A Cautionary Note on Checking Software Engineering Papers for Plagiarism

Several tools are marketed to the educational community for plagiarism detection and prevention. This article briefly contrasts the performance of two leading tools, TurnItIn and MyDropBox, in detecting submissions that were obviously plagiarized from articles published in IEEE journals. Both tools performed poorly because they do not compare submitted writings to publications in the IEEE database. Moreover, these tools do not cover the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) database or several others important for scholarly work in software engineering. Reports from these tools suggesting that a submission has ldquopassedrdquo can encourage false confidence in the integrity of a submitted writing. Additionally, students can submit drafts to determine the extent to which these tools detect plagiarism in their work. Because the tool samples the engineering professional literature narrowly, the student who chooses to plagiarize can use this tool to determine what plagiarism will be invisible to the faculty member. An appearance of successful plagiarism prevention may in fact reflect better training of students to avoid plagiarism detection.     

Plagiarism in programming assignments

The assessment of programming courses is usually carried out by means of programming assignments. Since it is simple to copy and edit computer programs, however, there will always be a temptation among some students following such courses to copy and modify the work of others. As the number of students in these courses is often high, it can be very difficult to detect this plagiarism. The authors have developed a package which will allow programming assignments to be submitted online, and which includes software to assist in detecting possible instances of plagiarism. In this paper, they discuss the concerns that motivated this work, describe the developed software, tailoring the software to different requirements and finally consider its implications for large group teaching     

Using Web-Based Teaching Interventions in Computer Science Courses

An open-source management system of Web-based teaching interventions is presented that can be used in general for science curriculum courses and especially for computer science courses. The proposed solution is called System of Teaching Intelligent Interventions (STII) and facilitates the authoring, deployment, and evaluation of Web-based metaphors. This paper discusses the use of metaphors for assisting students to comprehend the substance of cognitive concepts and their basic background. STII has been applied in a particular educational scenario during the learning process of 228 students attending the course ldquocomputer applications.rdquo The presentation of results from a pilot evaluation of two metaphors demonstrates the usefulness of the system. The evaluation focuses on the impact of the two metaphors on student learning, and on detecting potential correlations between metaphors and students' groups. STII evaluation conclusions strongly support that multimedia metaphors can be used as an alternative instructional tool to assist students in confronting their cognitive constraints and developing functional understanding of curriculum courses.     

能源互联网技术架构与实例分析

随着能源互联网产业的蓬勃发展,能源互联网定义的内涵不断丰富,其技术架构得到逐步完善。国家首批能源互联网示范项目数量多且各具特点,分析这些项目需要适用的工具。将技术架构作为分析工具有天然的优势,但需要在诸多架构中进行选择。通过回溯梳理能源互联网架构的发展,选择“三横一纵”结构作为基础,以完善能源供需四环节后的技术架构作为工具,对9类示范项目和典型实例进行分析,结果显示这一工具的有效性和适用性较好。     

Integrating large-scale group projects and software engineering approaches for early computer science courses

The utilization of large-scale group projects in early computer science courses has been readily accepted in academia. In these types of projects, students are given a specific portion of a large programming problem to design and develop. Ultimately, the consolidation of all of the independent student projects integrates to form the solution for the large-scale project. Although many studies report on the experience of executing a semester-long course of this nature, course experience at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, shows the benefits of embedding a large-scale project that comprises just a segment of the course (three to four weeks). The success of these types of courses requires an effective process for creating the specific large-scale project. An effective process for large-scale group project course development is applied to the second computer science course at Georgetown University.     

A Longitudinal Study of Nonoriginal Content in Final-Year Computing Undergraduate Projects

This paper describes a four-year longitudinal study of the extent of nonoriginal material in final-year undergraduate computing projects. This was done in conjunction with the establishment of a proactive departmental policy on academic integrity which emphasized education and prevention as well as detection and penalty. The intention of the project was to attempt to reduce the amount of nonattributed nonoriginal (plagiarized) content in the projects. The amount of nonoriginal material contained in each of approximately 900 projects over all four years was automatically measured and subsequently investigated and evaluated. Despite problems caused by the continual development of the measurement tools during the project, the conclusion can be drawn that the amount of nonoriginal material has declined and that which remains is being used with greater integrity.     

Towards a Definition of Source-Code Plagiarism

A survey using a scenario-based questionnaire format has provided insight into the perceptions of U.K academics who teach programming on computing courses. This survey across various higher education (HE) institutions investigates what academics feel constitutes source-code plagiarism in an undergraduate context. Academics' responses on issues surrounding source-code reuse and acknowledgement are discussed. A general consensus exists among academics that a ldquozero tolerancerdquo plagiarism policy is appropriate; however, some issues concerning source-code reuse and acknowledgement raised controversial responses. This paper discusses the most important findings from the survey and proposes a definition of what can constitute source-code plagiarism from the perspective of U.K. academics who teach programming on computing courses.     

Exceptional women? Gender and technology in U.K. higher education

It is now commonplace to say that technology is more readily associated with boys and men than with girls and women. In popular representations, even where girls are ostensibly included, they tend to be presented as “other” to technology or their relationship to technology is trivialized. “Real technology” the message seems to be, is not for women and girls. The author reflects on research she has carried out over the last 10-15 years (to 1999) and, in particular, two projects which examined women's experiences in technological courses in UK tertiary education in the mid 1980s and the early 1990s. What struck her in her reflections was the extraordinary similarity in some central themes in both projects. In particular, the author reflects upon the prevalence of very limited, and therefore limiting, understandings of the gender-technology relationship within conventional technology curricula and the possibility for challenging the understandings that are offered by more progressive and innovative curricula in information technology based education     

A virtual environment for protective relaying evaluation and testing

Protective relaying is a fundamental discipline of power system engineering. At Georgia Tech, we offer three courses that cover protective relaying: an undergraduate course that devotes one-third of the semester on relaying, a graduate course entitled "Power System Protection," and a three-and-a-half-day short course for practicing engineers. To maximize student understanding and training on the concepts, theory, and technology associated with protective relaying, we have developed a number of educational tools, all wrapped in a virtual environment. The virtual environment includes a) a power system simulator, b) a simulator of instrumentation for protective relaying with visualization and animation modules, c) specific protective relay models with visualization and animation modules, and d) interfaces to hardware so that testing of actual relaying equipment can be performed. We refer to this set of software as the "virtual power system." The virtual power system permits the in-depth coverage of the protective relaying concepts in minimum time and maximizes student understanding. The tool is not used in a passive way. Indeed, the students actively participate with well-designed projects such as a) design and implementation of multifunctional relays, b) relay testing for specific disturbances, etc. The paper describes the virtual power system organization and "engines," such as solver, visualization, and animation of protective relays, etc. It also discusses the utilization of this tool in the courses via specific application examples and student assignments.     

A senior project course in digital signal processing with theTMS320

A senior project course on applications in digital signal processing (DSP) with the TMS320 digital signal processor is described. All experiments and projects are performed using Texas Instruments' TMS320 digital signal processor. The laboratory emphasis in the senior project course reinforces the concepts of DSP covered in the lecture course. Applications in DSP are in areas such as communications, controls, speech, graphics, etc. The DSP projects presented and demonstrated by the students in the spring of 1987 are discussed. These projects can provide a guide to individuals who may incorporate a hands-on approach to DSP in courses such as senior project, senior lab, or DSP lab using the versatile TMS 320 digital signal processor     

An automated learning system for Java programming

The increase in the numbers enrolling in university computer courses makes huge demands on resources, and maintaining standards of teaching and tutorial support is almost impossible without a massive increase in staff. To overcome this situation, the authors have developed RoboProf, an automated learning environment which, as well as generating and assessing programming exercises, provides ongoing assistance and feedback to students without extra demands on lecturer and tutors' time. This system also contains a technique for detecting plagiarism, an increasing problem in computing courses worldwide. For this research, RoboProf was used to teach Java programming to a class containing nearly 300 students in the first year of a computing degree. Use of the system by students was monitored and recorded on log files in order to investigate the extent to which usage patterns influence achieved programming skill. An analysis shows that students who complete the set of RoboProf exercises perform significantly better than those who do not. The timeliness in which these exercises are completed relative to other students is significant: early solvers get higher marks, and students solving the problems with fewer attempts get higher marks. Not surprisingly, plagiarists achieve a lower score than those who do their own work. Other factors that were found to influence programming performance included entry standards and gender. Entry qualifications impacted positively on performance, and males performed significantly better than females. There was a significant positive correlation between the score achieved in the RoboProf course and the performance in a subsequent computing course administered in the traditional manner.     

Team-oriented software practicum

New computer science graduates are inadequately prepared to apply their abstract knowledge, and they have rarely worked in the teams required in modern business. To remedy these shortcomings and alleviate the low motivation that often accompanies the first years of college, we proposed that a pilot group of entering freshmen should be formed into a four-year experimental team. Unlike traditional course-at-a-time approaches, this supplements the existing curriculum by integrating material across courses through team construction of software projects. Under the guidance of faculty and graduate student mentors, students work cooperatively on projects related not just to programming but to the entire lifecycle of software production, from market analysis to revision based on technical support. Initial projects are team-oriented and scaled to the capabilities of entering students while final projects span the product development cycle and involve several semesters of effort. Industrial representatives provide a practical perspective by presenting seminars on special topics and evaluating student projects in light of professional standards. This type of experiment provides the industrial community with students better prepared to face the challenges of professional software development. It also offers consolidated learning, enhanced student retention, significant student-faculty involvement, and the potential to identify learning experiences that may be usefully integrated into existing courses     

Automatic management of laboratory work in mass computer engineering courses

Teaching computer engineering calls for an important practical component, usually covered by setting several laboratory exercises for each course. These exercises are specified as assignments by the teachers and have to be completed by the students. At the Computer Science School of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain, some of these laboratory exercises have to be set for up to 400 students. High-quality laboratory work requires the use of technology to help in student management, interaction, and assessment. Over the last ten years, this department at UPM has been a site for new tool development. Students use these tools to submit their laboratory work over the network. These tools allow the students' work to be checked by a battery of tests proposed by the instructor. In addition, a specific tool has been built to detect plagiarism by students. This work describes the services provided by this environment and the experience gathered during the use of this laboratory.     

Avoiding Plagiarism in Contexts of Development and Change

This paper reports on an investigation into the incidence of plagiarism in the context of a new university of technology in South Africa. The findings indicate that plagiarism can take many forms, some of which are a result of dishonesty and academic misconduct, while others are related to the educational levels and cultural diversity of the faculty and student body. The paper argues that a ldquoone-size-fits-allrdquo approach to plagiarism is not likely to be effective within a context of development and change, different forms of plagiarism should be clearly identified, and different institutional responses are necessary to address these items.     

Restructuring an electric Machinery course with an integrative approach and computer-assisted teaching methodology

The course of Electric Machinery has been one of the core courses in the Electrical Engineering (EE) curriculum at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK). In the past, the course was designed to focus mainly on topics of transformers and electric machines and was typically presented under the assumption of steady-state conditions. Unfortunately, many students considered the course old-fashioned and unexciting, and this lack of interest, in turn, seriously limited their ability to understand and appreciate the wide-ranging applications of electric machines. More important, electric machines today have become widely integrated with power electronics, digital signal processing (DSP), and digital control technology. However, these technological changes were not adequately reflected in the traditional teaching structure of the course. This paper presents a new approach that, by integrating computer-assisted teaching methodology in classroom presentation, substantially restructures the course so that it provides a comprehensive treatment of electric-drive systems with discussions covering electric machines, power electronic converters, feedback controls, power supply systems, and mechanical systems.     

Courses on Technology for Students Not Majoring in the Sciences

This article describes two courses on the technology of communication and transportation designed for non-science students. The courses combine lectures on technology and student presentations on the interaction of the technology with their own areas of interest. The course content is presented and the method of teaching is explained. This article describes two courses on technology that have been designed for non-science majors at Yale University. The two courses respectively present the technology of communication and transportation. The outlines for the courses are given in the Appendix. The communication course has been taught for four years and the transportation course for three years.     

DataLab-J: a signal and image processing laboratory for teachingand research

DataLab-J is a software signal and image processing laboratory which has proved effective both as an educational "workbench" and in practical operational use. It requires a pedagogical tool, a research environment, and a fully operational data analysis system, i.e., it is used not only in undergraduate engineering courses, but in graduate study and general research. The system must be easily extendable, e.g., to allow undergraduates to perform practical programming of standard digital filters and image processing algorithms, or to provide a realistic platform upon which novel algorithms can be implemented. On a further dimension, the system must handle seamlessly and efficiently three broad data types: digital signals (sequences), images (possibly multiband), and multivariate data sets. The system is implemented in the programming language Java. DataLab-J has been operational for four years, has been used in an undergraduate image processing course, and as a platform for a great many dissertation projects. In addition it is in everyday use within a university signal and image processing research group     

Introducing TCAD Tools in a Graduate Level Device Physics Course

The impact that project complexity, student prior academic achievement, and quality of instructional materials might have on student academic achievement was studied during a required device physics course, in which technology computer-aided design (TCAD) tools were introduced to first-year graduate students. Preliminary analysis of student performance and project complexity showed that students who attempted the most complex projects had the lowest student academic achievement, despite there being no significant differences in prior academic achievement as measured by grades in the first exam in the course. Further analysis of student achievement data from other electrical engineering courses taught in a similar open laboratory format, for which enhanced instructional materials were developed, suggest that when well-developed learning resources are easily accessible to students, project complexity has no negative impact on student academic achievement and can sometimes enhance student academic performance. Cognitive load theory was used to explain why well-developed instructional tools, such as enhanced tutorials, can help students better learn or work with complex material.      

A model for advanced in-house industrial training: a case study onintelligent system technology transfer using a project-oriented approach

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETROBRAS) in conjunction with Synergetics Science and Technology Inc. has developed a comprehensive graduate level educational program in intelligent system design technology. The primary goals of this program are: training professionals to apply artificial intelligence (AI) and neural networks (NN) techniques to managerial and technological problem solving, and to do this in a manner that is both time- and cost-effective. This particular program has been centered around two distinct areas of specialization: symbolic AI and the connectionist approach (NNs). The AI section of the course is titled CAVIAR. The NN section of the course is titled CERN. Short courses and seminars were also part of the program. For this paper, our focus has been to deal with the special needs of graduate-level education in large companies as part of employee professional training. We also explore the nuances of, and the various needs associated with teaching intelligent system design technologies to such a diverse group, as is found in large companies like PETROBRAS. This paper also describes the needs that led to the development of such a broad-based program, the goals and structures of the various courses, the student profiles, educational facilities (libraries and computer laboratories), and the lessons learned. Finally, the conclusion offers recommendations     

An Undergraduate Design/Project Course Utilizing a Microcomputer

Project-based courses offer one of the greatest education opportunities in an electrical engineering student's undergraduate curriculum. The ultimate success of this type of educational experience is keyed primarily to 1) the selection of a project with a high chance of success along with the right amount of challenge and 2) adequate planning. Faculty may choose to avoid a microcomputer-based design/ project due to their lack of experience in selecting suitable projects and planning for the support required. This paper describes a project which has considerable flexibility for individual definition of goals and, hence, the amount of challenge can, in some sense, be customized. The support required for a microcomputer-based design/project is distinct from that of a conventional design/project course. These planning and support requirements for microcomputer-based projects are described along with the course structure, content and approach to grading