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1 – 10 of over 62000It is widely acknowledged that the computer has caused great societal changes over recent years, but the purpose of this paper is to relate specifically to those due to the use of…
Abstract
Purpose
It is widely acknowledged that the computer has caused great societal changes over recent years, but the purpose of this paper is to relate specifically to those due to the use of computers in education and teaching about computing. The adoption and use of computers in education was very much a socio-technical process with influence from people, organisations, processes and technologies: of a variety of human and non-human actors.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper makes use of actor-network theory to analyse these events and their educational and societal impact. Data were collected from published sources, interviews with those involved at the time, discussions and from personal experience and observations.
Findings
Computers have, of course, had a huge impact on society, but particularly in relation to the use of computers in school education there was a different societal impact. Some of this related directly to education, some to school administration and some to student attitudes, experiences and knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The paper investigates the development of early courses in computing in universities and schools in Victoria, Australia. The paper does not, however, consider the use of computers in university research, only in education.
Practical implications
The paper describes the significant educational events of the era from punch-card tabulating machines in the 1930s to micro-computers in the late 1980s, and investigates the relationship between the development of courses in the Universities and those in the more vocationally oriented Colleges of Advanced Education. It examines whether one followed from the other. It also investigates the extent of the influence of the universities and CAEs on school computing.
Social implications
The advent of the computer made a significant impact on university and school education even before the internet, Google, Wikipedia and smart phones in the late 1990s and 2000s. Computers in schools cause a rethink of how teaching should be handled and of the role of the teacher.
Originality/value
This paper investigates the history of computers and education in both universities and schools in Victoria, Australia over the period from the 1930s to the early 1990s. It considers how and why this technological adoption occurred, and the nature of the resulting educational and societal change this produced. Primary and High School use of computers did not commence until the 1970s but prior to this there is a considerable and interesting history associated with the development of Higher Education courses relating to computing.
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Beginning with a detailed analysis of 24 published surveys and programmes of library and information science curricula from 1969–1975, the article discusses the professional…
Abstract
Beginning with a detailed analysis of 24 published surveys and programmes of library and information science curricula from 1969–1975, the article discusses the professional continuity in changing courses. A particular problem is maintaining the identity of ‘core studies’ in professional curricula. The content and objectives of computer courses are listed and discussed. The coverage of the author's own survey is explained. All 17 schools in the U.K., 1 in Dublin and 13 in eastern U.S.A. and Canada were visited in 1978 involving interviews with over 130 people individually or in groups. Ten schools overseas provided further data in questionnaires. The results of the survey begin by summarising the various stated objectives for computer courses. There follows a review of the structure of such courses and the views on options in this subject. Outlining the titles, content, duration and staffing, the article reviews, with supporting tables, courses for computer appreciation, programming and library automation. Separate tables and commentary cover the data from the questionnaires. In the conclusions, it is emphasised that computing is now an essential part of professional education, though how much and for whom is not yet decided. Advanced courses will soon be needed for those wishing to specialise.
Virtualization is the simulation or emulation of computer resources to the user (Grauer, n.d.; Simpson, 2008). This chapter discusses virtualization as a viable classroom…
Abstract
Virtualization is the simulation or emulation of computer resources to the user (Grauer, n.d.; Simpson, 2008). This chapter discusses virtualization as a viable classroom methodology for providing students with course relevant hands-on experience (Simpson, 2008) while synchronizing course specific content in traditional on-ground and online courses (Pheils, 2010). More specifically, this chapter provides an overview of virtualization, detailing several open source tools, and offering possible applications for incorporation into other courses including free resources for sample content. Proof-of-concept is established through examples of successful usage at two colleges. The adoption of virtualization within course development may provide a solution that spans disciplines and offers students the ability to practice and further their studies beyond the classroom.
Despo Ktoridou and Nikleia Eteokleous‐Grigoriou
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a 40‐hour computer course for beginners provided to a group of unemployed women learners with no/minimum computer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a 40‐hour computer course for beginners provided to a group of unemployed women learners with no/minimum computer literacy skills who can be characterized as digital immigrants. The aim of the study is to identify participants' perceptions and experiences regarding technology, any barriers and challenges faced throughout the computer course and the extent to which the computer course assisted them in becoming computer literate and employable. This case study was based on the European Commission's EQUAL program.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study approach was employed making use of qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data were collected using three different questionnaires (the background questionnaire, the Loyd/Gressard Computer Attitude Scale questionnaire and the Computer Skills Tests questionnaire) and qualitative data were collected through two focus groups. A total of nine unemployed women with no/minimum computer literacy skills were the focus of investigation. The 40‐hour computer literacy course and the data collection process took place in May‐June 2007.
Findings
Results demonstrated the effectiveness and necessity of computer courses for digital immigrants. The participants developed an acceptable level of computer literacy skills and a more positive attitude towards technology. They further realized the importance of possessing computer literacy skills specifically in relation to their employability, professional path and career development. Their self‐esteem in relation to technology was also increased on professional, educational, and personal levels.
Originality/value
The study confirms the necessity to explore further instructional design and implementation of digital immigrants' education and training regarding computer technology.
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Joe C.K. Yau, Lucas C.K. Hui, Bruce Cheung and S.M. Yiu
Online education has emerged as one of the major channels for dissemination of learning materials. As more and more organizations offer online distance learning courses, the…
Abstract
Online education has emerged as one of the major channels for dissemination of learning materials. As more and more organizations offer online distance learning courses, the security concerns of these online education systems become more and more critical, especially when the organizations rely on the registration fees of students to maintain the smooth running of the courses. Provides a mechanism, the Secure e‐Course eXchange (eCX), to protect the learning material from unauthorized dissemination, and shows how this mechanism can be integrated in the operation model of online learning course providers. The design of eCX is general enough to fit two operating models, namely the Institutional Server Model and the Corporate Server Model.
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Jaydip Kanango, Ashutosh Bhatnagar, Ravikant Gupta and Vikas Kashyap
This research has been taken up by the human resource center of organization X, for designing a curriculum for a training course named “Basic Computer Application”, by optimizing…
Abstract
Purpose
This research has been taken up by the human resource center of organization X, for designing a curriculum for a training course named “Basic Computer Application”, by optimizing topics and finalizing teaching strategies, based on needs and expectations collected from past and prospective training participants from different ranks of employees of X. The study aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The research strategy adopted is based on a survey conducted using a specially designed questionnaire. The questionnaire was circulated to 256 personnel selected randomly having computer backgrounds as well as non-computer backgrounds, who had either attended past batches of the same training course or attended different training courses. The data thus collected was processed using VOC Table and the affinity diagram and subsequently fed into the house of quality (HOQ) for obtaining desired output.
Findings
The study has identified and optimized topics for the course, based on employee needs/wants, using the two-stage QFD approach. After delivering the course with an optimized curriculum and teaching strategy, it is observed that the overall participant satisfaction performance of the course has increased from 3 to 4.6, which is higher than the goal set at 4. This indicates an overall enhancement in the satisfaction of participants with the delivery of the new improved course curriculum.
Research limitations/implications
As indicated by the survey findings, the competence level of personnel with computer backgrounds is higher than that of personnel without computer backgrounds, which would result in different design considerations while constructing QFDs for these two entirely different groups of participants. This study has been limited to the course curriculum design for personnel with non-computer backgrounds only. The curriculum design for personnel with computer backgrounds will be addressed separately, in a future study.
Originality/value
This is an original study conducted on randomly selected employees across the country from among personnel working for different establishments of organization X. The approach taken in this study for optimizing a course curriculum is unique in the way that it uses a two-stage QFD, which is traditionally used for the design of a product, its components, and the subsequent manufacturing process. This study has employed a planning matrix that incorporated participant-given ratings for each individual need and also participant-decided benchmarking ratings of other similar courses. Estimation of final target has been done by factoring in participants' competence ratings for each individual topic, for a more truthful representation of participant opinion on the final output. This study has also adopted a unique approach of considering only top 80% (in terms of frequency of occurrence) of total responses while calculating weighted averages, instead of calculating the mean value of all data points. In this way, only the significant contributors have been considered while analyzing data.
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Kiron Sharma, Laila Khreisat, Diana Cvitan and Gurjot Singh
Lior Shamir, Franco Delogu, Melinda Weinstein and Hsiao-Ping Moore
This paper should give an idea of the slow but irreversible introduction process of personal computers into social work services and agencies, but its major part shall deal with…
Abstract
This paper should give an idea of the slow but irreversible introduction process of personal computers into social work services and agencies, but its major part shall deal with social schools' response to this challenge. The author's college/curriculum shall be used as an example.
Educational Computing Centres, certainly within further education, are of a great variety of types and size. The one thing they all have in common is that like Topsy they just…
Abstract
Educational Computing Centres, certainly within further education, are of a great variety of types and size. The one thing they all have in common is that like Topsy they just growed. Their growing applies not only to the degree of hardware provision but also to their staffing both academic and non‐academic. None appears to have had an easy birth, their origins usually being due to some enthusiast(s) having ‘acquired’, in some way, a means of card or papertape preparation and having encouraged a local industrial or commercial installation to give free computer time. ‘Cycle stealing’ refers to the bicycle that the enthusiast would borrow from the college compound in order to ferry input or output between the colleges and the computer. After this type of very shaky start courses would become established and the links with the local installation become more formalized. With luck the installation would even begin to charge the computer time and then one was able to show to the local authority that computing does cost money. The college computer usually arrives in some second or third college computing era after sufficient growth of courses and the acceptance of a ‘case’. Where though are the operating personnel ? They so often are absent and our enthusiast is still jack‐of‐all‐trades — key‐punch operator, computer operator, controller, manager and lecturer. Not all will treat their priorities in this new situation in that order, but is there any wonder that educational standards suffer? It is the difficulties encountered in establishing a computing centre that endangers professional standards.