Does multimedia help students answer test items?

The aim of this study was to investigate the difficulty levels of test items and student perceptions of the test formats while taking a multimedia exam (Vexam). The participants were 390 students in the Department of Anthropology, at the University of Texas at Austin, who took an online, self-paced undergraduate course, integrated with Vexam. The hypothesis of the quantitative study was that the difficulty level would be influenced when multimedia formats were integrated with test items. Qualitative data was collected during and after the exams, using think–aloud activities and individual interviews respectively, to explore the effect of multimedia on students. The mixed research methods elicited findings and some suggestions for future study, and the results of this study provided implications for educators regarding student assessment of multimedia integration.     

Does tailoring help people find the information they need?

In this paper, we present an empirical study assessing the impact of tailoring on information-seeking tasks. Our aim was to evaluate whether providing tailored information would help people find the information they need more quickly and accurately. Our results show that tailored documents have an impact on information-seeking, at least when the information to be found is spread over a number of sources and needs to be synthesised. With documents tailored to their needs, people can find the information they seek more quickly, and overall, more accurately. In our study, we also investigated how people looked for information to gain a better understanding of the strategies employed by people to find information.     

Controlling the slides: Does clicking help adults learn?

When utilizing screen media as an educational platform, maintaining control over one's experience may lead to more successful learning outcomes. In the current work, adults learned four new action sequences, each via a different slideshow type. The computer advanced slides automatically, but each version had a different pausing mechanism: (1) free pause (viewers could click the mouse at any point to pause the show), (2) subgoal pause (show paused after subgoals, viewer clicked to continue), (3) timed pause (show paused every 20 slides, viewer clicked to continue), and (4) no pause (no viewer interaction). Participants completed a written memory test, live performance test, cognitive load measures, and satisfaction measures. Results indicated that memory recall was significantly lower in the no pause version when compared to the versions with pause capability. Also, over half of participants reported that the no pause version was their least favorite format to learn from. Conversely, over half of participants selected the free pause as their favorite slideshow format, and participants reported that they felt most in control of the free pause version. These reports occurred in spite of only one-quarter of all participants actually using the click-to-pause feature in the free pause slideshow. Perhaps the mindset of being in control, rather than the pausing itself, increased likeability of the program. This research has implications for program design and education, pointing to flexible pacing features being helpful in enhancing users' enjoyment of the program and ability to extract novel information.     

Does aspect-oriented modeling help improve the readability of UML state machines?

Aspect-oriented modeling (AOM) is a relatively recent and very active field of research, whose application has, however, been limited in practice. AOM is assumed to yield several potential benefits such as enhanced modularization, easier evolution, increased reusability, and improved readability of models, as well as reduced modeling effort. However, credible, solid empirical evidence of such benefits is lacking. We evaluate the “readability” of state machines when modeling crosscutting behavior using AOM and more specifically AspectSM, a recently published UML profile. This profile extends the UML state machine notation with mechanisms to define aspects using state machines. Readability is indirectly measured through defect identification and fixing rates in state machines, and the scores obtained when answering a comprehension questionnaire about the system behavior. With AspectSM, crosscutting behavior is modeled using so-called “aspect state machines”. Their readability is compared with that of system state machines directly modeling crosscutting and standard behavior together. An initial controlled experiment and a much larger replication were conducted with trained graduate students, in two different institutions and countries, to achieve the above objective. We use two baselines of comparisons—standard UML state machines without hierarchical features (flat state machines) and standard state machines with hierarchical/concurrent features (hierarchical state machines). The results showed that defect identification and fixing rates are significantly better with AspectSM than with both flat and hierarchical state machines. However, in terms of comprehension scores and inspection effort, no significant difference was observed between any of the approaches. Results of the experiments suggest that one should use, when possible, aspect state machines along with hierarchical and/or concurrent features of UML state machines to model crosscutting behaviors.     

Does SMS text messaging help or harm adults' knowledge of standard spelling?

The recent increase in short messaging system (SMS) text messaging, often using abbreviated, non‐conventional ‘textisms’ (e.g. ‘2nite’), in school‐aged children has raised fears of negative consequences of such technology for literacy. The current research used a paradigm developed by Dixon and Kaminska, who showed that exposure to phonetically plausible misspellings (e.g. ‘recieve’) negatively affected subsequent spelling performance, though this was true only with adults, not children. The current research extends this work to directly investigate the effects of exposure to textisms, misspellings and correctly spelled words on adults' spelling. Spelling of a set of key words was assessed both before and after an exposure phase where participants read the same key words, presented either as textisms (e.g. ‘2nite’), correctly spelled (e.g. ‘tonight’) or misspelled (e.g. ‘tonite’) words. Analysis showed that scores decreased from pre‐ to post‐test following exposure to misspellings, whereas performance improved following exposure to correctly spelled words and, interestingly, to textisms. Data suggest that exposure to textisms, unlike misspellings, had a positive effect on adults' spelling. These findings are interpreted in light of other recent research suggesting a positive relationship between texting and some literacy measures in school‐aged children.     

Object-oriented programming—what for?

Object-oriented programming can improve the structure of a program as well as its extensibility and re-usability. However, it can also cause problems: one has to master large class libraries; the control flow of a program is cluttered among many small operations; and accessing all data via procedures reduces efficiency. Therefore, objectoriented programming cannot always be recommended. It is well suited for interactive applications and for programs which maintain heterogeneous data structures where additional variants of the data may be added later. It should not be used for closed algorithms which work on simple data or for time-critical applications. This paper deals with the following questions: When should classes be used? What are the typical application areas of object-oriented programming? Examples are included which demonstrate problems that can be solved elegantly with classes. The language Object Oberon is introduced.     

When does abstraction help?

Abstraction is a leading technique for coping with large state spaces. Abstraction over-approximates the transitions of the original system or the automaton that models it and may introduce nondeterminism. In applications where determinism is essential, we say that an abstraction function is helpful if, after determining and minimizing the abstract automaton, we end up with fewer states than the original automaton. We show that abstraction functions are not always helpful; in fact, they may introduce an exponential blow-up. We study the problem of deciding whether a given abstraction function is helpful for a given deterministic automaton and show that it is PSPACE-complete.     

Giving ergonomics away? The application of ergonomics methods by novices

A re-occurring theme in applied ergonomics is the idea of "giving the methods away" to those with little formal education in the subject. Little is known, however, about the reliability and validity of these methods when applied to the design process, for novices or experts. It is important to establish just how well the methods will perform in the hands of the analyst. The study reported in this paper presents data on novice intra-analyst and inter-analyst reliability together with criterion-referenced validity across a range of methods. Considerable variation in the reliability and validity of the methods was found. The data were then used in utility analysis, to determine the cost-effectiveness of the methods for an example of car radio-cassette design. The analysis shows that estimates of cost-effectiveness may help in the selection of methods.     

Predicting the use of smartphone-based Augmented Reality (AR): Does telepresence really help?

The purpose of this study was to determine what predicts the use of smartphone-based Augmented Reality (AR). The study proposes two models to determine whether telepresence can substitute for usefulness and whether both usefulness in the revised technology acceptance model and telepresence in the telepresence mediation hypothesis model can mediate the relationship among three types of AR quality and the intention to reuse AR. Two models were tested with 134 undergraduates who experienced the smartphone-based AR application OVJET. Two competing models demonstrate that all hypothesized paths in the revised technology acceptance model and the telepresence mediation hypothesis model are significant except for one path from service quality to telepresence. A path difference test shows that three pairs of paths (system quality → usefulness vs. system quality → telepresence; service quality → usefulness vs. service quality → telepresence; and usefulness → AR reuse intention vs. telepresence → AR reuse intention) are significantly different, while one pair of the paths (i.e., information system → elepresence vs. information quality → usefulness) is not. In addition, usefulness performs both partial and complete mediating roles, while telepresence has only a complete mediation effect.     

Why can't smart students solve simple programming problems?

Computer programming education is evolving on several fronts. This study investigated aspects of the question: how adequate are our conceptions of how to best teach the subject matter? Previous research suggested that the teaching of programming should be focused on \"problem solving strategies\" (\"Model A\") rather than on the syntactic/semantic aspects of writing programs (\"Model B\"). This study was designed to test for student programming performance differences based upon feedback content obtained from each of these two models. The results indicate that certain Pascal loop construct definitions are too general with respect to loop construction. A stricter loop schema resulted in superior performance. The findings also argue that the WHILE construct should receive stricter instructional treatment. In addition, a \"constructive\" approach to \"Model A\" feedback (focusing on programmer processes) correlated with subsequent performance superior to that of the control group, whereas neither the conventional approach to \"Model A\" feedback nor \"Model B\" feedback (focusing on programmer errors) did so. This finding argues that an approach which relies on narrative treatments and/or error messages is ineffective and that constructive decision rules should serve as a basis for feedback generation and perhaps other aspects of teaching.     

Can aspect-oriented programming lead to more reliable software?

Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is a novel topic in the software engineering and languages communities. AOP appears to have the potential to significantly improve the reliability of programs, particularly by modularizing error-handling policies and allowing for easier maintenance and better reuse. In this article, we introduce AspectJ, the first AOP language, and demonstrate how you can use it to construct more reliable software     

Does Cobol exist?

At first glance, asking whether Cobol exists might seem like a ploy, a setup for describing how the billions of lines of Cobol in the world are responsible for almost every facet of daily life: from paychecks and utility bills to the entire computer based corporate infrastructure. Yet, although thousands of Cobol programmers are alive and well, keeping the wheels of commerce turning, there is a large contingent in the software world for whom Cobol does not exist. Academia barely teaches it, Java and C programmers ignore it, and many look with disdain both at Cobol and the lowly Cobol programmer toiling away at mundane data processing tasks. The irony is that more than the Java, C, or language-of-the-month programmers, Cobol programmers understand data, and in case you haven't noticed, data is back. Not that data ever went away. It's still the driving force behind most of the applications we write. It's just that the Internet has forced the data issue: how to integrate and move data across platforms, build data warehouses and repositories for data mining and e-commerce, and share data and maintain semantics. These are hard problems; ones that Cobol and Cobol programmers have been wrestling with since the 1960s. Now that we perceive data as being “hot”, Cobol is taking on a new lustre and even getting a second look, especially given the notoriously poor data handling capabilities of “cooler” languages such as C, C++, and Java     

485 1170 — Can I help you?

The ergonomics aspects of the design of a domestic telephone are outlined as a case study. The main usage points investigated were: handset relationship to ear and mouth together with adequate finger clearance at the cheek; general comfort when picking up and holding the handset; replacing the handset correctly in order to operate the hook-switch; establishing an acceptable compromise for dial and keypad angle at 15 degrees ; and devising a wall mounted unit.     

Theoretical results in genetic programming: the next ten years?

We consider the theoretical results in GP so far and prospective areas for the future. We begin by reviewing the state of the art in genetic programming (GP) theory including: schema theories, Markov chain models, the distribution of functionality in program search spaces, the problem of bloat, the applicability of the no-free-lunch theory to GP, and how we can estimate the difficulty of problems before actually running the system. We then look at how each of these areas might develop in the next decade, considering also new possible avenues for theory, the challenges ahead and the open issues.     

Does intelligent CAD exist?

Intelligent CAD is a term which has grown in popularity in recent years as the results of research into Artificial Intelligence (AI) get applied to design problems. But there is confusion as to what the term means; e.g. whether current generations of expert systems for design are Intelligent CAD, or whether Intelligent CAD is simply an unachievable goal.This paper argues that Intelligent CAD represents a vision which is almost identical to the earliest visions of Computer Aided Design (CAD). The major difference now is that we have the opportunity through our improved knowledge of AI and cognitive science to take important strides towards delivering CAD systems close to these visions. However, the opportunity may be missed if we concentrate on the wrong issues.It is also argued that developments towards Intelligent CAD will be successful only if they accept the following tenets:

• 1.design is considered as an intellectual knowledge-based process,
• 2.systems do not need to replicate human intelligence; they are required only to exhibit behaviour regarded as intelligent, and
• 3.necessary components of such systems are knowledge-rich models of designs, the capacity for tacit knowledge, and the ability to learn.

     

Does Classicism Explain Universality?

One of the hallmarks of human cognition is the capacity to generalize over arbitrary constituents. Recently, Marcus (1998, 1998a, b; Cognition 66, p. 153; Cognitive Psychology 37, p. 243) argued that this capacity, called universal generalization (universality), is not supported by Connectionist models. Instead, universality is best explained by Classical symbol systems, with Connectionism as its implementation. Here it is argued that universality is also a problem for Classicism in that the syntax-sensitive rules that are supposed to provide causal explanations of mental processes are either too strict, precluding possible generalizations; or too lax, providing no information as to the appropriate alternative. Consequently, universality is not explained by a Classical theory.