Technology is Set to Change Real Estate Forever

Major developments in the technological environment can become commonplace very quickly. They are now impacting upon a broad range of information-based service sectors, as high growth Internet-based firms, such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Airbnb, and financial technology (Fintech) start-ups expand their product portfolios into new markets. Real estate is one of the information-based service sectors that is currently being impacted by this new type of competitor and the broad range of disruptive digital technologies that have emerged. Due to the vast troves of data that these Internet firms have at their disposal and their asset-light (cloud-based) structures, they are able to offer highly-targeted products at much lower costs than conventional brick-and-mortar companies.

Deconstruction-reconstruction of Computer Game and Immersive Environment Semiotics

Computer game technology produces compelling ‘immersive environments’ where our digitally-native youth play and explore. Players absorb visual, auditory and other signs and process these in real time, making rapid choices on how to move through the game-space to experience ‘meaningful play’. How can immersive environments be designed to elicit perception and understanding of signs? In this paper we explore game design and gameplay from a semiotic perspective, focusing on the creation of meaning for players as they play the game. We propose a theory of game design based on semiotics.

Common Environment for Undergraduate Computer Programming

We present an Integrated Environment suitable for learning and teaching computer programming which is designed for both students of specialised Computer Science courses, and also non-specialist students such as those following Liberal Arts. The environment is rich enough to allow exploration of concepts from robotics, artificial intelligence, social science, and philosophy as well as the specialist areas of operating systems and the various computer programming paradigms.

An Integrated Programming Environment for Undergraduate Computing Courses

The Computing Division of the Business School at University College Worcester provides computing and information technology education to a range of undergraduate students. Topics include various approaches to programming, artificial intelligence, operating systems and digital technologies. Each of these has its own potentially conflicting requirements for a pedagogically sound programming environment. This paper describes an endeavor to develop a common programming paradigm across all topics. This involves the combined use of autonomous robots and Java simulations.

Applications of a Collaborative Open Object Oriented Learning Environment to Electronics, Computing and Mathematics Education

A lightweight Java application suite has been developed and deployed allowing collaborative learning between students and tutors at remote locations. Students can engage in group activities online and also collaborate with tutors. A generic Java framework has been developed and applied to electronics, computing and mathematics education. The applications are respectively: (a) a digital circuit simulator, which allows students to collaborate in building simple or complex electronic circuits; (b) a Java programming environment where the paradigm is behavioural-based robotics, and (c) a differential equation solver useful in modelling of any complex and nonlinear dynamic system. Each student sees a common shared window on which may be added text or graphical objects and which can then be shared online. A built-in chat room supports collaborative dialogue. Students can work either in collaborative groups or else in teams as directed by the tutor. This paper summarises the technical architecture of the system as well as the pedagogical implications of the suite. A report of student evaluation is also presented distilled from use over a period of twelve months. We intend this suite to facilitate learning between groups at one or many institutions and to facilitate international collaboration. We also intend to use the suite as a tool to research the establishment and behaviour of collaborative learning groups. We shall make our software freely available to interested researchers.