Computer And Information Sciences Research Articles

The Challenges Faced by Undergraduate Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

The latest COVID-19 pandemic is a specific and unusual event. It forced universities to close their doors and move fully to distance education. The sudden shift from traditional education to full distance education created many challenges and difficulties for universities, faculty members, and students. This study aims to investigate the challenges and obstacles faced by undergraduate women in Saudi Arabia universities while using online-only learning during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Moreover, this study provides some recommendations to address these challenges from undergraduate women’s perspectives. The study used a qualitative research methodology to investigate the challenges and difficulties. The participants were undergraduate women selected using random purposive sampling technique from the population of College of Computer and Information Sciences (CCIS) at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The final sample consisted of 68 undergraduate women who responded to a predesigned open-ended questionnaire that was sent via e-mail to targeted respondents. The data gathered from the questionnaire were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results of the research revealed that the most obvious challenges identified by the participants were technical issues, lack of in-person interaction, distractions and time management, lack of a systematic schedule, stress and psychological pressure, missing the traditional university environment, limited availability of digital devices, and lack of access to external learning resources.

Information Systems Outcomes based Assessment at Jouf University for ABET Accreditation

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) Criteria for Computing Accreditation Commission Programs are based upon knowledge, presentation skills, communication skills, team work and leadership skills that the students gain through the curriculum in a program. The student outcomes (SOs) are the procured skills and knowledge which the student accomplishes through the curriculum. Each program needs to have its own SOs and to evaluate it as per defined assessment cycle, just as to accomplish program educational objectives (PEOs). The continuous improvement plan depended on assessment and evaluation of the program SOs and PEOs. In this paper, an advancement cycle for continuous improvement, for Information systems (IS) program at College of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS), Jouf University, Sakaka, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia, to accomplish the accreditation is discussed. The proposed cycle is appropriate to get the accreditation for bachelor program in information systems discipline and to fulfill the ABET criteria. In result, we will show how the SOs and PEOs were surveyed and assessed through curriculum accordingly. Based on these processes, ABET team has visited CIS college, which had accomplished extraordinary achievement and all of the programs have completely accredited on August 2018 and the next visit to the computing and engineering programs will be on 2026.

Using an Exponential Random Graph Model to Recommend Academic Collaborators

Academic collaboration networks can be formed by grouping different faculty members into a single group. Grouping these faculty members together is a complex process that involves searching multiple web pages in order to collect and analyze information, and establishing new connections among prospective collaborators. A recommender system (RS) for academic collaborations can help reduce the time and effort required to establish a new collaboration. Content-based recommendation system make recommendations based on similarity without taking social context into consideration. Hybrid recommender systems can be used to combine similarity and social context. In this paper, we propose a weighting method that can be used to combine two or more social context factors in a recommendation engine that leverages an exponential random graph model (ERGM) based on historical network data. We demonstrate our approach using real data from collaborations with faculty members at the College of Computer and Information Sciences (CCIS) in Saudi Arabia. Our results demonstrate that weighting social context factors helps increase recommendation accuracy for new users.

Assessment on student performance using Rasch model in multi-tier application development course examination

Assessment and measurement in teaching and learning process is one of the most vital processes in order to assure the quality of education system. This paper describes a measurement model that is used to measure the student performance in the final examination of multi-tier application development (IS333D) course in the Information Systems (IS) Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences (CCIS), Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU). A sample of final exam results for the third year IS students is compiled and tabulated for evaluation using Rasch measurement model. This study shows that the student performance for the set of IS333D final exam questions comparatively good. This confirms that most of the students able to achieve the three levels of Bloom's taxonomy. The result generated from this study can be used to guide us to determine the appropriate improvement of the teaching method as well as the quality of question prepared.

Assessment on student performance using Rasch Model in Multi-tier Application Development course examination

Assessment and measurement in teaching and learning process is one of the most vital processes in order to assure the quality of education system. This paper describes a measurement model that is used to measure the student performance in the final examination of multi-tier application development (IS333D) course in the Information Systems (IS) Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences (CCIS), Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU). A sample of final exam results for the third year IS students is compiled and tabulated for evaluation using Rasch measurement model. This study shows that the student performance for the set of IS333D final exam questions comparatively good. This confirms that most of the students able to achieve the three levels of Bloom's taxonomy. The result generated from this study can be used to guide us to determine the appropriate improvement of the teaching method as well as the quality of question prepared.

Course and Student Management System Based on ABET Computing Criteria

Accreditation is considered as one of the major aspects of ABET, where educational institutions continuously develop the quality of academic programs to achieve it. For the most part of this continuous development needs, the programs determine definite and measured objectives for their students, evaluate their efforts to achieve these objectives, and amend their programs based on the results of that assessment. In addition to providing educational institutions an organized strategy to appraise and develop their programs. The primary focal point to prepare for accreditation is the learning objectives and program outcomes assessment. So, College of Computer and information Sciences (CCIS) at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman (PNU) needs to fulfill ABET criteria to achieve the outcomes. So, CCIS need a system to achieve course assessment matrix without wasting the time and efforts. This system will help the staff members in identifying student learning objectives that are expected to achieve as well as to identify assessment tools and evaluation feedback for each topic. This paper describes Course and Student Management System (CSMS) established to address a course assessment matrix, and help achieve departmentstated objectives. Whereas, CSMS is a web based system provides many features to facilitate the creation of articulation matrix, course assessment based on students learning objectives, the student's evaluation and tracking attendance of students. This system is considered as a new method of creating the course assessment matrix that will help the department head, instructors and course coordinator. It is user friendly and interactive interface, saving the time and efforts.

Sensor-Web Systems, Applications, and Services

1Software Engineering Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences (CCIS), King Saud University, Riyadh 11543, Saudi Arabia 2Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia 3Ontology Engineering Group, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo s/n, Boadilla del Monte, 28660 Madrid, Spain 4Research Center for Information Technology Innovation (CITI), Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan 5College of Computing and Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223-0001, USA

Development of Quality Assurance System for Academic Programs and Courses Reports

This paper aims to review a proposed Quality Assurance system (QA) which suggests developing the internal quality assurance system of academic programs at the College of Computer and Information Sciences (CCIS), Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), by replacing the existing paper-based QA System into a web-based system. In general, the QA system will work as: providing users the required NCAAA (National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment) reports' forms to be filled. Then, the proposed QA system will gather forms and generates completed reports. At the same time, it provides them to the decision makers. The proposed QA system will allow decision makers to approve reports and view gathered information in many views in which will facilitate the making decision processes in continuing improvement of the educational processes and outcomes. Also, QA system can be extended and applied to other PNU colleges. After that, it can be applied to all KSA universities.

Advances in Multimedia Sensor Networks for Health-Care and Related Applications

1Software Engineering Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences (CCIS), King Saud University, Riyadh 11543, Saudi Arabia 2Department of Computer Science, International Islamic University Malaysia, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3Multimedia Communications Lab (KOM), Technical University of Darmstadt, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany 4Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Hawaii-Hilo, Hilo, HI 96720, USA 5Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University Australia, Gippsland Campus, Churchill, VIC 3842, Australia

Community College Men and Women

Efforts to increase the number of women who pursue and complete advanced degrees in computer and information sciences (CIS) have been limited, in part, by a lack of research on pathways into and out of community college CIS classes. This longitudinal study tests three widely held beliefs about how to increase the number of CIS majors at 4-year universities, particularly among females. Data were collected from 741 women and men from 15 community colleges in California who enrolled in an introductory programming class. The results highlight the importance of preparation and interactions with professors for male students, and of motivational, relational, and behavioral factors for female students, specifically peer support, expectations for success in computing, and computer gaming.

Orientation of Undergraduates Toward Careers in the Computer and Information Sciences

Researchers have been working to understand the factors that may be contributing to low rates of participation by women and other minorities in the computer and information sciences (CIS). We describe a multivariate investigation of male and female university students’ orientation to CIS careers. We focus on the roles ofself-efficacyand peer-basedsocial supportas social-cognitive variables in the students’ learning process. We explore these variables and their impact on career orientation through a set of overlapping regression models. In general, we find that strong social support and high self-efficacy are associated with strong orientation toward careers in CIS careers. However the influences of perceived self-efficacy and social support appear to differ for men and women: while low self-efficacy is tied to less social support for males, we see no similar tendency for females. In fact many females who report themselves as low in self-efficacy consider themselves to have high social support among their peers. We discuss the implications of our findings for programs aimed at outreach to both males and females regarding CIS education and careers.

Young Women’s Misinformation Concerning IT Careers: Exchanging One Negative Image for Another

Introduction Goal of the Research Numerous researchers have indicated that a particular piece of misinformation, the perception of Information Technology (IT) professionals as being geeks and loners, may be one of many explanations for the under-representation of women in Information Technology. In particular, Jepson and Perl (2002) identified a nerdy image of IT people as one of six reasons that girls do not choose IT careers. Hazzan and Levy (2006) identified a geeky and loner image as one of three factors discouraging women from IT careers, positing that women are more likely to be interested in careers involving more interaction with people. Margolis and Fisher (2002) suggested that women are more likely to be affected by the geek stereotype than men are, and thus, when women do not experience an intense obsession with computers, they are more likely to contemplate whether they really belong in the IT field. Eglash (2002) described the geek identity as not only a gender but also a race concern that acts as a gatekeeper and paradox in the participation of science and technology as it potentially hinders diversity. The purpose of this research was to determine if girls in the United States, ages sixteen through eighteen, at the age when they are making university and career choices, do indeed view IT professionals in this negative way. Significance of the Issue The geek/loner issue is important for multiple reasons. The predicted growth of IT jobs in the United States (Hecker, 2005), the shortage of IT professionals (McGee, 2005), and the under-representation of women in the IT field have raised serious concern regarding the US technology workforce in the 21st century (Camp, 1997; Grant, Knight, & Steinbach, 2006; Holzer, 2006; Lazowska, 2002; Sanders, 2005). According to the employment outlook for 2004-2014 by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (Hecker, 2005), and mathematical science occupations are projected to increase 30.7 percent, an additional 967,000 jobs. Of the 30 fastest-growing occupations during this time, six are in computer-related disciplines: network systems and communications analysts, application software engineers, systems software engineers, network and systems administrators, database administrators, and systems analysts. A 2005 study by the Society for Information Management (cited in McGee, 2005) lists critical shortages in IT project management and business domain experts for 2005-2008. McGee (2005) cites two reasons for the shortage of IT professionals. A 10 percent decline from 10 or 15 years ago in the number of students majoring in technology-related degrees has been estimated. Some universities report upwards of a 50 percent decrease in enrollment in these degrees. As baby-boomer professionals begin retiring, an expertise shortage will exacerbate the situation. There has been an 18.5 percent decline in the percentage of women in the IT workforce since 1996 (Information Technology Association of America, 2005). Women composed 32.4 percent of the total IT workforce in 2004. A third of these women are in administrative occupations such as data entry keyer and computer operator. If these administrative occupations are removed from the calculations, women IT professionals and managers fall to 24.9 percent, virtually the same percentage as in 2002. Over the past two decades, the number of young women in the US pursuing careers in Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) has significantly decreased. The National Center of Educational Statistics (2005) reported that in 1984, 32,439 undergraduate students received bachelor's degrees in CIS. Men represented 20,416 of the total (63 percent), while women were 12,023 (37 percent). However, in 2004, 59,488 students received their bachelor's degrees in CIS of which 44,585 (75 percent) were men and 14,903 (25 percent) were women. Thus, the percentage of CIS majors who are female has dropped from 37 percent in 1984 to just 25 percent in 2004. …

A National Analysis Of Computer And Information Sciences Faculty Workloads: Examining Teaching, Research, Service, And Administration

The professoriate is a foundational component of higher education and impacts program success. This study describes computer and information sciences (CIS) faculty workloads empirically. The role of faculty in higher education is characterized in terms of research, teaching, service, and administration. Specifically, this study examines the relationships of faculty individual characteristics, occupational characteristics, and organizational context across the percent of effort allocations in regards to workload. The data used for this study was the National Center for Education Statistics most recent examination of the faculty, the 1999 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOFP-99) data. Specifically, this study describes CIS faculty on selected individual characteristics, occupational characteristics, and institutional context; describe the actually and preferred effort allocations of CIS faculty; determines if significant differences exists between the actually and preferred effort allocations in workload of CIS faculty; determines if a relationship exists between the actual allocation of workload of CIS faculty and individual characteristics, occupational characteristics, and instructional context. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS. To answer the research questions means, standard deviations, frequencies, percents, correlations, and t-tests were implemented. This study found the majority of faculty workload is spent on teaching and the majority of program and faculty evaluation is based on research. The study suggests that more research is needed to develop a better picture of CIS faculty in terms of workloads.

Use of computer conferencing in teaching systems analysis and design

This article describes how the Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) at Temple University uses a computer based "bulletin board" system to improve our Systems Analysis and Design Courses. We found that the use of the bulletin board improves the communication skills of students and increases the productivity of both instructor and student. While the article is descriptive rather than empirical, we believe it offers useful insights for other instructors who share our concerns and are interested in the use of computer based communication technology to improve teaching.