The role of errors in learning computer software

Little research has been done examining the role of errors in learning computer software. It is argued, though, that understanding the errors that people make while learning new software is important to improving instruction. The purpose of the current study was to (a) develop a meaningful and practical system for classifying computer software errors, (b) determine the relative effect of specific error types on learning, and (c) examine the impact of computer ability on error behaviour. Thirty-six adults (18 males, 18 females), representing three computer ability levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), volunteered to think out loud while they learned the rudimentary steps (moving the cursor, using a menu, entering data) required to use a spreadsheet software package. Classifying errors according to six basic categories (action, orientation, knowledge processing, seeking information, state, and style) proved to be useful. Errors related to knowledge processing, seeking information, and actions were observed most frequently, however, state, style, and orientation errors had the largest immediate negative impact on learning. A more detailed analysis revealed that subjects were most vulnerable when observing, trying to remember, and building mental models. The effect of errors was partially related to computer ability, however beginner, intermediate and advanced users were remarkably similar with respect to the prevalence of errors.     

浅谈《计算机系统结构》课程教学的改革

《计算机系统结构》课程对于计算机专业的学生系统地掌握计算机软硬件知识非常重要。通过该课程的学习,可以加深学生对计算机整体知识的理解．提高学生分析和设计计算机系统的能力。目前这门课程在国内教学上还存在教学内容相对落后、与实际应用联系程度不高、对课程实验环节不够重视等问题。结合对这门课程教学的实际感悟,分析该门课程的教学现状,并提出相应的改进措施。     

The CALM before the storm! CAL in university mathematics

A Computer Aided Learning project in Mathematics (the CALM Project) is based at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. It is one of the projects currently in receipt of funding from the Computer Board of the United Kingdom as part of the Computers in Teaching Initiative in British Universities.The CALM Project seeks to produce computer enhanced teaching packages which will back-up the conventional teaching of Calculus to large groups of first year engineering undergraduates at a typical Scottish University. The project has been underway for just over one year and some of the software prepared by the CALM team has been tested by one section of the class. During this testing period we have embarked on a formative evaluation of the software and of its impact on student learning practices.In this article the writers present an outline of the evaluation procedure. In addition, details are given of the software tools used to produce the CALM programs.     

结合记忆与迁移学习的小样本学习

小样本学习是视觉识别中的一个受关注的领域,旨在通过少量的数据来学习新的视觉概念。为了解决小样本问题,一些元学习方法提出从大量辅助任务中学习可迁移的知识并将其应用于目标任务上。为了更好地对知识进行迁移,提出了一种基于记忆的迁移学习方法。提出一种权重分解策略,将部分权重分解为冻结权重与可学习权重,在迁移学习中通过固定冻结权重,仅更新可学习权重的方式来减少模型需要学习的参数。通过一个额外的记忆模块来存储之前任务的经验,在学习新任务时,这些经验被用来初始化模型的参数状态,以此更好地进行迁移学习。通过在miniImageNet、tieredImageNet以及CUB数据集上的实验结果表明,相对于其他先进的方法,该方法在小样本分类任务上取得了具有竞争力甚至是更好的表现。     

三维动画中常用计算机图形学知识的教学探究

在艺术院校,学生缺乏一些应有计算机图形学的了解,使其以机械记忆的方式学习三维动画软件,而不知其原理,操作时有较大盲目性,也很难发挥软件的一些高级功能。三维动画中常用计算机图形学是学好三维动画必备知识。但计算机图形学抽象,对理性思维较弱的艺术院校学生来说,易产生理解困难,甚至反感抵触。文章结合计算机图形学的特性和艺术院校学生的特点,对艺术院校三维动画中常用计算机图形学的教学内容和原则进行论述。     

试论计算机硬件常见的故障及维护措施

随着科学技术的不断进步和发展以及计算机软硬件的不断发展,计算机技术已经应用到了我们生活的方方面面,成为我们生活和学习的重要工具之一.计算机软硬件设备在使用中容易出现很多的问题,解决不当就会导致计算机瘫痪,影响到人们的日常生活.如何做好计算机的日常维护工作尤为重要.本文主要对计算机在使用中软硬件容易出现的故障以及相应地解决措施进行讨论.     

Exploring the antecedents of team performance in collaborative learning of computer software

As teamwork becomes common in computer software learning, there is an increasing need to study factors contributing to team performance. To this pursuit, the concept of collective efficacy offers great potential to researchers of information systems (IS). Drawing upon social cognitive theory (SCT), this study examines the relationships among computer collective efficacy (CCE), outcome expectations and team performance in the context of collaborative learning. Computer collective efficacy is further divided into two constructs, general CCE and specific CCE. Their causal relationships with two other constructs, performance and outcome expectations, are then investigated using longitudinal data collected from 188 groups of students of an 18-week computer software course. The results indicate that a team’s software learning performance is strongly influenced by specific CCE and outcome expectations, which in turn are influenced by prior performance and general CCE. Finally, prior performance of a group has no direct impact on its subsequent performance.     

结合集成学习与迁移学习的标签比例学习方法

标签比例学习（LLP）是一种将实例放入包中的机器学习方法,它只提供包中的实例信息和标签比例信息,而不提供标签信息。针对多个相关任务的LLP问题,提出了一种基于迁移学习的标签比例集成学习模型,简称AT-LLP,该模型通过在任务之间构建共享参数来连接相关任务,将源任务中学习到的知识迁移到目标任务中,从而提高目标任务的学习效率。同时该算法引入了集成学习算法,在分类器多轮迭代的学习过程中,不断调整训练集的权重系数,进一步将弱分类器训练为强分类器。实验表明,所提AT-LLP模型比现有LLP方法具有更好的性能。     

Computer security

Computer security has hit the mainstream. This paper is a high-level treatment of computer security, its concepts and terminology, and some pointers about where to go for more information.     

Implementing atomic actions in Ada 95

Atomic actions are an important dynamic structuring technique that aid the construction of fault-tolerant concurrent systems. Although they were developed some years ago, none of the well-known commercially-available programming languages directly support their use. This paper summarizes software fault tolerance techniques for concurrent systems, evaluates the Ada 95 programming language from the perspective of its support for software fault tolerance, and shows how Ada 95 can be used to implement software fault tolerance techniques. In particular, it shows how packages, protected objects, requeue, exceptions, asynchronous transfer of control, tagged types, and controlled types can be used as building blocks from which to construct atomic actions with forward and backward error recovery, which are resilient to deserter tasks and task abortion     

Using animation to support the teaching of computer game development techniques

In this paper, we examine the potential use of animation for supporting the teaching of some of the mathematical concepts that underlie computer games development activities, such as vector and matrix algebra. An experiment was conducted with a group of UK undergraduate computing students to compare the perceived usefulness of animated and static learning materials for teaching such concepts. Undergraduate computer game development courses are currently a growing area of UK higher education. Computer game development can often involve the use of mathematical modelling of two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer game objects and their interactions. Overall, it appeared that animated learning materials appeared to be perceived as being more useful to undergraduate computer games students than traditional learning materials for learning such concepts.     

构建“类描述语言”的计算机硬件教学平台

计算机技术的快速发展使高等院校的计算机技术教育面临着具大压力与挑战。着力培养学生的对学科知识形成规律性的认识,使学生高效理解和接受新知识,提高学生的创新思维能力,使之具有独立发现问题、解决问题能力。计算机硬件教学是计算机科学技术教育中的非常重要的一个环节。由于硬件的功能不断增强、结构更加复杂,其内部结构无法直接观察等特点,使得硬件的教学需要探索一种新的教学方法以提高教学效率。     

论函数编程技术在计算机数学教学中的应用

计算机数学作为计算机学科一门重要专业基础课程在计算机的教授与学习中起到承上启下的作用.随着网络时代的到来,企业、政府、个人都看到了计算机在生产生活中必不可少的作用,计算机成为生活中必不可少的东西.网络时代的发展也带动了计算机学科的发展,成为热门学科.计算机学科和数学是分不开的,因此也称为最有难度的一个学科.虽然很多学生选择计算机学科,但是在实际课堂教育中,学生的听课效率却不如预期,主要因为计算机数学内容理论性很强,而且一些概念知识很抽象,让学生很难理解,从而对学科内容不感兴趣.函数编程技术在教学中应用,对计算机数学的学习起到了辅助作用,让学生可以利用这种编程语言了解计算机数学的一些抽象性概念,更好的在实践中运用计算机数学.函数编程技术在计算机数学中应用,使得死板的理论学科变得稍显活泼,这回让学生对该学科更感兴趣,带动学生积极主动地学习.     

The Benefits of a Notification Process in Addressing the Worsening Computer Virus Problem: Results of a Survey and a Simulation Model

Computer viruses present an increasing risk to the integrity of information systems and the functions of a modern business enterprise. Systematic study of this problem can yield better indicators of the impact of computer viruses as well as a better understanding of strategies to reduce that impact.We conducted a Computer Virus Epidemiology Survey (CVES) on the World Wide Web to examine indicators of the impact of computer viruses. A major finding from the CVES is that multiple indicators of the impact of computer viruses reveal a problem growing more severe that affects large, as well as small, organizations. Another important finding is that viruses not detected despite regular updating of antiviral software caused only about 15% to 21% of virus problems reported in workgroups using antiviral software. The possible reasons for failure to detect include improper configuration of software and the inability of all known anti-virus detectors to detect. A related implication is that a substantial amount of damage due to viruses could probably have been prevented by regular updating of antiviral software.We also used the CVES in the development of a simulation model for the spread of computer viruses in workgroups in order to analyze the effect of a notification process on control. Our major finding is that the process of notification, whether by human behaviour or by technology, substantially reduces the impact of computer viruses in workgroups. For example, if a workgroup has a period of vulnerability when only 80% of its workstations are effectively using antiviral software, then even a 50% probability of notification of a detected virus substantially reduces the burden. An added benefit of maintaining an environment with high effective antiviral software usage and high levels of notification is that greater rates of communication events that can potentially transmit computer viruses within the workgroup actually reduce the impact of computer viruses in the workgroup. Anecdotal observations also indicate that the process of notification is significant in controlling the spread of ‘new’ viruses not yet detectable by software, although the process of notification from law enforcement authorities to workgroups was not in the simulation model.More formally, the reduced impact of computer viruses in a workgroup due to a greater rate of communication events that can potentially transmit computer viruses corresponds to a situation when a computer virus introduced into the workgroup produces, on average, less than one copy in the workgroup. This threshold corresponds to the basic reproduction ratio in epidemiology that describes the spread of infectious disease.     

基于定性模糊网络的分层Option 算法

在强化学习的研究中，常用的知识传递方法通过抽取系统最优策略的特征获得知识．由于所获得知识 通常与系统参数有关，因此这些方法难以应用于状态转移概率随系统参数变化的一类任务中．本文提出一种基于定 性模糊网络的分层Option 算法，该算法用定性动作描述系统的次优策略，并用定性模糊网络抽取次优策略的共同特 征获得与参数无关的知识，完成知识传递．倒立摆系统的控制实验结果表明：定性模糊网络能有效地表示各种参数 值不同的倒立摆系统所具有的控制规律，获取与系统参数无关的知识，将常用的知识传递方法从参数无关任务扩展 到参数相关任务中．     

Managing change in an information systems development organization: understanding developer transitions from a structured to an object‐oriented development environment1

Abstract. Object‐oriented systems development has attracted great interest in the information systems (IS) field because of a belief that using object‐oriented development (OD) makes it easier to develop and maintain software plus achieve software reuse. However, the transition from structured to OD may be especially challenging for IS developers. In fact, some argue that structured development (SD) knowledge may interfere with the ability to learn OD approaches because of a form of proactive interference. To understand how knowledge of SD concepts influences the ability to gain OD knowledge, we assessed a team of IS developers' understanding of structured and object‐oriented concepts at the beginning of their first OD project and repeated our assessment 1 year later. Developers increased their understanding of some object‐oriented concepts, but these changes were associated with increases in understanding of one of the SD concepts. Further, at the beginning and end of the project, developers' mental models were highly consistent with one another and that of an OD expert with regard to most OD concepts. It appears that the formal training that developers received allowed them to attain a good understanding of most object‐oriented concepts. These findings challenge the idea that structured developers must ‘unlearn’ SD to adopt OD approaches. Future research may wish to examine the different types of software development knowledge to ascertain which are amenable to positive transfer and which are more likely to suffer from proactive interference.     

The Benefits of a Notification Process in Addressing the Worsening Computer Virus Problem: Results of a Survey and a Simulation Model

Computer viruses present an increasing risk to the integrity of information systems and the functions of a modern business enterprise. Systematic study of this problem can yield better indicators of the impact of computer viruses as well as a better understanding of strategies to reduce that impact.We conducted a Computer Virus Epidemiology Survey (CVES) on the World Wide Web to examine indicators of the impact of computer viruses. A major finding from the CVES is that multiple indicators of the impact of computer viruses reveal a problem growing more severe that affects large, as well as small, organizations. Another important finding is that apparently undetectable viruses caused only about 15% to 21% of problems reported in workgroups using antiviral software, leaving a substantial amount of damage due to viruses that were probably detectable. Another important finding is that viruses not detected despite regular updating of antiviral software caused only about 15% to 21% of virus problems reported in workgroups using antiviral software. The possible reasons for failure to detect include improper configuration of software and the inability of all known anti-virus detectors to detect. A related implication is that a substantial amount of damage due to viruses could probably have been prevented by regular updating of antiviral software.We also used the CVES in the development of a simulation model for the spread of computer viruses in workgroups in order to analyze the effect of a notification process on control. Our major finding is that the process of notification, whether by human behaviour or by technology, substantially reduces the impact of computer viruses in workgroups. For example, if a workgroup has a period of vulnerability when only 80% of its workstations are effectively using antiviral software, then even a 50% probability of notification of a detected virus substantially reduces the burden. An added benefit of maintaining an environment with high effective antiviral software usage and high levels of notification is that greater rates of communication rates events that can potentially transmit computer viruses within the workgroup actually become protective reduce the impact of computer viruses in the workgroup. Anecdotal observations also indicate that the process of notification is significant in controlling the spread of “new” viruses not yet detectable by software, although the process of notification from law enforcement authorities to workgroups was not in the simulation model.More formally, the reduced impact of computer viruses in a workgroup due to a protective effect of greater rate of communication events that can potentially transmit computer viruses corresponds to a situation when a computer virus introduced into the workgroup produces, on average, less than one copy in the workgroup. This threshold corresponds to the basic reproduction ratio in epidemiology that describes the spread of infectious disease.     

Procedures for Obtaining and Testing User-Selected Terminologies

Four experiments were conducted to assess procedures for obtaining and testing user-selected terms for task-specific concepts in complex, unfamiliar word-processing instructions. Experiment 1 tested user-selected terms against both user-nominated and the original technical terms. The final three experiments employed only the user-selected and technical terms. The effect of terminology on subjects' abilities to follow the instructions was evaluated by measuring errors and task completion times during the practice period. Comprehension of the instructions was assessed by performance on a transfer task. Extensive practice produced acceptable and comparable performance for all term types. However, instruction comprehension, as measured by the transfer task, was clearly influenced by terminology. User-selected word-processing terms were more understandable than both user-nominated and the original technical terms. In addition, the present study demonstrated that transfer tasks can be more sensitive (and often more appropriate) evaluations of the goodness of a term than are learning measures.     

Cognitive load while learning with a graphical computer interface

Abstract  Computer software packages are hard to learn but little is known about how to help new users. A study was made in which 30 learners had to learn the basic commands of a CAD software package using manuals with different formats of presentation of instructions. Ten learners learned using a conventional manual plus a computer, 10 learners learned using a manual with juxtaposed screen images but no computer and 10 learners learned using a manual with integrated screen images but no computer. Each learner was tested with a practical and a written test and the learning time was measured. There was no statistical difference between the groups of learners for the score of the practical and written tests. However, it was found that learners using a manual with juxtaposed or integrated screen images had learned twice as fast as learners using a conventional manual. The discussion questions the use of conventional manuals to learn application software and stress as the key role of the graphical environment in the learning process.