Courseware Engineering Research Articles

Novel Multiperspective Hiring Framework for the Selection of Software Programmer Applicants Based on AHP and Group TOPSIS Techniques

The selection of software programmer applicants based on multiperspective evaluation criteria (grade point average (GPA) and soft skills of the applicants) is needed instead of an interview because an interview does not necessarily lead to hiring the best candidate amongst the applicants. The selection of a suitable software programmer is considered a challenging task owing to the following factors: (1) data variation, (2) multiple evaluation criteria and (3) criterion importance. A general framework for the selection of the best software programmer applicants is not available in the existing literature. The present study aims to propose a novel multiperspective hiring framework based on multicriteria analysis to select the best software programmer amongst several applicants. A decision matrix (DM) is constructed for the selection of the best programmer applicants according to multiple criteria, namely, structured programming, object-oriented programming, data structure, database system and courseware engineering. Each criterion includes two parameters, namely, GPA and soft skills, and these criteria cross over with programmer applicants as alternatives. The standard and expert opinion of the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge is used to distribute the criteria in the DM. The two commonly used techniques of multicriteria decision-making are analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for weighing the criteria and technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) for ranking the alternatives (programmer applicants). The data used in this study include 60 software engineering students who graduated in 2016 from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Results show that integrating multilayer analytic hierarchy process (MLAHP) and group TOPSIS are effective for solving applicant selection problems. Group TOPSIS uses different contexts — internal and external aggregation — and indicates similar results. Objective validation is used for the ranking of the results, which are equally divided into four parts. Furthermore, the applicants are systematically ranked. This study benefits application software, system software and computer programming tool companies by providing a method that improves software quality whilst reducing time and cost in the selection process.

A Systems Engineering Analysis Method for the Development of Reusable Computer-Supported Learning Systems

Introduction Reusability is considered as an essential and undoubtedly the most important quality of learning objects (Sicilia & Garcia, 2003). learning object is defined as follows (McGreal, 2004): A learning object is any reusable digital resource that is encapsulated in a lesson or assemblage of lessons grouped in units, modules, courses, and even programs. lesson can be defined as a piece of instruction, normally including a learning purpose. So far, there have been many attempts to support learning objects reuse, but most of these efforts have focused on defining reusable patterns (Baggetun, Rusman, & Poggi, 2004; Jones & Boyle, 2007) and on designing artifacts for evaluating and recovering materials (Cuadrado & Sicilia, 2005; Padron, Diaz, & Aedo, 2007). Therefore, in keeping with the experience in software development, effort should be put to define methods that permit the discovery of object commonalities. In turn, this information would allow for reuse. Since reusability refers to prospective and future usage scenarios, it is difficult to manage. concept of reusability encompasses aspects related to format, interpretation, and pedagogical suitability (Sicilia, 2004). Thus, in order to achieve effective reusability it is necessary to tackle the problem from the point of view of: * learning objects. correct definition and formalization of learning objects to allow for determining their potential reuse. * learning contexts. adequate specification of the learning context permits determining the appropriate instruction method and, thereby, identifying the more reusable tasks or activities. standards and tools previously available have focused on the first of the views presented above by dealing with aspects regarding format (but which overlooks the analysis of the specific context). In order to overcome this matter, the study of reusability in the development process of computer-supported learning systems has been proposed. computer-supported learning system can be considered as a structured set of learning components, whose qualities and characteristics rely on the learning components that compose it. Thus, according to this notion, reusability refers to the ability to use services or learning objects for multiple courses or lessons (Hartshorne, 2003). In this context, the computer-supported learning systems reusability must take into account the features of the learning system to identify, recover, and use the learning components that comprise the system. Based on the experience of software development, reusability should be considered at the early phases of the development process (Kang, 1998). For this reason, and with the purpose of facilitating the identification of commonalities and further reuse, the definition of systematic analysis methods is needed. rest of the paper is organized as follows. second section describes the motivations for a specific analysis approach in the development of computer-supported learning systems. following sections define our analysis method and include an example on how the approach has been applied. Finally, a set of conclusions and recommendations for future work are presented. Motivation for a Specific Analysis Method Courseware is defined as any instructional system delivering content via computers that supports learners as well as teachers in their educational efforts, in a technical and instructional way (Grutzner, Ruhe & Pfahl, 2002). life-cycle of the earlier courseware development methods resembles the phases of the traditional software development process: analysis, design, development, and evaluation. As Goodyear points out, the relation between software engineering and learning resources development is particularly strong in analysis-related tasks: The main areas of overlap between software engineering and courseware engineering are probably to be found in those areas concerned with requirements analysis and design. …

Toward an ontological approach in goal-oriented language courseware design and its implications for technology-independent content structuring

The term ‘design’ is being understood more and more as a methodological process, together with its acceptance as the result of such a process. As a process, it is a stage in the courseware engineering life cycle which primarily focuses on rendering the development process more effective and on enhancing the qualities of the finished system, especially its linguistic-didactic functionalities. More importantly for CALL as a discipline, the design process should be research-based and research-oriented; it should integrate accepted findings, principles and methodologies on the one hand, and it should also generate new research findings which can lead to new working hypotheses, on the other. In this article we will focus on two essential design aspects: concept and content. We will show how both concept and content can remain independent from any technology so that they become as reusable, exchangeable, and sustainable as possible. The key activity is specification. The ontological approach in specification states that what can be specified can be developed. This working hypothesis does not depend on technology but on a sound conceptualisation of what is needed in a particular learning situation. As far as content is concerned, an intermediate level of content structuring in relational databases facilitates a rapid output to different or successive learning environments.

WEB-BASED TEST AND ASSESSMENT SYSTEM: DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND CASE STUDY

Courseware engineering targets towards the cost-efficient production and maintenance of educational material. We propose a separation of courseware into content parts, presentation parts, and pedagogic and didactic parts as a major step in order to strengthen reusability and adaptability of e-learning contents. This separation should guarantee that specialists can focus on their field and define questions without concerning about presentation or design the look and feel without going into details of the question content. As a case study, we present tetrodo, a framework for web-based education and show its application for the development of test and assessment purposes. Our system supports computer-correctable questions at higher taxonomy levels compared to the multiple-choice and fill-in type supported by commercial e-learning systems. In order to show a flavour what is possible, we give examples from a recent course on Algorithms and Data Structures. We sketch the hierarchy of question patterns built up and report on the authoring tool developed. Finally we describe a new approach in students involvement in questioning and summarize practical experiences so far.

Disseminate

<p>DISSEMINATE is a mnemonic acronymic vehicle capable of brand recognition to support a set of development principles for what some have now referred to as the emerging science of Courseware Engineering (Marshall 1997). Above all, DISSEMINATE is an active verb which implies that the proponents may wish to follow this with definite planned actions which may occur simultaneously and in a co-ordinated fashion in all parts of the world. Although the concept of the project is "authorability", it is seen by its members as the sum of the key elements described below, yet considering the definition of each component proposed as open and flexible. It is not meant to be prescriptive and to create new constraints; quite on the contrary, it may lead to substitutions and refinements to suit individual authors and collaborators.</p><p>http://www.disseminate.org.uk/</p>

An Engineering Approach for Online Learning

The design and development of effective online courses for distance learning is a complex process involving many forms of expertise. Several disciplines such as instructional design theories, software engineering principles, human-computer interaction and multimedia are involved. It is not always feasible for a novice to be familiar with such a range of expertise. A methodology integrating all of these various disciplines is urgently needed. The Courseware Engineering Methodology (CME) has been developed by the author to guide novices to design effective online courses, based on the integration of the various disciplines. CEM has been used successfully by over 70 students at a UK university to develop their online courses in the last few years. This paper describes the CEM development process. The CEM process consists of four models. The pedagogical model is concerned with the pedagogical aspects of the course; the conceptual model, dealing with the software engineering aspects of the design; the interface model relating to the interface of the course, and the Web modelling that deals with the Web useability and navigation issues of the course. Each of the nodels will be briefly reviewed. Design principles concerning both the pedagogical and interface models will be further discussed. The paper concludes by stating the benefits of using an engineering approach to online development and reuse.

Courseware engineering methodology

THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF EFFECTIVE COURSEWARE is a complex process involving many forms of expertise. Several disciplines such as instructional design theories, software engineering principles, human-computer interaction and multimedia are involved. It is not always feasible for a novice to be familiar with such a range of expertise. A methodology integrating all of these various disciplines is urgently needed. The Courseware Engineering Methodology (CEM) has been developed by the author to guide novices in designing effective courseware, based on the integration of the various disciplines. CEM has been used successfully by over seventy students at an UK university to develop their courseware in the last few years. This paper describes the CEM development process. The CEM process consists of four models. The pedagogical model concerned with the pedagogical aspects of the courseware; the conceptual model, dealing with the software engineering aspects of the design; the interface model relating to the interface of the courseware, and the hypermedia modelling that deals with the navigational issues of the courseware. Each of the models will be briefly reviewed. The paper concludes by stating the benefits of using a modular approach to courseware development and reuse.

Relating GTE and Knowledge-based Courseware Engineering: Some Epistemological Issues

The GTE approach to create instruction, as described by Van Marcke, is related with courseware authoring. ITS-approaches such as GTE and conventional courseware authoring may seem diametrical approaches to the generation of instruction. Authoring, if carried out in a principled, systematic, and method-supported way has been called Courseware Engineering. In research on Courseware Engineering the two authors have attempted to extend Courseware Engineering into Knowledge-based Courseware Engineering. This approach to authoring has much in common with GTE. They concern the application of knowledge-based methods and techniques for the generation of instruction. There are basic differences in viewpoints though and an epistemological analysis is applied in order to make correspondences and differences with respect to shared problem issues visible. The analysis shows that from a technical point of view a symbiosis of both approaches might be feasible and worthwhile to attempt. Differences in vision on the role of the human in authoring remain though.

Automating I.D.: The impact of theoretical knowledge bases and referent systems

The Generic Tutoring Environment (GTE) described by Kris Van Marcke is an exceptional instance of strong automation in courseware engineering. Given the applied nature of instructional design, an appraisal of GTE implies at least an assessment of its theoretical knowledge base and its referent system. In this paper it is argued that GTE's theoretical knowledge base focuses on teaching as a good model for any kind of instruction. This orientation along with its elaboration reduces the generic nature of GTE. From a slightly different perspective, i.e. a deviating knowledge base and referent system, two instances of weak automation are described. They are far less powerful than GTE but perhaps also a little bit broader with respect to their knowledge base. To conclude, three basic issues are mentioned that require intensive research: the separation of content and method; the formal description of learning environments, and the existing gap between research on design and development. Given the current problems with automation it is argued that at this stage efforts to automate instructional design contribute more to theory than to practice.

Courseware Development And SoftwareEngineering

This paper examines aspects of the notion that courseware can be successfully engineered in the way that, we are told, software is engineered. Over the past twenty years software development has used the paradigm of engineering and the analogy with traditional engineering to give it focus and direction. Recently the engineering paradigm has been grafted onto the development of courseware. This paper looks at the validity of this approach and asks at what level should the comparison be made between software engineering and courseware engineering. In particular the paper considers the current use of some software engineering ideas to enhance the quality of courseware products and to manage and control their development. These are the areas where the engineering analogy is less useful. In software engineering terms, courseware engineering seems to lack clarity or consistency in defining its customers, and in defining the purpose, scope and boundary of its products, leading to problems in subsequent testing and evaluation. In managing the developmental process, courseware engineering often resorts to informal incremental prototyping. In software engineering terms, this lacks the visibility that would facilitate many aspects of management. The paper concludes by offering a courseware lifecycle development and deployment model that addresses these issues and maps well into current practice in modularised higher education and the needs of undergraduate computer science education.

Knowledge for courseware engineering: A framework for inductive knowledge acquisition based upon evaluation of adaptable courseware products

Authors or adaptors of courseware products preferably should receive support in the process of development and adaptation of courseware products. A predictive agent is defined as a system that is able to predict the expected effectiveness of various composable products from current product attributes. The described research addresses the questions of how to acquire the necessary knowledge for a predictive agent, how to organize this knowledge, and how to link it with methods and tools for courseware authoring and adaptation. We propose to use a methodology, derived from the field of machine learning, and present a framework for applying inductive knowledge acquisition based upon the empirical evaluation of adaptable courseware products.

Visual aspects of courseware engineering

Abstract This contribution focuses on visualisation of information in courseware and in courseware engineering. An overview of advantages and disadvantages of visualisation is given, considering psychological and instructional, cross‐cultural, and technical aspects of visualisation. Cross‐cultural aspects are especially significant because of their strong relation with issues of courseware portability. Finally, an exploration of possibilities to improve courseware and courseware engineering tools by applying visualisation is included, with some practical examples of visualisation derived from authoring systems.

Courseware Engineering Outlined: an Overview of Some Research Issues

SUMMARY Courseware engineering is described as a division of the discipline of educational technology. The development of this division stems from practical educational needs that can be itemized as practical goals. These goals could be served by the development and subsequent evaluation of specific approaches, methods, tools, and techniques. Such approaches, methods, tools, and techniques can to a fair degree become computer‐based and would come to form the regular instrumentation for the courseware engineer. In fact, such a de facto growth of the discipline of courseware engineering is taking place. Yet, the growth of courseware engineering as a discipline can not be based solely upon the availability of tools to support development work. The growth of courseware engineering as a scientific discipline can be depicted as a knowledge acquisition process, in which the aim for knowledge is identified, gathered, processed, and refined. The acquired knowledge is initially presumed to be of a rather practical ...

Computer-based training: an institutional approach

Conventional approaches to the provision of learning and training opportunities often leave much to be desired in terms of their suitability, their relevance and their cost-effectiveness. Of course, in the current financial climate, educational establishments are also being called upon to achieve much higher productivity with minimal increase in resources. In order to meet the increasing demands that are being placed upon conventional training and learning resources, many organizations are actively searching for new approaches to instruction. Because of the attractive facilities that they offer, computer-assisted learning ( cal) and computer-based training ( cbt) have now become important techniques for both knowledge dissemination and skill acquisition. Five important attributes of these approaches to pedagogy have contributed to their success: efficiency, effectiveness, adaptability, automated monitoring and the high degree of student motivation that can be achieved. For the reasons outlined above, many organizations are now setting up “institutional” cal or cbt centres. Their function is to provide courseware development services on a cross-organizational basis. This paper discusses some architectural blueprints for the creation of a successful courseware development centre. In this paper, we cover such topics as courseware engineering principles, authoring tools, media selection, workstation design, production strategies and the marketing of courseware products.

CAMCE: An Environment to Support Multimedia Courseware Projects

This paper presents the major results of a research done in the framework of the CAMCE (Computer‐Aided Multimedia Courseware Engineering) project funded within the DELTA (Developing European Learning through Technological Advance) European Community Programme. The project aims to design and prototype a distributed authoring environment supporting the multimedia courseware development process. The first project activity was the definition of a methodology describing in detail a systematic approach to multimedia courseware development. The methodology aim is to provide requirements for the functional specifications of the CAMCE authoring environment. Integration among data and tools is considered a major requirement. Representing data and tools as a network of (multi‐represented) objects, on which different views (environments) are defined, is the basic approach adopted in this project.

Evolution of courseware development methodology: Recent issues

To improve the quality of courseware products and the efficiency of the courseware development process, a methodology based upon “courseware engineering”, being a combination of instructional systems development and software engineering, has emerged over the last 10–15 years. Recently, software engineering aspects have gained extra attention. It is unclear to what extent a courseware engineering emphasis has contributed to an improvement of the quality of the courseware products or to the efficiency of the production process. However, continuing developments in hardware and software are opeing new perspectives for courseware engineering and connected research.