All IT academics in the Sydney region are invited to attend the second Sydney Region IT Education Conventicle. The day consists of a series of presentations by IT academics from the Sydney region. One academic will give a paper that was originally presented at HERDSA in 2002, while the remaining papers to be presented at the Conventicle have been accepted for presentation at the Fifth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2003), 4 - 7 February 2003, Adelaide, Australia (ACE2003 is part of the Australasian Computer Science Week.) The names of the presenters, and abstracts of their papers, are given below.
Attendance is free, but for planning and catering purposes, attendees should register by emailing their name and affiliation to Raymond Lister (raymond@it.uts.edu.au), by Tuesday November 19.
09:30-09:45 Raymond Lister, Welcome
09:45-10:10
Andrew Simmonds, University of Technology, Sydney,
Student Learning Experience with an Industry Certification Course at University.
This is an analysis of the computer generated feedback from an industry
certification course, as taught as part of a university teaching unit.
Statistical analysis is not complete, as raw or full results are not
available. However, a method for extracting useful information from the
available results is proposed, and the method is shown to be effective
and reasonable on real results. Conclusions for the particular unit are
drawn. It is shown that there is a high degree of correlation between
student enjoyment and the professionalism of the instructor.
10:10-10:35
Andrew Solomon, University of Technology, Sydney,
Applying NAILS to Blackboard.
This paper is a desultory litany of complaints written by a first-time
user of the enterprise education software Blackboard. It will make
you laugh, it will make you cry ... and it will make you mistrust any
button that looks like a useful feature.
10:35-11:00 Morning Tea
11:00-11:25
Cate Jerram, University of Western Sydney,
Applying adult education principles to university teaching.
University undergraduate teaching is not usually regarded as, or
approached as, "adult education". Most approaches to teaching
university differ very little from their historic antecedents despite
considerable research in recent decades about the needs of the learner
and effective teaching practices to meet these needs. This paper
explores some of the better known "learner needs", particularly those
emphasised in adult education, and their trial application to a
university undergraduate class. The specific approaches and techniques
that were used are considered and their consequences and subsequent
feedback are investigated. By examining the results of this trial
application, the paper considers what approaches and techniques were
and were not effective, and extends that consideration to possibilities
of broader application to future undergraduate classes.
Full paper available at
web site for HERDSA Conference, July 7-10, 2002.
11:25-11:50
Judy Kay, University of Sydney,
Student satisfaction with group work in undergraduate computer science: do things get better?.
Group work has a large and important role in computer science courses
and skills in team work are among the most important generic attributes
that students should develop during their studies as a preparation for
the world of work (Dearing, 1997). At the same time, all who have been
involved in teaching that involves group work will be aware that it brings
challenges. So, it is important to support student learning of group
skills, to develop instruments for evaluating this aspect of teaching
and learning explicitly and to measure student development in group work
skill as well as student perceptions of their group work experiences.
This paper describes an instrument for assessing student perceptions of and satisfaction with group work. It has value as both a teacher's measurement tool and as a basis for student activities and discussion to encourage students to reflect upon and learn from their groupwork experiences. We report results of both this instrument and group interviews at four points in a three year programme: two points in the semester unit where group work skills are explicitly taught and assessed; one at the end of the first year and again at the end of the third year. We also describe how we have used this evaluation to develop additional resources for teaching about group work. One important contribution of this work is the instrument which could be readily used in quality assurance elsewhere. Another contribution derives from the results of our study. They provide reassuring indications that students do perceive increasing group work skill and value in group work. They also provide insight into the different perceptions of students according to academic ability.
11:50-12:15
Denise Tolhurst and Bob Baker, University of New South Wales,
A New Approach to a First Year Undergraduate Information Systems Course
.
This paper describes the development, implementation and
evaluation of a new teaching approach for a large first year
undergraduate in information systems course. Poor quality of
experience for students attending large lecture courses was recognised,
and an alternative approach developed that aimed to improve the first
year experience by minimising large formal lectures and encouraging
both student independent learning and quality small group
interactions. A course structure based on small regular workshop
groups, weekly web-supported independent activities (WSIA) completed by
students before attending class and occasional lectures was initially
implemented in first session 2002. A variety of course evaluation
approaches were used to assess the success of the course design and
implementation, including student focus groups, student feedback
questionnaires, standard university course and teaching evaluations,
weekly meetings of staff, observations and informal conversations with
students.
12:15-02:00 lunch
02:00-02:25
Yusuf Pisan, Macquarie University,
Submit! A Web-Based System for Automatic Program Critiquing.
This paper presents the Submit! project which aims to enhance teaching
and learning in computing by developing automated web-based tools that
assist in providing critical feedback to students about the computer
programs they write. By developing sophisticated computer-based tools
that will improve our monitoring of student progress and maintenance of
consistent standards we aim to provide structured assessment with a
level of detail and consistency that would be difficult or impossible
to provide manually. By allowing students to use the critiquing tools
before final submission of an assignment we offer formative assessment
that supports self-directed learning. Submit! has been integrated into
many of our computing units. Usability evaluations show that Submit!.is
generally effective while needing improvement in certain areas. A
preliminary study of the impact of Submit! on student results shows
that students who make use of the system to get feedback on assignment
submissions do better than those who don't.
02:25-02:50
Len Hamey, Macquarie University,
Teaching Secure Communication Protocols Using a Game Representation
.
The Security Protocol Game is a highly visual and interactive game for
teaching secure data communication protocols. Students use the game to
simulate protocols and explore possible attacks against them. The power
of the game lies in the representation of secret and public key
cryptography. Specifically, the game provides representations for plain
text and encrypted messages, message digests, digital signatures and
cryptographic keys. Using these representations, students can construct
public key certificates and perform multiple encryption, tunnelling and
encrypted key transmission. They can simulate a wide range of protocols
including authentication, key exchange and blind signature protocols.
Application protocols such as Transport Layer Security and Pretty Good
Privacy can be simulated in detail. The game clearly reveals the key
issues of confidentiality, integrity, authentication and
non-repudiation in secure data communications. Used as a small group
learning activity, students gain a deep understanding of protocol
design and operation issues. The game is suitable for use in tertiary
and professional education courses for managers and information
technology students at all levels.
3pm: Close, and afternoon tea
*Conventicle: Clandestine religious meeting (from the Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1976).