An evaluation of warning habits and beliefs across the adult life span

Beliefs about warnings and habits associated with reading them were assessed for 863 individuals of various ages. Information gathered for various common household products included (a) how frequently people attend to warning information, (b) the degree of risk they believe is involved during product usage, and (c) how important they believe warnings are for different product types. Also assessed were perceived helpfulness and comprehension for symbols commonly found on product labels or on signs in the environment. Respondents 55 years and older reported reading product warnings more frequently than did younger adults, although they generally perceived warnings as less important. However, no overall age-related differences were found for perceived level of risk involved in using different product types. Although older adults generally perceived symbols to be very helpful when using a particular product, their comprehension levels were poorer than those of younger adults for half of the symbols. Overall, these data suggest that adults of all ages do read warnings on a variety of product types and that they believe warning information is important. This research illustrates the importance of including older adults in usability studies during the development of warning systems, given age-related effects may be associated with some aspects of the warning processing but not others.     

A good practice for making training accessible to university faculty members through ICTs: syllabus planning support training

Universal Access in the Information Society - This study focuses on a case study developed at a higher education institution, which comprises developing a new virtual teaching unit (VTU) aimed at...     

Towards an efficient training of university faculty on ICTs

This article presents the results of a research study that took place during the 2007–2008 academic year at the University of the Basque Country³. (UPV/EHU in its Spanish and Basque acronyms). The research’s goal was to establish the guidelines for training opportunities in information and communication technologies (ICTs) that could better address the needs of the faculty at the aforementioned university. The conclusive results provide a picture of the necessary training in ICTs that the faculty requires for their teaching as well as for conducting research. This led us to develop some suggestions that are related to the modular organization of past and present training courses as well as improved guidelines that would help us to restructure the design of the training currently being offered. This restructuring is fundamental in order to include ICTs in the new European space of higher education (ESHE)⁴.     

Investigating e-learning system usage outcomes in the university context

This paper investigates the outcomes of e-learning systems adoption and use by conceptualizing three e-learning systems adoption outcome constructs namely perceived learning assistance, perceived community building assistance and perceived academic performance. Utilizing these constructs, the paper proposes a research model for assessing the possible outcomes of e-learning systems adoption and use. The study collected longitudinal survey data from 249 university students participating in hybrid courses using a popular learning management system, Moodle. Partial least squares (PLS) approach was then used to test the research model.The findings suggest that beliefs about perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and how an e-learning system is used influence students' perceived learning assistance and perceived community building assistance. In turn, perceived learning assistance and perceived community building assistance influence the students' perceived academic performance.     

Computer application systems at the university

Variable user needs, as well as the development of various computer systems create new problems of wide-range computer applications at the university.In a research program called WASC Project two goals were predominant, i.e. utilitarian-universal applications of computer science in the university activities and scientific-development of methods making the applications possible.In this research the scope of integrating and distributing of computing power and the solutions to the problem of collaboration of computers systems at remote universities have been outstanding matters.The system approach and system analysis have been used. The uniqueness of solutions and results of research lay mainly in their global character, and in the use of home means and computer science methods. As a result, hardware and software configurations, typical for various sizes and characters of a university, have been implemented. The implementation of interactive engineering design, instruction and access to the scientific program library have given considerable quantitative and qualitative results both in teaching and in the research.Simulation and experimental methods have been used in the design of hardware and software structures. Furthermore the methods contributed to the formulation of a future program of computer science development and its applications at universities in Poland and to the correct choice of strategy for the development of an inter-university computer network.     

Learning patterns of university student retention

Learning predictors for student retention is very difficult. After reviewing the literature, it is evident that there is considerable room for improvement in the current state of the art. As shown in this paper, improvements are possible if we (a) explore a wide range of learning methods; (b) take care when selecting attributes; (c) assess the efficacy of the learned theory not just by its median performance, but also by the variance in that performance; (d) study the delta of student factors between those who stay and those who are retained. Using these techniques, for the goal of predicting if students will remain for the first three years of an undergraduate degree, the following factors were found to be informative: family background and family’s social-economic status, high school GPA and test scores.     

Modeling reuse across the software life cycle

This article reports strong correlations between reuse levels of software products across the life cycle and presents models of reuse levels across the life cycle. These models can be used to estimate reuse levels of one life cycle object given reuse levels of others, or to predict reuse levels of later life cycle objects given reuse levels of earlier ones. The models have been developed from survey data collected from 113 respondents from 29 organizations about their own and their organizations' levels of reuse of life cycle objects. Usage scenarios for the models are presented, as are methods for customizing and improving the models.     

Emerging university student experiences of learning technologies across the Asia Pacific

Three hundred students across eight countries and eleven higher education institutions in the Asia Pacific Region participated in two courses on climate change and disaster management that were supported by learning technologies: a satellite-enabled video-conferencing system and a learning management system. Evaluation of the student experience across the region proved a significant challenge, particularly the way the students conceived of the links between the technologies and their studies, and the way they approached the use of the technologies in connected and sometimes disconnected ways. This study examines the results of a quantitative investigation into the student experience and identifies key aspects of the structure of the variables used to evaluate the experience as well as identifying groups of students in the sample population who reported qualitatively different experiences. Significant outcomes reveal that cohesive conceptions of the learning technologies tend to be related to more effective ways of using both the video-conferencing and learning management systems, and that both at the level of variables, and at the level of groups of students, these experiences tend to be related to relatively higher outcomes. The results have important implications for both the design and teaching of technology-mediated courses and offer ideas for courses that combine systems such as learning management and video-conferencing.     

Prediction of user navigation patterns by mining the temporal web usage evolution

Advances in the data mining technologies have enabled the intelligent Web abilities in various applications by utilizing the hidden user behavior patterns discovered from the Web logs. Intelligent methods for discovering and predicting user’s patterns is important in supporting intelligent Web applications like personalized services. Although numerous studies have been done on Web usage mining, few of them consider the temporal evolution characteristic in discovering web user’s patterns. In this paper, we propose a novel data mining algorithm named Temporal N-Gram (TN-Gram) for constructing prediction models of Web user navigation by considering the temporality property in Web usage evolution. Moreover, three kinds of new measures are proposed for evaluating the temporal evolution of navigation patterns under different time periods. Through experimental evaluation on both of real-life and simulated datasets, the proposed TN-Gram model is shown to outperform other approaches like N-gram modeling in terms of prediction precision, in particular when the web user’s navigating behavior changes significantly with temporal evolution.     

高校教师管理系统开发中的若干关键技术研究

为实现对高校教师基本情况、教学情况,教研及科研成果全面而有效的管理,采用ASP.NET2.0开发技术,设计并实现了基于B/S模式的高校教师综合信息管理系统.着重解析了系统开发中的几个关键技术--用户访问权限控制,Excel与SQL Server之间的数据格式转换、Word格式化文档的生成、母版页的使用、在线信息编辑与发布等,这些技术在Web应用系统中具有一定通用性.开发和运行实践结果表明,这些关键技术的应用,显著地提高了高校教师综合信息管理系统的开发效率和实用性.     

Computer usage and the validity of self-assessed computer competence among first-year business students

This study evaluates the reliability of self-assessment as a measure of computer competence. This evaluation is carried out in response to recent research which has employed self-reported ratings as the sole indicator of students’ computer competence. To evaluate the reliability of self-assessed computer competence, the scores achieved by students in self-assessed computer competence tests are compared with scores achieved in objective tests. The results reveal a statistically significantly over-estimation of computer competence among the students surveyed. Furthermore, reported pre-university computer experience in terms of home and school use and formal IT education does not affect this result. The findings call into question the validity of using self-assessment as a measure of computer competence. More generally, the study also provides an up-to-date picture of self-reported computer usage and IT experience among pre-university students from New Zealand and South-east Asia and contrasts these findings with those from previous research.     

Perceptions of Computer Science at a South African university

First year students at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, were surveyed about their perceptions of Computer Science before and towards the end of their first year courses. The aim of this research was to investigate how the students’ attitudes changed during these courses and to assess the impact of the innovative breadth-first curriculum that has been developed in the School of Computer Science which emphasises the fundamentals of the discipline and the mathematical nature of Computer Science. The results show that most perceptions did not change much or that there were changes in both directions. More students, and particularly female students, were positive about their own understanding of the nature of Computer Science after the course than before. However, when asking specifically about jobs and course content, there was not a substantially deeper understanding at the end of the course of what content they would expect to encounter in a Computer Science course or working as a Computer Scientist. Fewer students, particularly male students, thought that Computer Science and mathematics were closely related after the course than before and this was an unexpected result, which may be the result of discrete mathematics topics being taught in courses separate from those in which continuous mathematics topics are taught. Students became less positive about working with computers after the course, a result which supports prior research, but is an issue for concern as computers will play some role in their future careers. The students found the courses challenging and different from their expectations with few students finding the courses unenjoyable.     

The Xanadu project: training faculty in the use of information and communication technology for university teaching

Abstract Technology‐enhanced learning (TEL) methodologies are becoming an important part of University teaching but faculty members have tended to shy away from using them. So, how can they be enticed to use them effectively? What approaches can be used? The purpose of the Xanadu project was to analyse the problems involved and to propose a model for training, based on experimentation at the University of Turin. Besides providing a model, this article will deal with the follow‐up, particularly regarding the faculty members' initial approach to using information and communication technology (ICT), as well as examine the motives and conditions influencing their choices. In this sense, the project has enabled us to come to a better understanding of the typical misconceptions leading teachers to favour methodological approaches based on the distributive use of ICT (which are considered less demanding to manage), rather than networked collaborative interaction, which actually involve students more. In this regard, Xanadu has shown how teachers' awareness may be developed towards adopting a wide range of TEL approaches through both gradual training (project‐oriented with a basic and an advanced course) and with the help of a graduate assistant capable of following e‐content development and online collaborative activities. The effectiveness of the method may be confirmed by the large number of faculty members continuing to use ICT to support their teaching despite having no specific university TEL projects.     

Examining the relationship to gender and personality on the purpose of Facebook usage of Turkish university students

This study examined whether the purposes of Facebook usage is associated with gender and big five personalities in a sample of Turkish university students. Seven hundred and fifty one students filled in a set of questionnaires. While males use Facebook to express themselves, meet new people, and store and organize things more, females use Facebook for educational purposes. Agreeable and conscientious people use Facebook to maintain existing relationship more. It was concluded that gender and agreeableness, which is one of the personality types, are significant variables on the purposes of Facebook usage.     

Predictors of web navigation performance in a life span sample of adults

The influence of age, subject matter knowledge, working memory, reading abilities, spatial abilities, and processing speed on Web navigation was assessed in a sample of 41 participants between the ages of 19 and 83 years. Each participant navigated a stand-alone tourism Web site to find answers to 12 questions. Performance was measured using time per trial, number of pages per trial, and number of revisited pages per trial. Age did not influence the number of total pages or repeat pages visited, which were predicted by domain knowledge, working memory, and processing speed. Age was associated with slower times per trial, and the effect remained significant after controlling for working memory, processing speed, and spatial abilities. Only with the addition of subject matter knowledge and World Wide Web experience was the age effect eliminated. Actual or potential applications of this research include redesigning Web sites to minimize memory demands and enhance visual segmentation. The data also suggest that age differences in Web navigation can be offset partially by taking advantage of older adults' prior experiences in the domain.     

Computer graphics as a way of life

Civilization and its requisite overhead have neatly brought us away from real-time interactions. The high priests of technology use unwieldly systems to perpetuate cybercrud—the art of using computers to put things over on people² This mentality can be countered by bringing to people systems that are easily learned and used—‘habitable’ systems. ‘Habitability,’³ then, is the quality of a system that makes it comfortable to learn and use. Computer graphics, especially in a media production environment, must be highly people-oriented. This paper attempts to develop the two essential components for a people-oriented computer system—habitability and environment, using the educational media production laboratory known as the Circle Graphics Habitat as the example.     

Programming language features,usage patterns,and the efficiency of generated adjoint code

The computation of gradients via the reverse mode of algorithmic differentiation is a valuable technique in modelling many science and engineering applications. This technique is particularly efficient when implemented as a source transformation, as it may use static data-flow analysis. However, some features of the major programming languages are detrimental to the efficiency of the transformed source code. This paper provides an overview of the most common problem scenarios and estimates the cost overhead incurred by using the respective language feature or employing certain common patterns. An understanding of these topics is crucial for the efficiency or even feasibility of adjoint computations, particularly for large-scale numerical simulations, for example, in geosciences. While one cannot hope to cover all effects observable with a given programming language in a given run time environment, the paper aims at providing a reasonable guide for the users of C/C++ and Fortran source transformation tools for algorithmic differentiation.     

Computer training, frequency of usage and burnout: the moderating role of computer self-efficacy

The main aim of this paper is to test the moderating role of computer self-efficacy in the relationship among computer training, frequency of usage and burnout (i.e. exhaustion and cynicism). The sample was made up of 140 workers using computer-aided technology in their jobs. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were carried out. Results show that frequency of usage and computer training are positively associated with computer self-efficacy. Futhermore, we found interaction effects between computer training×computer self-efficacy on both indicators of burnout as outcomes. Computer self-efficacy moderated the relationship between computer training and burnout. Limitations of the study and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

高等学校计算机基础课程教学改革的探讨

计算机应用基础教学应该以社会各行业计算机应用能力需求为导向,选择为社会各行业所认可的计算机等级认证为目标,不断改进现行计算机基础教学的不足。本文提出了现行计算机基础教学和目前社会需求所面临的问题,并对如何进行教学改革提出几点建议。