In educational research, investigators in one field are often ignorant of similar research in other fields. Physics education in particular has undergone dramatic reforms in recent years, all based on insights gained from conducting educational research. Often, pedagogical methods resulting from research in one field can be revised and transferred…

This study is concerned with the formal assessment of a Distance Learning Environment (DLE) created to deliver a course on UML sequence diagrams to university-level students, divided into control and treatment groups. An ad-hoc DLE was constructed to deliver instruction to the treatment group, while the control group was taught in a traditional…

Developing a library collection to support the curriculum of Canada's largest computer studies school has debunked many myths about collecting computer science and technology information resources. Computer science students are among the heaviest print book and e-book users in the library. Circulation statistics indicate that the demand for print…

This article presents a virtual course with the topic network security. The course has been produced by Arcada Polytechnic as a part of the production team Computer Networks, Telecommunication and Telecommunication Systems in the Finnish Virtual Polytechnic. The article begins with an introduction to the evolution of the information security…

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…

The current study was conducted in an effort to examine whether increased levels of communication using visual learning environments (VLEs) alters student perceptions of lecturers. Eighty-six MSc students in Computing Science participated by using She and Fisher's (2002) Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ). In addition to using the…

Automatic assessment systems generally support immediate grading and response on learners' submissions. They also allow learners to consider the feedback, revise, and resubmit their solutions. Several strategies exist to implement the resubmission policy. The ultimate goal, however, is to improve the learning outcomes, and thus the strategies…

This article describes research on the learning of object-oriented programming (OOP) by novices. During two academic years, we taught OOP to high school students, using Java and BlueJ. Our approach to teaching featured: objects-first, teaching composed classes relatively early, deferring the teaching of main methods, and focusing on class…

Since its inception in 1997, Cisco's curriculum has entered thousands of high schools across the U.S. and around the world for two reasons: (1) Cisco has a large portion of the computer networking market, and thus has the resources for and interest in developing high school academies; and (2) high school curriculum development teams recognize the…

Gender differences in the pursuit of technology careers are a current issue of concern. We report on two studies that use surveys, drawings and interviews to examine sixth- and eighth-grade students' perceptions of knowledgeable computer users and their self-perception as a computer-type person. In Study 1, participants were asked to generate…

Multimedia techniques allow one to present information using text, video, animations, and sound. "Infotech Interactive" is a CD-ROM multimedia product developed to enhance an introductory computing concepts course. The software includes the following module topics: (1) "Mouse Basics"; (2) "Data into Information"; (3)…

This paper describes the change in student attitudes after taking a computer literacy course which is part of a 6-week pre-college summer session. The summer session is designed for the educationally and financially disadvantages students of the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and students from the ACCESS program who do not meet normal…

A computer curriculum guideline for Taiwan junior high schools was announced in 1994 and will be nationally implemented in 1998. Due to the specific educational system in Taiwan, the guideline will affect computer textbook writing, computer teaching and learning, computer teachers' professional development, and computer education research. This…

This study was designed to investigate the use of computers by student teachers in their practicums. Student teachers (n=120) in two public universities in the United States answered a questionnaire that covered: the manner and frequency of computer use, student teachers' perception of their training, their attitudes toward the role of the…

The development of educational computing in the last two decades has been largely uncritical and the field is dominated by technocentric approaches. With few notable exceptions, sociologists of education have not directly addressed educational computing. As a result, the social, political and cultural origins and implications of educational…