the reasons why many public schools are shunning away from including IT in their curriculum. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analysed using ANOVA, to determine whether cultural capital influences choosing IT as one of the subjects in the school curriculum. The results showed that public high school principals view IT as a subject that should be done in schools where there is medium-to-high cultural capital status. It is a challenge for schools with low cultural capital to offer IT among their subjects as it is not practiced by the community or society in which the schools exist. The paper concludes by recommending that there is room for the so-called 'low cultural capital' schools to offer IT among their subjects despite the challenges they are facing. Cultural capital does not hinder students' performance. Students from low cultural capital communities can achieve good grades even though they learn under difficult circumstances of inadequate educational resources.

This paper presents findings from empirical study on assessing third year students' academic performance and development of generic skills through participatory teaching. Generic skills inventory and academic performance were utilized as measuring instruments where as activities of participatory learning used as an independent variable. The main purpose of the paper was to explore the extent to which participatory teaching contributes to students' acquisition of generic skills and obtaining outstanding academic standing. Outstanding academic achievement and development of generic skills much depend on the instructional strategies employed in teaching and learning. Participatory learning approaches are those, which put students at the center of the teaching and learning activities. Through participatory teaching strategies, the acquisition of generic skills becomes more enjoyable, meaningful and exciting. The study identified that participatory teaching is an effective way to foster generic skills of students as it has a significant influence on development of students' generic skills and to improving students' academic performance. The result of the correlation analysis shows the strong positive relationships between the variables of academic performance, generic skills as well as activities of participatory teaching. As result of this, this study proves that participatory teaching produces two core outcomes (better academic performance and possession of generic skills) expected students develop during academic course. A comprehensive model of generic skills development was proposed which consists of the three constructs investigated which are indicating the strength and the direction of their relationships.

The paper presents the conceptual framework and operational indicators of the Learning Management System in virtual spaces supported by ICT. The framework of the management system has three layers that are operational, management-operative, and management-decision. The conceptual foundation of the system is related to the Science of Education, the Science of Computing and the Science of Administration, and takes into account the representative model of the teaching-learning process of the student in virtual spaces supported by ICT. The dimensions, characteristics, variables, and indicators of the management system are assembled on the model in question. The indicators presented in the article correspond to 153 indicators of the operational layer. These were evaluated internationally with a confidence level of more than 90%. The operative indicators are contained in the dimensions of identification, academic, pedagogical-didactic, formative, of assessment of the virtual learning, and technological of the system of management of the virtual learning. The importance of the indicators presented ensures the success of the operational phase of the management system. Therefore, once the operation of the system is guaranteed, the success of the management-operative and management-decision layers of the system is assured. The correct fulfillment of the layers above guarantees the achievement of both the student's learning in the virtual course and the institution that offers virtual teaching through virtual learning platforms supported by ICT.

Informatics education has been in a cul-de-sac for several years (not only in Hungary), being less and less able to meet the needs of the industry and higher education. In addition, the latest PISA survey shows that--to put it a little strongly--the majority of the x-, y- and z generations are digital illiterates. The aim of this paper to examine what could be done in order to improve the situation.

This paper describes an interdisciplinary effort involving faculty from five different disciplines who came together to develop an interdisciplinary, open, general education cybersecurity course. The course, Cybersecurity, Technology, and Society, brings together ideas from interdisciplinary studies, information technology, engineering, business, computer science, criminal justice, and philosophy to provide students an interdisciplinary introduction to cybersecurity. We provide an overview of the rationale for the course, the process the authors went through developing the course, a summary of the course modules, details about the open education resources used as readings, and the types of assignments included in the class. We conclude by offering recommendations for others developing similar courses.

The opinions on MOOCs go to extremes, covering a wide variety of topics, affecting economy, pedagogy, and computer science which makes it hard to keep oversight. Despite the many excellent research reports and articles, an overview of the bigger picture, providing a holistic qualitative summary of the different opinions, is still very welcome. Special attention is given to the broader social, cultural, and technological context in which these developments come about. In this paper, it is discussed how the educational industry has received a "wake up call" provoking a global discussion on learning and teaching, accordingly disturbing established boundaries between formal and informal learning, public and for-profit education, teachers and learners and quite intriguingly, between software and teaching practices. Golden opportunities for Artificial Intelligence and Technology Enhanced Learning are unfolding, evidenced by the digitalization movement of education, gamification, and the stringent need for massively scalable (and therefore computerized) personal learning experiences.

Background: Topic of e-learning and virtual university in recent years is one of the important applications of information and communication technology in the world and most famous universities in the field of education development have done important steps. For as much as the importance of learning and development in every community, and to keep pace with global developments in the field of learning and teaching, becoming familiar with this area and its implementation are necessary. Purpose: The present research is an attempt to describe the quantity and quality of publication trends of E-learning based on Scopus reports. The population under study published through 2013. Methods: The population under study was composed of 23805 documents on E-learning published through 2013. The results were analyzed based on date of publication, type of document, language of the documents, source of publications, subject areas, authors and their affiliations, and the countries involved in developing the articles. Citation indicators formed the second phase of investigation in the present study. Results: With a negligible amount of fluctuation, the number of publications on E-learning has increased steadily over the years, with the greatest number occurring in 2012. In Iran, the first article to be found on Electronic Learning belongs to the year 2002 and the greatest number occurring in 2012 (47 documents, 24.6%). The analysis of data based on document types indicated that, of the 23805 documents, 11336 were conference papers (48%), 9548 were articles (40%). Also in Iran, of the 191 documents under study, 92 were conference papers and articles (48.16%). 23077 documents (97%) were published in English and the rest presented in other languages. The United States with 6238 documents (38%) was the most represented country, with the most prolific authors known as Shih. Thematically, the greatest number of documents was produced in computer Sciences with 11659 documents (35%). The largest number of documents has been published in Lecture Notes in Computer science followed by Computers and Education. The most cited articles from 1996 up to 2013 included 20 documents on the H-index zone. According to the results, from early 1996 to 2013 (when the data was retrieved), the 23411 documents had received a total of 69939 citations and production of Iran, the 191 documents had received a total of 241 citations, which means an average of 1.2 citations per document. Conclusion: The steady growth in publishing Electronic Learning in this period has apparently coincided with the development of Electronic Learning. But In Iran, we have witnessed a slow growth in production in this area as well.

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, et al "cryptocurrencies" have enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity and use as a way of performing transactions on the Internet and beyond. While gaining market valuations of billions of dollars and generating much popular press in doing so, little has been academically published on the Computer Science/Information Systems (CS/IS) foundations of this phenomena. This paper describes these foundations. In doing so, it is hoped that the success of the cryptocurrency payment systems can be used to demonstrate to CS/IS students how computer theory can be integrated into other disciplines with dramatic results.

Computer science has been a discipline for some years, and its position in the school curriculum has been contested differently in several countries. This paper looks at its role in three countries to illustrate these differences. A reconsideration of computer science as a separate subject both in primary and secondary education is suggested. At EDUsummIT 2015 it was argued that the major rationales for including computer science as a subject in the K-12 curriculum are economic, social and cultural. The paper explores these three rationales and also a beneficence matrix to assist curriculum designers. It also argues computer science is rapidly becoming critical for generating new knowledge, and should be taught as a distinct subject or content area, especially in secondary schools. The paper concludes by looking at some of the key questions to be considered when implementing computer science in the school curriculum, and at ways its role might change in the future.

While gamification is gaining ground in business, marketing, corporate management, and wellness initiatives, its application in education is still an emerging trend. This article presents a study of the published empirical research on the application of gamification to education. The study is limited to papers that discuss explicitly the effects of using game elements in specific educational contexts. It employs a systematic mapping design. Accordingly, a categorical structure for classifying the research results is proposed based on the extracted topics discussed in the reviewed papers. The categories include gamification design principles, game mechanics, context of applying gamification (type of application, educational level, and academic subject), implementation, and evaluation. By mapping the published works to the classification criteria and analyzing them, the study highlights the directions of the currently conducted empirical research on applying gamification to education. It also indicates some major obstacles and needs, such as the need for proper technological support, for controlled studies demonstrating reliable positive or negative results of using specific game elements in particular educational contexts, etc. Although most of the reviewed papers report promising results, more substantial empirical research is needed to determine whether both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation of the learners can be influenced by gamification.

Controversy and fanfare accompanied the announcement in 2010 by Mattel, Inc. of the Barbie® doll's 126th career--computer engineer. Even though women have been and still are in a minority in the information technology (IT) and computer science (CS) fields, enough women voted for the computer engineer as the next career for Barbie® on Mattel's website that it won the overall vote, while the winning choice voted for by young girls was news anchorwoman. The discrepancy resulted in Mattel producing Barbie® dolls in both careers. This paper reports the results of a survey completed by women in the IT and CS fields regarding their attitudes about and purchases of Computer Engineer Barbie®.

Understanding the potential or need for ICT support in education within developing countries, requires an in-depth needs assessment to comprehend, elaborate and set the desired priorities of rural schools. A Needs Assessment was conducted as part of an on-going comprehensive evaluation process of an ICT for development project, the Siyakhula Living Lab. The needs assessment focused on an elaboration of a high level need, "access to education and knowledge", identified in a Baseline Study of the community. The needs identified were based on an understanding of the existing operation of local schools, from the perspectives of local representatives who are more familiar with their environment and its challenges. This paper presents a report on the findings of the Needs Assessment, which include: 1) the elaborated needs and priorities for developing access to education and knowledge in a rural area, and 2) proposed solutions to address these development needs. Examining these elaborated needs indicate that potential solutions to address them are beyond the scope of computer science and information systems, and should also include other development solutions, such as, education, government, sociology, etc. The Siyakhula Living Lab still needs to build on the expertise available, in order to propose diverse solutions that can support the integration of the technology within the schools. A description of the contribution of the needs assessment for subsequent or future evaluations of the Siyakhula Living concludes the report.

This paper describes a framework for measuring student learning gains and engagement in a Computer Science 1 (CS 1) / Information Systems 1 (IS 1) course. The framework is designed for a CS1/IS1 course as it has been traditionally taught over the years as well as when it is taught using a new pedagogical approach with Web services. It enables the new approach to be compared with the traditional way of teaching the courses in terms of student self-assessment of learning gains, student assessment of their engagement with the subject matter, and researcher assessment of student learning gains as measured by performance on a researcher-designed examination. The framework includes a comprehensive pre-test and post-test for students in the control and treatment sections to complete, a common assessment exam module for all students to take, and a faculty survey for the instructors to complete. This enables the researchers to answer many questions regarding the effectiveness of the Web service approach, including "Do students using the Web service approach perform better in the common assessment exam module?" and "Do students and faculty members find the Web service approach more engaging?" Results from the first semester of a 3-year multi-university study are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

This paper describes the iterative development process of a Learning Object Repository (LOR), named eNOSHA. Discussions on a project for a LOR started at the e-Learning Centre (eLC) at The University of Colombo, School of Computing (UCSC) in 2007. The eLC has during the last decade been developing learning content for a nationwide e-learning bachelor of information technology degree (eBIT) and a preparatory programme for the eBIT program (The Foundation in Information Technology, FIT). After analysing the specific needs at UCSC a decision was taken to develop a new repository since none of the analysed existing LOR systems could fulfil the UCSC requirements. There was an urgent need for a system that makes it easier for the eLC staff to store and share course material. The system was designed with the main objectives to enhance the reusability of content and to support the content development process in a user-friendly way to assure user acceptance. We also identified the importance of a flexible LOR design to handle different type of content as well as various user contexts. The development process started with focus groups consisting of staff from UCSC and external project members from Sweden. A requirement analysis was carried out in December 2008, and based on the analysis a plan was drafted for the development and implementation of the system. As an overall system development method we used participatory design, where users have been involved in the design, evaluation and implementation of the system. Iterative testing and code revision for amendments and redesign and have been conducted at universities in Sri Lanka, Finland and Sweden according to the principles of Design science. Our aim with the chosen approach has been to develop a system that will meet the needs and requirements of the users at other universities countries than just only UCSC in Sri Lanka. Based on the testing of the system we had a positive response regarding the searchability and reuse of content but complaints on the uploading of content. Testing conducted in Finland and Sweden has revealed earlier unknown security issues as well lack of user-friendliness in the installation process. The integration of eNOSHA 1.6 with the Moodle virtual learning environment has been successful for the Moodle version 1.9 but with needs for redesign to work properly with the later Moodle 2.x versions. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

This paper reports on progress and conclusions of two-year research of gender issues in studying computer science at Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Faculty of Science, University of Novi Sad. Using statistics on data gathered by a survey, the work presented here focused on identifying, understanding, and correlating both female and male students' performance, professional motivation, ambition, confidence level and attitudes towards differences, learning quality and nature of the field. Results show agreement with theoretical predictions and significant improvement over previous efforts; providing profound implications for future studies of gender-sensitive IT education in the region and beyond. (Contains 11 tables.)

In this paper, the growth of the telecommunication sector in Pakistan and consequent development in the related professional education is studied. The widening gap between the telecommunication industry and associated education sector is identified. The higher educational programs in Pakistan have grown very rapidly to meet the needs of the explosive growth in the telecommunications' engineering sector but this growth is not in synchronization with the requirements of the industry due to non-existence of collaboration and co-operation between the two. The professional education in telecommunication in Pakistan and the higher educational degree programs are very precisely focused on producing quality graduates with refined technical and mathematical skills. While the telecom sector in Pakistan is in principle a service provider and a consumer market that mainly requires engineers for operation and maintenance related activities. As such the skills imparted by the education sector are rarely utilized, which results in dissatisfaction among the telecommunications' engineers. A survey of both the telecommunication sector and the academia has been conducted along with detailed discussions to explore the reasons for this ever-increasing gap, ways and means to arrest this trend and future course of action for the academia and the telecom sector to develop. A study related to other emerging technical fields like computer science has also been made for the comparison. On the basis of this extensive exercise outlined above, measures have been suggested to bridge the gap between the education and the industrial needs of the telecom sector. By adopting these measures not only our education sector will become more beneficial to the industry, but the industry would also get the advantage of immense potential of young graduates and the academic research.

The papers develop main aspects on the legal software usage in educational area. It will be propose indicators for measuring the degree of licenses usage. Case studies are oriented to gymnasia stage.

The demand for graduates with exposure in Cloud Computing is on the rise. For many educational institutions, the challenge is to decide on how to incorporate appropriate cloud-based technologies into their curricula. In this paper, we describe our design and experiences of integrating Cloud Computing components into seven third/fourth-year undergraduate-level information system, computer science, and general science courses that are related to large-scale data processing and analysis at the University of Queensland, Australia. For each course, we aimed at finding the best-available and cost-effective cloud technologies that fit well in the existing curriculum. The cloud related technologies discussed in this paper include open-source distributed computing tools such as Hadoop, Mahout, and Hive, as well as cloud services such as Windows Azure and Amazon Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2). We anticipate that our experiences will prove useful and of interest to fellow academics wanting to introduce Cloud Computing modules to existing courses. (Contains 3 tables and 11 figures.)

The confluence of powerful technologies of computers and network connectivity has brought explosive growth to the field of Information Technology (IT). The problem presented in this study is whether the type of learning environment where IT concepts are taught to undergraduates has a relationship to the development of IT fluency and course satisfaction. The literature suggested that, if learning environments based on constructivist learning strategies were used, students would achieve IT fluency as well as those who studied in a traditional setting but they might be more satisfied. This paper is organized as follows. First, the problem is introduced followed by a review of the definition of IT fluency, then the paper moves to discuss learning environments and other associated factors relevant to this causal-comparative analysis. Next, the research design of the study is discussed, to include the four modes of inquiry used and the research questions that guided inquiry. A detailed data analysis follows, findings are presented, and the conclusion highlights findings. Recommendations are geared to instructors in higher education business/technology programs interested in designing instruction in conjunction with constructivist learning environments. (Contains 2 tables.)

Many have had high expectations for the impact of computer-based technology on educational practice. By and large, these expectations have not been realised. It has become evident that innovative technology alone does not necessarily guarantee progress--nor perhaps even significant change--in educational practice. This has led educational researchers to place greater emphasis on cultural issues that could account for the unexpectedly limited influence of technology-enhanced learning. This perception of the relationship between technology and learning is elaborated in the first section of the paper. It is complemented by a review of an alternative conception of computing, rooted in a methodology for modelling with dependency directed at the development of construals rather than programs, that is far better aligned to the demands of developing environments for learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential implications of this approach. (Contains 2 figures.)

Within existing ICT degrees there is a widely-held belief that content must be tailored for different "kinds" of students--often two differing student groups: a technical group requiring detailed Computer Science knowledge and a separate group requiring less technical, more strategic ICT knowledge and skills. Our institution has produced a combined degree that contains both technical and non-technical content taught to a single cohort of students and thus requires a deeper insight into the needs of this diverse group of learners. This paper reports on an assessment of learning styles across our first year students, in order to inform our teaching delivery practices. Our findings inform the development of teaching and assessment materials that better support the diverse needs of students, regardless of their self-selected discipline.

This paper describes the authors' experience of teaching agile software development to students of computer science, software engineering, and other related disciplines, and comments on the implications of this and the lessons learned. It is based on the authors' eight years of experience in teaching agile software methodologies to various groups of students at different universities, in different cultural settings, and in a number of courses and seminars. It specifically discusses three different courses on agile software development, given in different teaching settings and at different levels, and briefly surveys variations to these courses given elsewhere. Based on the experience acquired, analyses and evaluations conducted, and current pedagogical trends at relevant university departments, the authors provide recommendations on how to overcome potential problems in teaching agile software development and make their adoption more effective. (Contains 3 tables.)

Although nearly every college offers a major in computer science, many computer science teachers at the secondary level have received little formal training. This paper presents details of a project that could make a significant contribution to national efforts to improve computer science education by combining teacher education and professional development. A computer science endorsement program will prepare preservice teachers in: basic skills and concepts, programming, algorithm design, computer system components, data bases, and social issues related to computer use. A series of professional development workshops will improve the content knowledge of current teachers, enabling them to teach computer science concepts and information technology fluency.

Children in the back seat on a long trip are not the only ones asking the question "Are we there yet?" At Murray State University (MSU) and other universities starting new programs, the question becomes one of validation of the program. In the late 90s, MSU, a midsize university, was entrusted with the responsibility of developing a program of distinction with financial support from special state funds. The objective of this program was to establish a high-quality, interdisciplinary technical and business, undergraduate and graduate curriculum in telecommunications system management. A review of literature concerning academic technology disciplines revealed that most authors agree there is a continuum of computing disciplines from purely technical programs such as Electrical Engineering (EE) to highly business oriented programs such as Management of Information Systems (MIS) with telecommunications falling somewhere within the continuum. As the MSU Telecommunications System Management (TSM) program was conceived to be an interdisciplinary program of business and technology, we have asked ourselves where it resides in this continuum. The focus of our review centered on where the TSM program would fit in the continuum in relation to computer science (CS), information systems (IS), and information technology (IT) programs, all of which are established academic disciplines from which the initial MSU curriculum was drawn. To articulate the unique value the TSM program must provide to its students in order to be recognized as a "program of distinction," MSU needs to know where the program is in relation to established academic disciplines. This paper examines the curriculum directions taken at MSU in the undergraduate Bachelor of Science (BS) and graduate Master of Science (MS) programs several years after its creation, in an extremely dynamic discipline, in order to understand what the TSM program is currently offering students. With this understanding, the TSM BS program was analyzed using the methodology published in the Journal of Information Technology Education Volume 3 article: An empirical comparison of baccalaureate programs in computing (Reichgelt, Lunt, Phelps, Salzinski, & Willis, 2004). Statistical analysis of the TSM program when compared simultaneously to typical computer science (CS), information systems (IS), and information technology (IT) programs indicates there is a significant difference in the program; however, when compared to each of these programs individually, the significant difference was not as strongly indicated. Using this research, a strong empirical argument can be made that the TSM program is different from CS, but empirical arguments that it is significantly different from the average IS or IT programs are not as strong. Therefore, MSU can not use this methodology to articulate its unique value in comparison to IS and IT. The new TSM program, like most new programs in non-established academic disciplines, can be thought of as distinct simply because it was designed to be different, the "old intangible argument". As the academic community does not have an accredited telecommunications model as in CS and IS (Association for Computing Machinery, 2005), nor an emerging one such as in IT (Hart, 2006), how does MSU articulate the value of its program to both students and potential employers using empirical data? Additionally, there is neither an established model such as the Computing Program Academic Model (CPAM) proposed by Anthony (2003), nor an accepted empirical methodology in place to provide MSU a foundation to make a tangible case for the program's value to students and industry. (Contains 6 figures and 8 tables.)

Open Source Software (OSS) has introduced a new dimension in software community. As the development and use of OSS becomes prominent, the question of its integration in education arises. In this paper, the following practices fundamental to projects and processes in software engineering are examined from an OSS perspective: project management; process, workflows, and collaborative activities; modeling and specification; deployment of standards; documentation; and quality assurance and evaluation. Based on a pragmatic framework, the prospects of integrating OSS in a traditional software engineering curriculum are outlined and concerns in realizing them are given. In doing so, the cases of the adoption of OSS process model, use of OSS as a Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tool, OSS as a standalone sub-system, and open source code reuse are considered. We present some of the trade-offs that could help educators in decision making towards the use of the OSS environment in software engineering pedagogical contexts. The significance of openly accessible content in general and its relation to OSS in particular is briefly highlighted. (Contains 3 tables.)

In the first of two National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded workshops, 30 professors of biology and computer science from 18 institutions met at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, on June 6-7, 2002, to share ideas on how to incorporate genomics research into undergraduate curricula. The participants included nine pairs or trios of biologists and computer scientists, anticipating or already implementing collaborations. In a before-and-after format, the two workshops are intended to encourage experimentation in the classroom (June 2002) followed by reflection on and evaluation of ideas (June 2003). This paper discusses the six main outcomes of the June 2002 workshop: (1) Confidence; (2) Compare and Contrast Programs; (3) Infusing Genomics; (4) Linked Courses; (5) Collection of Resources; and (6) Communication Across the Disciplinary Boundaries. Participants ranked the workshop a huge success toward helping them develop ideas for incorporating genomics into undergraduate curricula. (Contains 3 tables and 8 relevant websites.)