Computer-based Educational Tool Research Articles

Cultivating STEM Interest in High School Students through Computer-assisted COVID-19 Pandemic Awareness Course

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students were sidetracked by the shift in the educational process, primarily in the field of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education. Teachers were also besieged to find sustainable teaching solutions. During this chaos, many were subjected to various rumors and misinformation about the pandemic. Hence, we aimed to design a 3 week long computer-assisted STEM-based health awareness course. The course was designed and delivered to twenty high school students in various public schools in Qatar. The course creators utilized various innovative computer-based educational tools to involve and motivate students. In addition, students attended several synchronous and asynchronous sessions with experts in different fields to gain a better awareness of the crisis. A feedback mechanism was also operated to assess the effectiveness of the course delivery. The results revealed a 100% retention rate. The student questionnaire survey result showed higher post-test scores on pandemic awareness. A SWOT analysis depicted the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the executed course. Thereby, we successfully investigated the effectiveness of the STEM-integrated pedagogical approach through the learning outcomes of the student’s awareness of the course.

Development and Evaluation of a Computer-Based, Self-Management Tool for People Recently Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.

Aim. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a computer-based, dietary, and physical activity self-management program for people recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Methods. The computer-based program was developed in conjunction with the target group and evaluated in a 12-week randomised controlled trial (RCT). Participants were randomised to the intervention (computer-program) or control group (usual care). Primary outcomes were diabetes knowledge and goal setting (ADKnowl questionnaire, Diabetes Obstacles Questionnaire (DOQ)) measured at baseline and week 12. User feedback on the program was obtained via a questionnaire and focus groups. Results. Seventy participants completed the 12-week RCT (32 intervention, 38 control, mean age 59 (SD) years). After completion there was a significant between-group difference in the “knowledge and beliefs scale” of the DOQ. Two-thirds of the intervention group rated the program as either good or very good, 92% would recommend the program to others, and 96% agreed that the information within the program was clear and easy to understand. Conclusions. The computer-program resulted in a small but statistically significant improvement in diet-related knowledge and user satisfaction was high. With some further development, this computer-based educational tool may be a useful adjunct to diabetes self-management. This trial is registered with clinicaltrials.gov NCT number NCT00877851.

Augmenting Reality and Formality of Informal and Non-Formal Settings to Enhance Blended Learning

Visits to museums and city tours have been part of higher and secondary education curriculum activities for many years. However these activities are typically considered “less formal” when compared to those carried out in the classroom, mainly because they take place in informal or non-formal settings. Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and smartphones can transform such informal and non-formal settings into digitally augmented learning settings by superimposing “digital” layers of information over physical objects or spaces. At the same time, the formality of these settings increases when connected to formal settings through these digital layers. The right combination of AR and mobile technologies with computer-based educational tools such as Learning Management Systems (LMSs) drives this digital connection, leading to articulated blended learning activities across formal, non-formal and informal settings. This paper contributes to the TEL field with: (1) three blended learning activities illustrating the idea of augmented informal/non-formal settings; (2) results from the cross-analysis of these activities that evidence the impact of technology to enhance blended learning; and (3) a set of lessons learned about the possibilities of NFC/GPS AR technologies and LMSs for blended learning. This work provides insights for the design and implementation of similar technology-enhanced blended learning activities.

Opinions on computers, and efficacy of a computer-based learning: A pilot study

It is commonly believed that positive opinions of students and teachers on the possibilities entailed by computer use would increase the efficacy of computer-based educational processes. In turn, this amounts to postulate a relationship between measures of such opinions and well-defined patterns of interaction with computer-based educational tools. In this regard, this paper reports on an investigation performed in a primary school, designed to test whether expectations and opinions on computers, both of students and teachers, detected through suitable questionnaires, might be related to the effectiveness of computer use within a particular educational context. Our findings, contrarily to what expected, do not appear to support the hypothesis that a positive opinion on computers can lead per se to higher learning efficacy in a computer-based educational environment, as compared with a traditional educational setting.

Analysis of utility and use of a web-based tool for digital signal processing teaching by means of a technological acceptance model

This paper presents an exploratory study about the development of a structural and measurement model for the technological acceptance (TAM) of a web-based educational tool. The aim consists of measuring not only the use of this tool, but also the external variables with a significant influence in its use for planning future improvements. The tool, designed with Shockwave™ and Macromedia Director™, is a web-based educational environment that has been applied as a teaching methodology in an undergraduate course involved with modern microprocessors architectures and applications. The proposed methodology may be extensible to similar tools and tries to fill the lack of scientific studies in the validation and acceptance of computer-based educational tools.

Implementation of a Web-Based Educational Tool for Digital Signal Processing Teaching Using the Technological Acceptance Model

This paper presents an exploratory study about the improvement and validation of a Web-based educational tool. The tool, designed with Shockwave and Macromedia Director, is used as a teaching methodology in an undergraduate course using modern microprocessors, architectures, and applications. An information system theory, called the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM), has been applied to detect both the use of the tool and the external variables that have a significant influence over it. The obtained results illustrate the strengths and weaknesses to be reinforced and have been taken into account to implement the final version of the tool. The proposed method may be extended to similar tools and experiments to fill the lack of scientific studies in the validation and acceptance of computer-based educational tools.

A computer-based educational tool for pulse width modulator for static converters

In this study, a computer-based educational tool for static converters is presented for cost-effective education and training. Developments in power control techniques for pulse-width-modulated (PWM) inverters are often ignored because of inadequate time for testing and evaluation. In addition, teaching students PWM for static converters in a laboratory is time consuming and may be an expensive task. This study presents a computer-based educational tool for PWM for static converters, which has been designed to alleviate these problems. The tool has flexible structure and graphical interface. It can generate and display associated converter's output voltage and current waveforms and their respective frequency spectra for further evaluation of selected PWM schemes. PWM strategy, carrier and reference frequencies, carrier and reference voltage can be changed easily by using graphical interface. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 12: 215–223, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20020

Looking Inside: What Medical Imaging Technology Can Show Us—A Computer-based Educational Tool of Radiological Imaging of the Human Body

“Looking Inside: What Medical Imaging Technology Can Show Us” is a computer-based exhibit at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vermont, in the United States. Across the river from the museum is the neighboring historic community of Dartmouth. The first clinical x-ray in America occurred on 3 February 1896 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. It is fitting that, in celebration of the Dartmouth Medical School's 200th anniversary celebrations, a publicly displayed representation of virtually every part of the extraordinary living human body, in both health and disease, was created. Prior to medical imaging, doctors were left to make the diagnosis of fractures and disease by clinical and physical information only. Plain-film x-rays, or radiographs, were the first images of the hidden structures inside the body. With time and technology, doctors were able to look inside the body and find out much more, with imaging modalities such as CT scans, ultrasound, MRI, fluoroscopy and nuclear medicine. This article explores the development of medical imaging, gives a brief description of the technology, tells how doctors view the images and what they actually see, and includes examples such as a brain angiogram, fetal ultrasound and functional MRI for surgical mapping.

The Experience of Constructivism

The NASA Classroom of the FutureTM sponsored a residential training course to help teachers learn to use computer-based educational tools and explore constructivist instructional approaches. We hypothesized that creating a living-and-learning environment for the training would foster rapid changes in teachers’ epistemological beliefs. Pretest—posttest differences on an epistemology inventory indicated that teachers changed significantly on three of four factors related to constructivist teaching philosophies (Simple Knowledge, Quick Learning, and Certain Knowledge). The fourth factor (Fixed Ability) did not reveal significant changes. These findings have two implications: (1) constructivist approaches to training teachers may promote epistemological change, and (2) epistemology may be a less stable trait than was previously supposed.