Flowchart software for a modular robot

Flowcharting is a common method of setting out the requirements for a piece of code. It is simple with few rules to follow. Rarely however, is it used as the code itself. This paper describes the outline of a software package that uses the flowchart as the code for a small, autonomous, modular robot, designed for use in High Schools and Universities at an introductory level. By using flowcharting the student is introduced to the concept of structured programming. A flowchart is often the first step in programming. Here it is the only step, easing the student into the art of coding, and simplifying the teachers job.

Virtual experts : who's online?

There will be between 30 and 80 million online students in the world by 2025. Globally, school systems are investing huge resources in the development of online education programs in order to meet this demand. Related implications for online teaching have been largely ignored despite evidence of the greatly increased workload for online teachers and widespread student dissatisfaction with online leaming experiences. Opportunities for improving the online experience for both leamers and teachers revolve around minimizing procedural inefficiencies in dealing with large numbers of individual students, as opposed to a single class, and of enhancing students' social and cognitive engagement with leaming. Intelligent software agents that can automate many routine online tasks and some aspects of leamer interaction have enormous potential to facilitate this. These agents that can act as a personal online coach, mentor or tutor to increase the individualisation of learning. The development of evidence-based agent personas is essential if agents are to fulfil specific educational roles. CUITently there is little progress being made in this area because of the lack of an agentrole model that can be used to implement specific educational personas in agents. In this paper we discuss key foundational elements of the nature and basis for implementing elements of educational expertise in software and how this could be used in developing agent persona models for specific educational roles and a model for implementing pedagogical constructs in intelligent educational software.

lCT and educational (dis) advantage: families, computers and contemporary social and educational inequalities

Because access to new technologies is unequally distributed, there has been considerable debate about the growing gap between the so-called information-rich and information-poor. Such concerns have led to high-profile information technology policy initiatives in many countries. In Australia, in an attempt to 'redress the balance between the information rich and poor' by providing 'equal access to the World Wide Web' (Virtual Communities, 2002), the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Virtual Communities (a computer/software distributor) and Primus (an Internet provider) in late 1999 formed an alliance to offer relatively inexpensive computer and Internet access to union members in order to make 'technology affordable for all Australians' (Virtual Communities, 2002). In this paper, we examine four families, one of which had long-term Information and Communication Technologies (lCT) access, and three of which took advantage of the Virtual Communities offer to get home computer and Internet access for the first time. We examine their engagement with lCT and suggest that previously disadvantaged family members are not particularly advantaged by their access to lCT.

Engagement and learning through social software in finance : the trading room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called “The Trading Room” in an undergraduate Finance unit for an assessment task generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this pilot demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualized feedback and benchmark their work against others. Whilst assessment is generally seen as both the carrot and the stick of learning, and certification; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the “Trading Room” blog even if there was no assessment requirement! Additionally they did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space. Context, structure and activity design, perhaps are the most important facets of online interaction for learning.

Language, technology and the law : anti-plagiarism software and students' academic writing

Plagiarism is of grave concern for academic institutions in the twenty-first
century. Institutions utilise plagiarism policies, honour codes and regulations to ensure students develop a sense of educational integrity. Technology has recently afforded new methods for staff to detect plagiarism – through antiplagiarism software. This paper explores perspectives of seven teachers across five faculties to Turnitin.com (an anti-plagiarism software package) at a large Australian university. The findings indicate that software such as Turnitin.com may assist in the quest to detect text-matching, and perhaps reduce plagiarism. It should not, however, be considered the panacea for plagiarism. Plagiarism policies should also reflect cognisance of the existence of a 'plagiarism continuum' (Sutherland-Smith, 2003) through the use of technology. This research highlights the broader need for institutions to reformulate plagiarism policies in light of cross-cultural perspectives of authorship and attribution of text.

Markers assistant – a software solution for the management of the assessment process

Technology-mediated instruction is changing the educational environment by adding another dimension to teaching and learning. Despite the advances in technology and the way we use technology, little attention has been given to providing technology solutions that help create, conduct, and manage the central task of assessment. Software to manage and conduct assessment presents many challenges. This article examines a stand-alone, flexible software environment designed to provide all the tools required to view, mark, store, and deliver results efficiently while improving the feedback to the students. A description of the software and its functions, the techniques and methods developed to overcome the limitations that software presents when used to conduct assessment is examined. Case studies are presented that describe: (a) the types of assessment the software has been used to conduct and manage; (b) the types of problems that were encountered; and (c) the solutions and techniques that were discovered and used to overcome the problems.

Engagement and learning through social software in finance : a retrospective on the Trading Room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called the Trading Room in an undergraduate finance unit generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this innovation, viewed through the lens of Activity Theory, demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualised feedback and benchmark their work against others. While assessment is generally seen as the carrot and the stick of learning; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the Trading Room even if there was no assessment requirement. Students did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space.

Using digital devices in a first year classroom : a focus on the design and use of phonics software applications

When integrated within a holistic literacy program, phonics applications can be used in classrooms to facilitate students’ self-directed learning of letter-sound knowledge; but are they designed to allow for such a purpose? With most phonics software applications making heavy use of image cues, this project has more specifically investigated whether the design of the images used in such applications may impact on the effectiveness of their self-directed use in classrooms. Using a quasi-experimental study, we compared two types of pictorial mnemonics used in tablet applications, along with teacher-led activity in three first-year classrooms from the one school. The difference between teacher-led activity and integrated picture cues was significant, with teacher-led activity proving more effective. The difference between teacher-led activity and form-taking picture cues, however, was not statistically significant. Given that the outcomes of this small-scale study suggest that image design may be a significant design feature contributing to the educational value of using phonics applications in the classroom, we recommend that the design features of phonics software applications attract further research.