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This white paper argues that formal methods need to be better rooted in higher education curricula for computer science and software engineering programmes of study. To this end, it advocates

This paper describes how an anatomy and physiology laboratory class transitioned from a paper-based lab to an online learning platform that updated the curriculum to rely more on face-to-face small group collaboration and peer teaching. Student perceptions of the new format were positive, but halfway through the transition a global pandemic challenged the new instruction method. The face-to-face curriculum had to be adjusted to a virtual format that lacked in-person interaction between the instructor and the students. This switch to virtual labs had an adverse effect on both student perception and student performance in the second half of the semester. Our observations underscore the importance of creating an interactive community when teaching virtually.

Education is a process of gaining knowledge and is important for all as it plays a vital role in shaping the life of a student. The knowledge that we gain through education is evaluated through examinations that the teachers conduct periodically. Performance in an examination is an indication of a student’s proficiency in a particular subject. Courses of an educational curriculum are defined with learning objectives. Question papers consist of questions belonging to different cognitive levels. Generation of a quality question paper is essential as performance in it can influence the career decisions the students take in their life. It is difficult for the teachers to maintain the same level of complexity across the set of question papers that are generated. In this paper, we present a model where the questions are tagged automatically to their respective cognitive levels. It also helps in creating different sets of question papers containing unique questions and also provides a pictorial representation of the percentage of various cognitive levels present in the question paper. The pictorial representation helps the evaluation panel to have an overview of the distribution of cognitive levels in the question paper.

This paper shares our experience in developing information literacy skills through a framework based on writing papers in the IEEE format conference. The framework gave students, in an active learning style, a set of activities to identify the need for information, procure the information, evaluate the information and subsequently revise the strategy for obtaining the information, and to use it in an ethical manner to produce a technical paper. We followed the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in the development of an assessment tool, course content, and exercises. Initial results show that the proposed framework developed information literacy skills in a maturing stage. We believe that this experience and the design of the framework could be replicated or adapted to different Engineering Careers.

This paper presents an analysis of all 1295 full papers and 129 working group reports presented and published at ITiCSE since the conference began in 1996. Working group reports are analysed separately from full papers, in recognition of the particular process by which they are created. The analysis shows that nearly 40% of ITiCSE's full papers concern programming education, and that more than half of them present work conducted in single courses. In contrast, most of the working group reports have a context that extends beyond specific topic areas, and report on work that was not conducted in any courses. About half of the full papers focus on techniques of teaching and learning or tools for teaching and learning, whereas two thirds of the working group reports focus on techniques of teaching and learning or curriculum. With both full papers and working group reports there has been a steady increase in the proportion of papers that clearly present educational research. The findings from our analysis provide valuable insights for potential authors, attendees, chairs, and the whole ITiCSE community.

With the continued surge in the popularity of CS classes, an unprecedented number of non-major undergraduate students enroll in an introductory computer science course. It is a little difficult for freshmen to totally understand CPU working principle in one or two lessons. In the literature, many CS0 curriculum teaching methods have been proposed and studied. One challenge in helping students understand the structure of CPU and how it performs the instructions of a program, is partially the lack of tools for students to be engaged in the CPU working process. In this article, we present a paper CPU project that has been used in an introductory computer science course in our university. A paper CPU represents a virtual CPU made by paper or other materials. During this activity, students presented the CPU working process by "executing" a program. We describe the goal, the principle, the design for our project, the class activity organization, the outcome (handcraft works of paper CPUs), the presentation, and the feedback from the students. We also discuss how the students were influenced during developing paper CPUs, what were the highest ranked difficulties, etc. Students used four kinds of materials to make their paper CPUs and they really enjoyed this activity. Students got a deep understanding for CPU working principle through such a CPU-making process and presentation. Finally, we present our quantitative findings to reflect the effectiveness of our project, as well as the statistics about the students' achievements on this project.

Gamification is the incorporation of gaming elements into non-game situations, such as education or training. We have developed a game that can be used to teach signals concepts, and have implemented it in both a pen-and-paper version and in an electronic version. This paper discusses the game and how it applies pedagogical concepts such as active learning and game-centric curriculum design. We discuss the merits and drawbacks of each type of implementation, student reactions, and how a similar game could be incorporated into other signals-based classes.

Employers of marketing graduates view good writing as a core marketing skill, but many marketing students are weak writers. The improvement of student writing should therefore be an important objective in a well-designed marketing curriculum. One-page papers combine the effective teaching of marketing concepts with writing instruction while keeping demands on instructor time manageable. This innovation most improves the writing of weaker writers in a class. Combined with a more challenging group writing assignment, it provides a mechanism for improving the writing skill of all class members while fostering an ability to thoughtfully apply marketing concepts to solve unstructured problems.

As the number of computerized curriculum-based measurement (CBM) tools increases, it is necessary to examine whether or not student performance can generalize across a variety of test administration modes (i.e., paper or computer). The purpose of this study is to compare math fact fluency on paper versus computer for 197 upper elementary students. Students completed identical sets of probes on paper and on the computer, which were then scored for digits correct, problems correct, and accuracy. Results showed a significant difference in performance between the two sets of probes, with higher fluency rates on the paper probes. Because decisions about levels of student support and interventions often rely on measures such as these, more research in this area is needed to examine the potential differences in student performance between paper-based and computer-based CBMs.

In most accounting curricula, students enroll in the first accounting information systems (AIS) course after they have completed at least two accounting principle courses and are familiar with accounting fundamentals. However, these courses tend to teach topics as discrete subjects so many students have a poor understanding of how the data they are journalizing actually flow through an AIS. Because they have not previously thought about the concept of a system, most students also have trouble linking material in AIS textbooks to prior learning. To help students relate prior learning to AIS concepts, an in-class activity titled “Dexter Buys a Surfboard” was developed. This in-class activity was combined with a textbook reading and a required reflection paper. Statistical analyses found that the combination of a textbook reading, the in-class project, and a structured reflection paper did positively affect students' perceptions of the importance of learning about AIS. Further analyses found that GPA, accounting-related work experience, and gender were not related to the change in student perceptions, making this pedagogical technique valuable for a variety of student groups.

We are pleased to announce that the SIGCSE Board has approved a change to the length of SIGCSE papers. Submissions of CS Education Research papers; Experience Report and Tool papers; and New Curriculum, Program, and Degree Initiative papers can use up to six full pages for content, with references extending to a seventh page!

The dynamic and heterogeneous nature of information requirements in today's world calls for a new approach to information science education. A curriculum involving a truly generalist approach at the under-graduate level and a work-study program at the graduate level would provide the range of experience needed by the next generation of information scientists.

This paper will provide an overview of an alternative model for assessment of student learning in introductory physics. A synopsis of how assessment methods can be designed to better capture what students are actually learning will be shared. This synopsis will include a general discussion of assessment, assessment methods, and the “language of assessment.” Following this synopsis one model of non-traditional assessment will be highlighted. The assessment model described makes use of student writing as a mechanism for assessment of learning. A second-level physics course entitled Physics for a New Millennium (PNM) at American University provides the setting for this work. Following a description of the course curriculum, the specific structure for the writing activity will be outlined as it relates to the learning outcomes for the course. Following the presentation of the course-specific learning outcomes, a description of the strategies used to uncover student learning will be shared. These strategies provide an opportunity for multiple assessment “snapshots” to be made throughout various phases of the learning process. These strategies can be used as an alternative, or as a supplement to more traditional pencil and paper examinations, quizzes, and homework assignments. Whether used as a stand-alone assessment tool or coupled with more traditional measures, alternative assessment strategies can provide an enhanced and more realistic way to capture what students are actually learning.

Modules in professional issues sometimes sit a little awkwardly in the computer science curriculum. They can be seen as an island of discursive teaching coming from what Biglan might have termed the 'soft applied' field of study. In computer science the more usual context is of knowledge and skills based learning and activities of a 'hard pure/hard applied' fields of study. This gap may be particularly difficult in those countries where students arrive who have specialized early in subjects related to science, technology and mathematics. The authors of this practice sharing paper have had many years of experience teaching such modules to computer science cohorts, but have recently been faced with the challenge of consolidating two distinct courses previously taught in years one and two of the undergraduate curriculum. The resultant course was required to be one quarter smaller in terms of its notional hours, and there was a need to save on face-to-face contact time. There is a considerable challenge generated by the squeezing of content an contact while at the same time trying to motivate students with a strong technical motivation to spend time on a topic which is not, at first glance, directly relevant to their chosen specialisms. The paper will present a description of the motivations for designing the module and the approaches taken primarily from the perspective of the teachers and the small curriculum design support team. We will provide a detailed explanation of the rationale alongside a consideration of the impact and implications of this type of change. We will situate our rationale in the context of striving to motivate the learners' to gain a deeper insight into their own learning and technological preferences in such a way that they can take ownership of the new approaches to which they have been introduced in a way which they will sustain during their future individual professional development.

This paper presents a review of a sample of recent case studies on the use of asynchronous online discussion in higher education. These studies are analyzed in terms of curriculum design, assumptions about teaching and learning, and claims and reported conditions for using online discussion. The claims made for asynchronous online discussion—in particular the opportunities for interaction between learners, and permanent access to these interactions—are found to be frequently based on social constructivist principles. Asynchronous online discussion is seen as offering additional value by providing learners with experience of computer communication tools and opportunities for taking part in group work. Several constraints on participation within online forums are described. These are discussed in relation to the nature of curriculum design, software design, tutor support, and learners’ attitudes and previous experience. The conditions under which asynchronous online discussion may best support learning are set out, and avenues for future research are suggested.

adds the component of affordable, local access to information via data banks and communications networks, access that can aid student learning and personal productivity. The trick for campuses in coming years, then, will be to integrate computing into the curriculum in ways that recognize all three dimensions and their interdependence, especially when it comes to the support of instruction and student learning.

Until recently, computer science (CS) has been predominantly taught at upper-secondary or tertiary levels. Lately, however, CS curricula have been introduced into school systems from the very first year of school. In this paper, we undertake a participatory research approach, using focus group discussions between a group of experts in the field of evaluation and assessment at the primary level (K-5). The group considered the evaluation and assessment measures they have used, what their current needs are and how the CS education community can move towards meeting those needs. We present the discussion results as a position paper, situated in the context of broader education research. The experts identified three key priorities for the education research community: creating a universal taxonomy of assessment in the primary grades (K-5), creating measurements of student progression and growth over time, and creating culturally relevant evaluations and assessments. Through identifying key priorities, this work provides direction for urgently needed resource development and research directions for K-5 evaluation and assessment.

Despite the significance of software testing, and the huge body of knowledge associated with it, programming course curriculum often does not include it at all. This short paper discusses one instructor’s simple techniques for incorporating software testing into a course curriculum that otherwise does not include it.

In recent years, the issue of quality in introductory and end-user programming has become increasingly prominent. In particular, the poor quality of block-based programs has been shown to harm the educational effectiveness in this programming domain. As a result, there has been a growing interest in code quality and its improvement practices among researchers and educators. Refactoring—transforming code to remove quality problems while preserving semantics—is taught as a common and practical technique for improving code quality. To maximize pedagogical effectiveness, some educators advocate teaching students to refactor by hand to elucidate the mechanics behind refactoring instead of relying on tools that transform code automatically. In this position paper, we argue that this pedagogical approach is counterproductive. We advocate teaching refactoring similarly to compilation, a technique that students start applying automatically right away, but learn its inner workings only much later in the curriculum. Even professional developers are advised to avoid carrying out complex refactoring transformations by hand, as this activity leads to hard-to-trace bugs as well as wastes time and effort. To put appropriate tools for improving software quality into the hands of Scratch programmers, we created an automated refactoring infrastructure for Scratch, and we argue that such facility should become a mainstay of programming environments for blocks.

The K-12 Computer Science Framework has established that students should be learning about the computer science concept of variables as early as middle school, although the field has not yet determined how this and other related concepts should be introduced. Secondary school computer science curricula such as Exploring CS and AP CS Principles often teach the concept of variables in the context of algebra, which most students have already encountered in their mathematics courses. However, when strategizing how to introduce the concept at the middle school level, we confront the reality that many middle schoolers have not yet learned algebra. With that challenge in mind, this position paper makes a case for introducing the concept of variables in the context of middle school science. In addition to an analysis of existing curricula, the paper includes discussion of a day-long pilot study and the consequent teacher feedback that further supports the approach. The CS For All initiative has increased interest in bringing computer science to middle school classrooms; this paper makes an argument for doing so in a way that can benefit students' learning of both computer science and core science content.

One way to increase access to education on computing is to integrate computational thinking (CT) into K12 disciplinary courses. However, this challenges teachers to both learn CT and decide how to best integrate CT into their classes. In this position paper, we present PRADA, an acronym for Pattern Recognition, Abstraction, Decomposition, and Algorithms, as a practical and understandable way of introducing the core ideas of CT to non-computing teachers. We piloted the PRADA model in two, separate, week-long professional development workshops designed for in-service middle and high school teachers and found that the PRADA model supported teachers in making connections between CT and their current course material. Initial findings, which emerged from the analysis of teacher-created learning materials, survey responses, and focus group interviews, indicate that the PRADA model supported core content teachers in successfully infusing CT into their existing curricula and increased their self-efficacy in CT integration.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the status quo of engineering education, especially in highly interactive, hands-on design classes. Here, we present an example of how we effectively adjusted an intensive hands-on, group project-based engineering course, Medical Device Design & Innovation, to a remote learning curriculum. We first describe the modifications we made. Drawing from student pre and post feedback surveys and our observations, we conclude that our adaptations were overall successful. Our experience may guide educators who are transitioning their engineering design courses to remote learning. Supplementary information The online version of this article (10.1007/s13246-020-00967-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In an era where many curricula are being examined for their relevance, it seems appropriate to explore the fundamental purpose of the graduate programs in management science. A letter was sent to a sample of educators asking for their statement that would be published in Management Science.

Several authors argued that history of science should be an integral part of science education; however, there are many obstacles to carry out an implementation within this approach, including that lecturers normally lack a necessary historical background (a situation that is largely aggravated in engineering faculties), and the impossi- bility of including new courses or credits in an already tight curriculum. The development of on-line modules that engineering students can work outside their normal schedule of classes, introducing historical/cultural per- spectives, is presented in this paper. E-learning and knowledge management strategies are used in the context of science education at undergraduate and graduate levels. The approach is based on learning-by-doing in a virtual environment, and specifically presents story-centered activities, in which the student is faced with a problem and plays the role of an expert to provide a solution to the case. The specific case considered develops in the form of a controversy concerning the origin of the studies of column buckling. Two sets of information are available for navigation in the module: specific information that the student can explore (containing historical material di- rectly connected to the case provided), and more general information (providing the historical/cultural context to the problem). A first application has been made with civil engineering students, who had to write a two-page white paper as a consequence of their work on the problem. The interest generated in the participating students and the positive evaluation of their experience seems to indicate that this type of activity can serve to enhance traditional engineering lectures by incorporating a historical dimension. The present web-based approach could be extended to tackle similar conflicts in fields for which there is ample documentation available in the literature or in other historical episodes which may lead to rich discussions.

This short paper presents a curriculum the author developed for introducing electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and computer science (CS) concepts to high school students. For enhancing the learning experience of the participants the program is built around a number of practical and fun activities which are meant to keep the students actively engaged. This material was offered for two cohorts of students and the author continues to improve it based on experiences and student feedback.

A biomedical sciences graduate program needed an introductory class that would develop skills for students interested in a wide variety of disciplines, such as microbiology or cancer biology, and a diverse array of biomedical careers. Faculty created a year-long student-centered course, Scientific Discovery, to serve this need. The course was divided into four modules with progressive skill outcomes. Each module had a focus related to each of the major research areas of the collective faculty: molecular biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, and infectious disease. First-year graduate students enter the program with relevant college-level biology and chemistry coursework but not in-depth content knowledge of any of the focus areas. Each module features a biomedical problem for the students to gain specific content knowledge while developing skills outcomes, such as the ability to conduct scholarly inquiry. In 2015, the theme of the infectious disease module was to create an effective human vaccine to prevent Lyme disease. The module required students to learn fundamental concepts of microbiology and immunology and then apply that knowledge to design their own Lyme disease vaccine. The class culminated with students communicating their creative designs in the form of a “white paper” and a pitch to “potential investors.” By the end of the module, students had developed fundamental knowledge, applied that knowledge with great creativity, and met the skills learning outcomes, as evidenced by their ability to conduct scholarly inquiry and apply knowledge gained during this module to a novel problem, as part of their final exam.

Despite the central place held by bioinformatics in modern life sciences and related areas, it has only recently been integrated to a limited extent into high-school teaching and learning programs. Here we describe the assessment of a learning environment entitled 'Bioinformatics in the Service of Biotechnology'. Students' learning outcomes and attitudes toward the bioinformatics learning environment were measured by analyzing their answers to questions embedded within the activities, questionnaires, interviews and observations. Students' difficulties and knowledge acquisition were characterized based on four categories: the required domain-specific knowledge (declarative, procedural, strategic or situational), the scientific field that each question stems from (biology, bioinformatics or their combination), the associated cognitive-process dimension (remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create) and the type of question (open-ended or multiple choice). Analysis of students' cognitive outcomes revealed learning gains in bioinformatics and related scientific fields, as well as appropriation of the bioinformatics approach as part of the students' scientific 'toolbox'. For students, questions stemming from the 'old world' biology field and requiring declarative or strategic knowledge were harder to deal with. This stands in contrast to their teachers' prediction. Analysis of students' affective outcomes revealed positive attitudes toward bioinformatics and the learning environment, as well as their perception of the teacher's role. Insights from this analysis yielded implications and recommendations for curriculum design, classroom enactment, teacher education and research. For example, we recommend teaching bioinformatics in an integrative and comprehensive manner, through an inquiry process, and linking it to the wider science curriculum.

This paper describes the planning and design remote laboratory for school curriculum with support of secondary school teachers as a focus group. The pros and cons of different types of laboratories applying in practical context are discussed. The mock-up designed in a paper prototyping format is presented. The results of the performed activity was applied for final development of remote experiment - Archimedes Principles.

With the rapid development of the information age, information technology has been widely applied to various industries and fields, educators have begun to explore the use and practice in the field of education. Given the traditional college English writing teaching efficiency is not high, and the bad effect caused by the heavy student curriculum teaching of English writing class scarcity issues. Use Microsoft Office Word assisted English writing technologies to replace the original form of writing paper and ink intersect, advocating students to use the Internet technology to support writing in English, using the E -mail technically good online English writing teaching follow-up courses, the technical advantages for PowerPoint English writing, English writing only changed the means of teaching and training, the environment and the teaching process, teachers and students to deepen the relative relationship between teaching and learning, and can effectively improve the level of students' interest in writing and English writing.

Demand for training life scientists in bioinformatics methods, tools and resources and computational approaches is urgent and growing. To meet this demand, new trainers must be prepared with effective teaching practices for delivering short hands-on training sessions—a specific type of education that is not typically part of professional preparation of life scientists in many countries. A new Train-the-Trainer (TtT) programme was created by adapting existing models, using input from experienced trainers and experts in bioinformatics, and from educational and cognitive sciences. This programme was piloted across Europe from May 2016 to January 2017. Preparation included drafting the training materials, organizing sessions to pilot them and studying this paradigm for its potential to support the development and delivery of future bioinformatics training by participants. Seven pilot TtT sessions were carried out, and this manuscript describes the results of the pilot year. Lessons learned include (i) support is required for logistics, so that new instructors can focus on their teaching; (ii) institutions must provide incentives to include training opportunities for those who want/need to become new or better instructors; (iii) formal evaluation of the TtT materials is now a priority; (iv) a strategy is needed to recruit, train and certify new instructor trainers (faculty); and (v) future evaluations must assess utility. Additionally, defining a flexible but rigorous and reliable process of TtT ‘certification’ may incentivize participants and will be considered in future.

The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) environment, which includes topics taught, teaching resources and evaluation procedure, is changing rapidly. As the body of knowledge about HCI is periodically redefined, course content should be adapted in response to these changes. This position paper presents trends in topics taught, course content and assessment procedures using examples of HCI courses. Methods which encourage students to develop their learning activities and the assessment procedures are discussed in regards to course content and the current situation in the HCI learning environment.

Background: The widespread application of technologies such as electronic health record systems, mobile health apps, and telemedicine platforms, has made it easy for health care providers to collect relevant data and deliver health care regimens. While efficacious, these new technologies also pose serious security and privacy challenges. Objective: The training program described here aims at preparing well-informed health information security and privacy professionals with enhanced course materials and various approaches. Methods: A new educational track has been built within a health informatics graduate program. Several existing graduate courses have been enhanced with new security and privacy modules. New labs and seminars have been created, and students are being encouraged to participate in research projects and obtain real-world experience from industry partners. Students in this track receive both theoretical education and hands-on practice. Evaluations have been performed on this new track by conducting multiple surveys on a sample of students. Results: We have succeeded in creating a new security track and developing a pertinent curriculum. The newly created security materials have been implemented in multiple courses. Our evaluation indicated that students (N=72) believed that receiving security and privacy training was important for health professionals, the provided security contents were interesting, and having the enhanced security and privacy training in this program was beneficial for their future career. Conclusions: The security and privacy education for health information professionals in this new security track has been significantly enhanced.

This position paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the role played by logic and formal methods courses in the computing curricula. We report on an exploratory empirical study investigating the perceptions of Information Systems students on the benefits of a completed course on logic and formal specification. Participants indicated that the course had fostered their analytical thinking abilities and provided them with tools to handle abstraction and decomposition. This provides a starting point for a discourse on the benefits of formal methods courses for IS practitioners.

Technology continues to change not only how we teach, but also what we teach in the introductory course. Recently there has been lively discussion about which topics belong in the course. George Cobb has challenged us to rethink the curriculum in light of the computational power of our technologies. This paper proposes a framework for structuring a course using JMP, omitting some traditional topics, leaving space for emphasis on concepts, on data production, on visualization, and on topics that are rarely included in an introductory course. Through such a structure, we can more directly connect statistics education to students’ disciplinary contexts in business, engineering, social and natural sciences, etc. Additionally, we can strengthen students’ conceptual foundations in the field so that, in their roles as citizens and professionals, they can become more critical consumers of statistical arguments.

SUMMARY SSME reflects both paradigm and actual shifts in the world economy, and represents an opportunity to reassess the relevance of and instructional methods used in undergraduate academic programs in computer science and IT. This paper outlines a strategy being considered at a minority serving institution, where concerns for student recruitment, retention and career success are paramount. An incremental adoption approach is proposed that exploits existing opportunities to give students multiple exposures to services as endusers, software developers and designers, and business/system analysts. INTRODUCTION The adoption of new paradigms is challenging. Things to overcome include organizational inertia, characterized by a commitment to “do things the way we always have done them.” In many ways, industry and academia react to change in a similar way. Fortunately, conditions for organizational change are more favorable when organizations realize that survival may be at stake or that an unprecedented opportunity presents itself. Business challenges related to market share and survival parallel current challenges in academia such as declining enrollments, student retention, and the place of computer science in the new world order. The Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) at Florida AM and (2) student exposures to these emerging areas are spread across existing courses in the curriculum. Services Science Management and Engineering (SSME) is a recent movement that recognizes the worldwide growth in the services sector overall. SSME recognizes the multi-disciplinary skill set needed to innovate, implement and support services, and the variety of situations for which IT services are contained in an SSME solution. This position paper presents a strategy for inserting SSME into undergraduate experience. The approach is evolutionary since SSME is an evolving discipline. To date, most SSME academic programs are offered at the graduate level. It is our position that efforts at the undergraduate level are needed to create a pipeline of students who will study SSME at the graduate. BACKGROUND AND RELATED WORK The challenge of sustaining effective and relevant computer science curricula is well documented. During the process of preparing the ACM/IEEE

Enhancement of written communication skill is a proper objective of undergraduate curricula. This paper discusses the use of two short writing assignments and a peer review in Agronomy 411, Grain Crops, to improve writing skills of undergraduate students and to enhance learning of agronomic principles. The specific objective of this study was to determine if the opportunity to revise and resubmit papers enhanced student writing performance and student acceptance of writing assignments. During three quarters: winter 1987, autumn 1987, and winter 1988, students were asked to write two short papers. Grades for the papers were based on writing quality (mechanics and clarity of expression) as well as content. After the teaching assistant and professor graded the papers, students were allowed to revise and resubmit the papers for higher grades. During autumn 1987 and winter 1988, students also wrote a peer review of the second writing assignment. Averaged across three quarters, 63 and 46% of the students chose to revise the first and second assignments, respectively. Although it was difficult to document improvement in student writing quality during a 10-wk quarter, students gained an appreciation of the writing process. Students learned that the writing process includes multiple revisions and input from colleagues. A majority of students responded that the opportunity to rewrite assignments was useful and use of writing assignments like those used in this study was an appropriate method for improving written communication skills. E of written communication skill is a proper objective of undergraduate curricula (Pennock and Scanlon, 1985; Fuccillo, 1978). Several viable W.J. Wiebold and D.R. Scott, Dep. of Agronomy, Ohio State Univ., 2021 Coffey Rd., Columbus, OH 43210, and R.E. Buehler, Dep. of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108. Received 4 May 1989. 'Corresponding author. Published in J. Agron. Educ. 19:51-54 (1990). methods of improving student writing ability are available. One method is to increase the number of communication courses required of students and thereby shift responsibility of this crucial part of student development to faculty members outside the college of agriculture. An attractive alternative is often called writing across the curriculum (Russell, 1987; Tchudi, 1986). In this method, writing skill enhancement becomes an objective of agriculture content courses. In most instances, students complete several short writing assignments rather than one long term paper. Often, assignments include frequent and timely feedback with possibility of revision. An important aspect of this technique is that the writing assignments are also effective tools to teach course content (Parrish et al., 1985). Students at Ohio State University are similar to students of other universities and possess less than adequate writing skill (Davis and Wolf, 1988; Brumback et al., 1985; Wray, 1983). Employers have indicated that poor writing often interferes with job performance by graduates. This paper discusses the use of three short writing assignments in a junior-senior course in agronomy. The writing assignments were incorporated into the course to improve writing skills of students and to enhance learning of agronomic principles. The specific objective of this study was to determine if the opportunity to revise and resubmit the papers enhanced student writing performance and student acceptance of the writing assignments.

Background: Objective Structured Clinical Examination is a standard method of testing declarative and process knowledge in clinical core competencies. It is desirable that students undergo Objective Structured Clinical Examination training before participating in the exam. However, establishing Objective Structured Clinical Examination training is resource intensive and therefore there is often limited practice time. Web-based immersive patient simulators such as ALICE (Artificial Learning Interface of Clinical Education) can possibly fill this gap as they allow for the training of complex medical procedures at the user’s individual pace and with an adaptable number of repetitions at home. ALICE has previously been shown to positively influence knowledge gain and motivation. Objective: Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a Web-based curriculum that teaches declarative and process knowledge and prepares students for a real Objective Structured Clinical Examination station. Furthermore, we wanted to test the influence of ALICE on knowledge gain and student motivation. Methods: A specific curriculum was developed in order to implement the relevant medical content of 2 surgical Objective Structured Clinical Examination stations into the ALICE simulator framework. A total of 160 medical students were included in the study, where 100 students had access to ALICE and their performance was compared to 60 students in a control group. The simulator performance was validated on different levels and students’ knowledge gain and motivation were tested at different points during the study. Results: The curriculum was developed according to the Kern cycle. Four virtual clinical cases were implemented with different teaching methods (structured feedback, keynote speech, group discussion, and debriefing by a real instructor) in order to consolidate declarative and process knowledge. Working with ALICE had significant impact on declarative knowledge gain and Objective Structured Clinical Examination performance. Simulator validation was positive for face, content, construct, and predictive validity. Students showed high levels of motivation and enjoyed working with ALICE. Conclusions: ALICE offers Web-based training for Objective Structured Clinical Examination preparation and can be used as a selective didactic intervention as it has positive effect on knowledge gain and student motivation.

This position paper presents, we believe, a strong case for including in an undergraduate Computer Science (CS) program a required course in non-imperative programming. Such a course is motivated by the need to provide a uniform and adequate background for a course in Artificial Intelligence (AI). We make no claim about graduate AI courses. We survey the recommendations of the ACM-IEEE Joint Curriculum Task Force for an undergraduate course in AI and argue that some of the "dilemmas" of teaching introductory AI courses can be resolved by changes in the core CS curriculum. The argument for such a course is the focus of the paper; we also offer some ancillary remarks on other matters relating to teaching AI at the introductory level.

Numerous high school seniors nationwide are required to write a term paper in order to graduate. With more and more emphasis on the improvement of student writing, one approach that can be used to prepare students to write an "exit" term paper individually is to require first a co-authored paper. This approach is actually a variation of a cooperative learning program called Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC). CIRC, which is designed for reading, writing, and language arts in grades 3-5 (Slavin 1987), can easily be incorporated into the secondary school English curriculum through co-authoring. Cooperative learning is a methodology in which students work in small groups. Each group member is responsible for learning information provided by the classroom teacher and for helping other group members to learn that information. A cooperative learning group works to produce a product or achieve some other goal (Slavin 1987). Co-authoring is an example of cooperative learning. In co-authoring, students work in small groups to produce a paper. Each student co-author uses previously learned, correct grammar and principles of composition to write a specific section of the paper. Through critiques of sections written by other student co-authors, students help each other learn. The result of co-authoring is a completed paper comprised of sections written and edited by individual group members. Cooperative learning approaches, like co-authoring, provide students with opportunities to discuss and apply information previously presented by the teacher. When students learn in this manner, they increase their knowledge and understanding of a subject (Prescott and

As we begin the 21st century, the introductory statistics course appears healthy, with its emphasis on real examples, data production, and graphics for exploration and assumption-checking. Without doubt this emphasis marks a major improvement over introductory courses of the 1960s, an improvement made possible by the vaunted “computer revolution.” Nevertheless, I argue that despite broad acceptance and rapid growth in enrollments, the consensus curriculum is still an unwitting prisoner of history. What we teach is largely the technical machinery of numerical approximations based on the normal distribution and its many subsidiary cogs. This machinery was once necessary, because the conceptually simpler alternative based on permutations was computationally beyond our reach. Before computers statisticians had no choice. These days we have no excuse. Randomization-based inference makes a direct connection between data production and the logic of inference that deserves to be at the core of every introductory course. Technology allows us to do more with less: more ideas, less technique. We need to recognize that the computer revolution in statistics education is far from over.

I suggest that artificial intelligence be presented as a broad, interdisciplinary, humanistic area of study taught through several courses. I suggest avoiding problem sets, examinations, and other elements of engineering pedagogy; I advocate curriculum structures that encourage original student research, self-directed programming projects, and the development of connections between diverse topic areas. This short paper describes a "liberal arts" approach to introductory artificial intelligence education and the implementation of this approach in the cognitive science program at Hampshire College.

With the development of the Internet and the growth of online resources, bioinformatics training for wet-lab biologists became necessary as a part of their education. This article describes a one-semester course ‘Applied Bioinformatics Course’ (ABC, http://abc.cbi.pku.edu.cn/) that the author has been teaching to biological graduate students at the Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences for the past 13 years. ABC is a hands-on practical course to teach students to use online bioinformatics resources to solve biological problems related to their ongoing research projects in molecular biology. With a brief introduction to the background of the course, detailed information about the teaching strategies of the course are outlined in the ‘How to teach’ section. The contents of the course are briefly described in the ‘What to teach’ section with some real examples. The author wishes to share his teaching experiences and the online teaching materials with colleagues working in bioinformatics education both in local and international universities.

This short paper briefly describes the computer architecture courses at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It then examines the opinions of computer architecture undergraduate and graduate students who have taken these courses. Based on these opinions, suggestions are made on how to improve the curriculum.

Background Web conferencing is a synchronous technology that allows coordinated online audio and visual interactions with learners logged in to a central server. Recently, its use has grown rapidly in academia, while research on its use has not kept up. Conferencing systems typically facilitate communication and support for multiple presenters in different locations. A paucity of research has evaluated synchronous Web conferencing in health sciences education. ObjectiveMcMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences trialed Wimba’s Live Classroom Web conferencing technology to support education and curriculum activities with students and faculty. The purpose of this study was to explore faculty, staff, and student perceptions of Web conferencing as a support for teaching and learning in health sciences. The Live Classroom technology provided features including real-time VoIP audio, an interactive whiteboard, text chat, PowerPoint slide sharing, application sharing, and archiving of live conferences to support student education and curriculum activities. Methods Q-methodology was used to identify unique and common viewpoints of participants who had exposure to Web conferencing to support educational applications during the trial evaluation period. This methodology is particularly useful for research on human perceptions and interpersonal relationships to identify groups of participants with different perceptions. It mixes qualitative and quantitative methods. In a Q-methodology study, the goal is to uncover different patterns of thought rather than their numerical distribution among the larger population. Results A total of 36 people participated in the study, including medical residents (14), nursing graduate students (11), health sciences faculty (9), and health sciences staff (2). Three unique viewpoints were identified: pragmatists (factor 1), positive communicators (factor 2A), and shy enthusiasts (factor 2B). These factors explained 28% (factor 1) and 11% (factor 2) of the total variance, respectively. The majority of respondents were pragmatists (n = 26), who endorsed the value of Web conferencing yet identified that technical and ease-of-use problems could jeopardize its use. Positive communicators (N = 4) enjoyed technology and felt that Web conferencing could facilitate communication in a variety of contexts. Shy enthusiasts (N = 4) were also positive and comfortable with the technology but differed in that they preferred communicating from a distance rather than face-to-face. Common viewpoints were held by all groups: they found Web conferencing to be superior to audio conferencing alone, felt more training would be useful, and had no concerns that Web conferencing would hamper their interactivity with remote participants or that students accustomed to face-to-face learning would not enjoy Web conferencing. Conclusions Overall, all participants, including pragmatists who were more cautious about the technology, viewed Web conferencing as an enabler, especially when face-to-face meetings were not possible. Adequate technical support and training need to be provided for successful ongoing implementation of Web conferencing.

The implementation of comprehensive clinical data repositories carries implications for the medical informatics curriculum for pre-MD medical students. There is the risk that electronic health records will detract from students' acquisition of basic skills in inquiry and information management. It is possible, however, to create an application within the data repositories that will provide students with opportunities to practice their skills as they follow the evaluation and management of patients.

The University of Illinois has traditionally been a major center for computer architecture education and research in the nation. This short paper briefly describes the computer architecture curriculum at the University of Illinois and discusses a few ideas for improving the computer architecture education of our students. In particular, to improve the education of undergraduates, we suggest a higher emphasis on parallel architectures and programming, and the provision of practical experiences. For graduate students, we argue about the need to develop close links with industry and educate graduate students from other scientific and engineering disciplines.

This paper presents the use of educational games in the context of the “Arabiyyatii” research project, a three-year project funded through Qatar National Research Fund. The scope of the project is teaching Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) to kindergarten students (5-6 years old) that are native speakers of the Qatari dialect. Part of the new curriculum envisioned in the project includes the use of simple educational games, specifically designed and developed for tabletop surface computers. The paper presents a naturalistic study design, following the activities of 18 students for a period of 9 weeks in the project. The paper presents three of the most played games by the students, along with analysis on collected data, focusing on students’ performance and attitudes towards the new curriculum. Results analysis provided an encouraging image, suggesting that the conducted activity was able to increase students’ engagement in language learning, increase their exposure to MSA, and develop their vocabulary.

The recommended model of teaching English for students of non-English department is collaborative teaching which provides subject lecturer‘s involvement in the curriculum design. This paper reported the process of designing a syllabus of collaborative teaching for ESP teaching in Indonesian context. As a part of curriculum design, this ESP syllabus focuses on content area reading in the area of physics. Several text types commonly used in physics department and vocabulary building of academic word lists and the ones related to physics area study were elaborated as well. The paper concludes that the implementation of this program needs high commitment from the stakeholders in order to make the program successfully implemented. Keywords: collaborative English teaching, Physics Study Program, curriculum design, syllabus design

This paper describes a developed semi-automatic software platform for the harmonization of the informatics curricula at all levels of education. The applied algorithms for matching ontologies are described in detail, as well as the principle of mapping informatics curricula to ontological models. The model of the selected informatics teacher education curriculum from the Republic of Serbia was created and compared to the model of the reference informatics teacher education curriculum using a software platform. The analysis of the results includes a comparison with the data obtained for other possible pairs of the created input ontological models (the secondary school ACM K12 model and the reference model, the secondary school model and the model of the selected curriculum). The research presented in this paper indicates that it is necessary to consider the improvement of teacher education curriculum as well as the application of new matching techniques.

The article focuses on building digital competencies in future teachers of the Humanities. It was established that introducing digital technology into studying the humanities generates new opportunities that had previously been unavailable. These issues are covered by Digital Humanities – a field of research, education and creation at a nexus of computer science and humanities. To solve the problem, a selective discipline, called Digital Technologies in Education, has been introduced. This can be adapted for retraining school teachers and university lecturers. The topics of the discipline are arranged in such a way that studying one module prepares students for covering every subsequent module. The whole course is divided into 4 modules: 1) Developing instructional materials by means of digital technologies; 2) Planning and organizing the learning process by means of digital technologies; 3) Distance learning; 4) Professional development as a way to manifest teacher’s identity. The practical use of this discipline will raise students’ awareness of digital technologies that will help them make this process easier and more effective; the students will explore popular software and services for distance learning arrangement and acquire skills of using them. Different aspects of teacher’s job are mentioned, they are as following: planning and organizing the learning process (this often entails a lot of paperwork); aspiration for professional development, learning new things, and adjusting curricula to modern reality.In this paper, we have presented the discipline, with the help of which students will gain and extend knowledge of all above-mentioned areas as well as practical skills of implementing digital technologies in education and professional life. Keywords: digital technologies; Digital Humanities; humanities; modern technologies; digital competence; education; selective discipline; humanitarization