IT Courses Research Articles

MEASURING GLOBALIZATION: ANALYZING INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION (IOHE) THROUGH STEM EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

The concepts of 'internationalization' and 'globalization' are closely intertwined, impacting both tangible and intangible aspects of higher education. Internationalization refers to the internal transformations that occur within an educational setting as a result of frequent cross-border interactions within a local governmental system. Currently, developing countries like Pakistan are adapting and shaping their higher education systems in response to the global knowledge economy but neglecting the introduction of STEM education in the areas of social sciences like mathematics, statistics, entrepreneurship, IT, and other courses that are considered the need of time may leads to lack social scientist’s ability to estimate & forecasting and critically evaluate the situations as these deficiencies lead to reduce the cognitive skill of the workforce. This qualitative study employed Wallenstein’s World System analysis framework to examine student mobility and educational policy aspects in Pakistan critically. The findings suggest that the internationalization of higher education may lead to unequal exchange of educational services between core and peripheral countries in the global system.

MEASURING GLOBALIZATION: ANALYZING INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION (IOHE) THROUGH STEM EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

The concepts of 'internationalization' and 'globalization' are closely intertwined, impacting both tangible and intangible aspects of higher education. Internationalization refers to the internal transformations that occur within an educational setting as a result of frequent cross-border interactions within a local governmental system. Currently, developing countries like Pakistan are adapting and shaping their higher education systems in response to the global knowledge economy but neglecting the introduction of STEM education in the areas of social sciences like mathematics, statistics, entrepreneurship, IT, and other courses that are considered the need of time may leads to lack social scientist’s ability to estimate & forecasting and critically evaluate the situations as these deficiencies lead to reduce the cognitive skill of the workforce. This qualitative study employed Wallenstein’s World System analysis framework to examine student mobility and educational policy aspects in Pakistan critically. The findings suggest that the internationalization of higher education may lead to unequal exchange of educational services between core and peripheral countries in the global system.

Impact of IT and English Courses on Youth Unemployment in Bulungur District, Samarkand

This research looks into how IT and English language classes affect youth unemployment in Bulungur District, Samarkand, where rural unemployment rates have stayed consistently high. In spite of numerous government interventions, there remains a shortage of studies on the efficacy of skill-focused educational initiatives in rural Uzbekistan. Utilizing a combination of different methodologies, the research study examines secondary data from local employment reports and conducts a case study on Purpose Education, a prominent training center in the area. Research shows that the incorporation of IT and English classes led to a notable decrease in unemployment, as the employment rate for graduates rose from 43% in 2021 to 76% in 2022. The findings indicate that focused educational efforts can successfully tackle joblessness in rural regions, but additional synchronization with local economic demands and enhancements to infrastructure are required for long-term achievement. The research offers important knowledge for policy makers and schools looking to decrease rural unemployment with skill development initiatives.

Business Strategy Formulation for PT Silka Teguh Sejahtera (Sciencom) to Elevate its Revenue

PT Silka Teguh Sejahtera (Sciencom) is one of Indonesia’s IT and computer training providers. In the past several years, the company faces limited revenue growth despite its strong reputation and high-quality training services as well as promising market potential for IT and computer training provider. This happens because Sciencom main target customer base is government institutions which have faced budget reductions for education and training. This study aims to formulate a business strategy for Sciencom to enhance its revenue by identifying the factors influencing the limited growth of the company’s revenue. The primary data is gathered from qualitative method in which the author conducted interviews with Sciencom’s employees and customers representatives in order to analyze the internal and external factors to the business issue. To support the finding, the author uses secondary data collected from company’s reports, journals, books, and websites. Through thorough internal and external analysis, the author was able to propose a new Segmentation, Targeting, and Positiong (STP) and Marketing Mix 7Ps to develop Sciencom’s business strategy using the Ansoff Matrix Growth Strategy that the company can utilize in order to elevate its revenue amidst a competitive market. The proposed strategy include expanding the target customer base to state-owned enterprises and fresh graduates, integrating a Leaning Management System (LMS) for online training, offering ERP solutions, partnering with universities for Swakelola Type 2 projects, forming a digital marketing and human resources departments, and regularly updating IT courses, certification, and promotional package offerings.

Characteristics of students’ learning behavior preferences — an analysis of self-commentary data based on the LDA model

How to better grasp students’ learning preferences in the environment of rapid development of engineering and science and technology so as to guide them to high-quality learning is one of the important research topics in the field of educational technology research today. In order to achieve this goal, this paper utilizes the LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) model for text mining of the survey results on the basis of a survey on students’ self-perception evaluation. The results show that the LDA model is capable of extracting terms from text, fuzzy identifying groups of students at different levels and presenting potential logical relationships between the groups, and further analyzing the learning preferences of students at different levels for IT courses. Based on the student’s learning needs, this paper proposes recommendations for developing students’ learning effectiveness. The LDA method proposed in this paper is a feasible and effective method for assessing students’ learning dynamics as it generates cognitive content about students’ learning and allows for the timely discovery of students’ learning expectations and cutting-edge dynamics.

Student Perception of Teaching and Learning Based on M-Learning Regarding Student Interest and Motivation in the Sub-Topic of Encryption

This study aims to survey students' perceptions of application-based teaching and learning in the subtopic of Encryption for the DFT 20083 Security Basic and IT Professional course. This study was conducted on 50 Diploma in Information Technology (Digital Technology) students at Seberang Perai Polytechnic. The sampling technique used is the stratified cluster random sampling technique. The instrument used in this study is a questionnaire that uses a Likert scale. The results of the pilot study show that the instrument used has a very high reliability value of 0.952. The study data were analyzed to obtain the mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage. Descriptive analysis of the perception of students' interest and motivation towards teaching and learning based on m-learning in the Basic Security and Professional IT course is at a high level with a mean value of 3.60 for interest and 3.53 for motivation. This finding shows that teaching and learning based on m-learning in the Encryption sub-topic for the DFT 20083 Security Basic and IT Professional course has a positive impact on students. In conclusion, learning based on m-learning revealed to students can create a fun atmosphere in learning DFT 20083 Security Basic and IT Professional courses and can improve learning skills among students.

How IT Course Improves Digital Competencies: An Experimental Study in Science Education

The increasing importance of technology in society has led to a growing demand for individuals to possess digital competencies. In today's world, digital skills are becoming increasingly essential for both personal and professional development. Governments have recognized the importance of digital competencies and have included them as part of basic competencies in many countries. Pre-service teachers play a crucial role in shaping future generations, and it is vital that they possess strong digital competencies. This study focuses on the impact of an "Information Technologies in Science Education" course on the digital competency development of pre-service teachers. The study employed a one-group, pre-test post-test experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of the course on improving the digital literacy skills of pre-service teachers. The results of the study indicated a significant positive impact of the IT course structured for the science field on the digital competency development of pre-service teachers. The post-test mean scores indicated a high level of digital competency among the study group. The study also highlights the lack of experimental studies in this area, emphasizing the importance of further research in this field. The findings of this study have implications for both teacher education and the incorporation of digital technologies in science education. Based on the study results, it is recommended that teacher education programs provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to improve their digital competencies through courses and training programs. Additionally, it is essential to integrate digital technologies into science education to equip students with the necessary skills to thrive in a digital world.

Exploring the impact of design thinking in information technology education: An empirical investigation

In the context of digital transformation, educators are seeking ways to guide students to become innovative technology designers. However, students often lack innovative problem-solving skills when working with IT, and so new pedagogies are needed to improve IT-related curricula. Design thinking (DT), as a methodology, may offer the potential to meet this need. The present study developed a DT-based framework for the design of IT learning projects. A quasi-experiment was conducted in a junior middle school, employing both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods to explore the impact of DT on learning outcomes and mechanisms that explain the observed changes in student performance. The findings demonstrate that DT promotes creativity in students’ digital works, especially their value, diversity, and originality. DT also enhances students’ awareness of using IT to address daily challenges and facilitates their basic information knowledge and skills. Regarding the mechanisms, the DT process and tools serve as learning scaffolds and facilitate the creativity of digital work. The Ideate of DT generates ideas on what to do and how to do it. Empathize and Define establish a link between digital work and real-life problems. Prototype and Test help students acquire basic information knowledge and skills. This study not only examines the impact of DT on IT education but also explores the mechanisms to explain the observed changes in learning performance. The findings can serve as a guide for educators and researchers to further optimize the teaching of IT courses and nurture innovative talents required in the new era.

Exploring High School IT Course Teaching Resources in the Context of Educational Digital Transformation

The Chinese Ministry of Education initiated the implementation of the “National Education Digitalization Strategy Action” in 2022. The digital transformation of education has become a significant strategy in China’s educational reform and development in the new era, which is of great significance for the construction of high school information technology course teaching resources. This paper first introduces the concept and current situation of digital transformation and discusses the classification and existing issues of current high school information technology teaching resources. Next, it analyzes the future development direction and focus of high school information technology course teaching resources, including the development and utilization of digital educational resources, the construction and application of virtual laboratories, the development of personalized educational resources, the optimization and popularization of online education platforms, and the promotion of educational resource sharing and open education. Finally, this paper proposes development strategies and measures for high school information technology teaching resource construction, including strengthening the construction of educational informatization infrastructure, actively exploring the development and application of personalized educational resources, promoting educational resource sharing, and strengthening educational teaching management.

Technology-enhanced or Technology-exhausted Learning in Adult Migrant Literacy Education in Finland: Exploring Teachers’ Experiences and Views in Pre-pandemic and Pandemic Times

This exploratory mixed data study investigated the role of technology in adult migrant language and late literacy education in Finland. In addition to an online pre-pandemic survey targeted at Finnish language and literacy teachers, four in-service teachers were interviewed during the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020. With means of qualitative content analysis an account of teachers’ individual experiences and views of technology-equipped language and literacy learning was generated. Problematic issues were the use of devices for educational purposes, lacking user experience, inadequate provision of suitable devices, IT courses, and insufficient support for learners and teachers, causing inequality. Teachers reported of various ways to ensure and enable device access and learning opportunities, resulting particularly during pandemic times in high workloads. The emergency remote teaching circumstances during this global health crisis posed an enormous additional challenge for teachers and students. Findings raise questions about the pedagogical cost of the pandemic for adult migrant literacy education in Finland and call for discussions on post-pandemic changes on a national and international level.

THE ACCEPTANCE OF AN EDUCATIONAL INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT TO LEARN PROGRAMMING FUNDAMENTALS

Programming is an important course for any IT or engineering-related course. However, previous research shows that students face difficulties in learning programming due to its abstract concepts. This study aims to evaluate the acceptance of a developed Integrated Development Environment (IDE), namely C-SOLVIS which is a web-based application that specifically intends to facilitate the teaching and learning of the C programming fundamentals in Malaysian tertiary education. The C-SOLVIS integrates problem-solving into a program development environment for the C language. The goal is to guide the users in problem-solving and help them write C programs based on problem-solving algorithms. The Rapid Application Development (RAD) Model was employed in the C-SOLVIS development process. Based on this model, the requirement planning phase was carried out through the triangulation technique by applying qualitative approaches comprising a literature review supported by semi-structured interviews, document reviews, and content validation by expert programming lecturers. Subsequently, the design of the application was accomplished through the iterative prototyping process which was then followed by the application construction. Then, the C-SOLVIS is deployed to be used by several programming lecturers to evaluate its usability by adopting a quantitative method using the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire. The study has discovered several suitable techniques and designs for the problem-solving and program development environment. For the problem-solving environment, the Computational Thinking (CT) concepts were applied which were supported by the Input-Process-Output (IPO) Model through Scientific Instructions and Inquiries. Meanwhile, the program development environment was designed and developed based on frame-based programming using a set of developed Code Patterns. The C-SOLVIS evaluation using the SUS instrument has yielded a SUS mean score of 86.07. This score is interpreted by SUS as an A grade that indicates C-SOLVIS as a highly usable application and thus is accepted for C programming learning. Hence, the development process of the C-SOLVIS can be used as a guideline for educational software development, especially in the field of programming education.

An Educational Information System to Follow Up on the Perceived IT Skills of Pre-Service Teachers, Global Distributions, Year 1

This article presents the preliminary results of a research project aiming at following up on the perceived IT skills of pre-service teachers of the faculty of pedagogy of Dalat University in Vietnam. It focuses on the description of the global distributions according to 8 main criteria (gender, program, progression in the program, use of computers at home, IT courses followed before and during their higher studies, perceived basic IT skills, perceived advanced IT skills, and the communication means used with teachers and fellows). These distributions helped in making comparisons between 273 participants of the newly opened primary program and 109 participants of the secondary programs operating for many years. These results provide an image of the situation at a given time, i.e., the fall session of 2021. The annual renewal of this type of survey will make it possible to describe its evolution over time.

Design and Application of Personalized Teaching Model Based on Learning Styles and BOPPPS

Personalized teaching is the future development trend, and learners have their own characteristics and talents, so teaching that meets the characteristics of learners can give full play to the “learner-centered” teaching concept. Although the research on learning styles has confirmed that it is not correlated with teaching interaction, the value of learning styles has not been fully explored, and there are still few studies on effectiveness. According to Kolb’s experience and learning theory, this paper analyzes the personality characteristics of learners with each learning style. Based on the characteristics of learners with various learning styles, the teaching model of four different learning styles was designed in combination with the BOPPPS teaching model to realize personalized teaching. According to the designed teaching mode, the corresponding teaching mode is applied to the high school IT course “Processing and Handling of Picture Information” as an example, which fully reflects the application of personalized teaching in the secondary school classroom.

Optimisation of IT teaching materials for students of humanities and social sciences

The demands of the 21st century mean that without digital competence and basic IT skills we cannot thrive in society. This is particularly true for students leaving higher education. Today, it is not only students in engineering and science who need to acquire ICT and IT skills. Although the latest version of the National Curriculum sets the development of digital competences as a task, the previous curriculum did not require students leaving public education to have these competences. For this reason, it is particularly important in higher education in the humanities and social sciences to develop digital competences in addition to IT skills. The paper presents the history of the introduction of IT and computing in higher education, and the process of how these subjects have been replaced in the humanities as well as in technical higher education because of the Bologna process. In addition, it presents the elements of the implementation of an IT course in an LMS system. It presents good practices and tools to increase not only students' knowledge but also their motivation, digital competences and interest in IT content.

Investigating the digital skills of undergraduate students in terms of various variables

It is argued that, young people growing up surrounded by digital technologies intuitively acquire digital skills and therefore do not need digital education or training. For this reason, with the belief that students already have digital skills, digital literacy education courses are reduced or removed in educational institutions. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of development of digital skills in the education. The purpose of this research is to examine the digital skills of students in terms of various variables. This research was conducted as a survey research. The participant group of the research consists of 423 undergraduate students who have just started to study at a university. According to the results of the research, the digital skill levels of the students who attend the IT courses are significantly higher than the students who do not. Digital skills were significantly higher for the male students than for the female students. In addition, the digital skills of the students who took the IT courses from the teacher trained in teaching digital skills were significantly higher than the students who took the course from teachers from other professions.

Colors and Learner’s Gender Evoke Different Emotional and Cognitive Effects in Multimedia Learning

The emotional design principle avers that highly saturated warm colors in multimedia learning presentations can elevate affective-motivational, cognitive, and learning outcomes. While warm and achromatic grayscale color tones have been explored extensively, relatively less research examines the effects of cold colors in multimedia learning. This study explores how color tones (warm, cold, and achromatic grayscale) and learners’ gender influence positive emotions, intrinsic motivation, cognitive load, and transfer performance. An online experiment was conducted where learners pursuing IT courses in an Asian university (n=204) engaged with either one of the multimedia learning lessons on distributed denial-of-service attack imbued with (1) a warm color tone, (2) a cold color tone, and (3) an achromatic grayscale color tone. Findings show that the cold color tone was associated with fewer enhanced positive emotion types than the other color tones. Compared to the achromatic grayscale color tone (M=2.38,SD=1.88), significantly higher extraneous cognitive load ratings were observed with the warm color tone (M=3.26,SD=1.96) and the cold color tone (M=3.24,SD=2.18). Following reports by some learners, this could be attributed to the overly vivid and saturated chromatic colors impairing the learners’ visual and cognitive processes, causing them to rate the multimedia learning experience with warm and cold color tones as more difficult than with the achromatic grayscale color tone. Male learners in the warm color tone condition (M=4.93,SD=3.46) performed marginally better on the transfer posttest than male learners in the cold color tone condition (M=3.49,SD=3.45) and male learners in the achromatic grayscale color tone condition (M=3.44,SD=2.69). In contrast, female learners in the warm color tone condition (M=1.75,SD=1.62) performed marginally worse than female learners in the cold color tone condition (M=3.83,SD=3.92) and significantly worse than female learners in the achromatic grayscale color tone condition (M=3.67,SD=2.50). Overall, these results show that gender can shape the effects of warm colors on learning—the warm color tone can enhance male learners’ but stifle female learners’ transfer performance. Moreover, this study aligns with recent studies that colors as an emotional design feature may lead to higher cognitive load ratings. This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications and submits a future outlook for broadening the research domain.

A neuro-fuzzy model for predicting and analyzing student graduation performance in computing programs

Predicting student’s successful completion of academic programs and the features that influence their performance can have a significant effect on improving students’ completion, and graduation rates and reduce attrition rates. Therefore, identifying students are at risk, and the courses where improvements in content, delivery mode, pedagogy, and assessment activities can improve students’ learning experience and completion rates. In this work, we have developed a prediction and explanatory model using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) methodology to predict the grade point average (GPA), at graduation time, of students enrolled in the information technology program at Ajman University. The approach adopted uses students’ grades in introductory and fundamental IT courses and high school grade point average (HSGPA) as predictors. Sensitivity analysis was performed on the model to quantify the relative significance of each predictor in explaining variations in graduation GPA. Our findings indicate HSGPA is the most influential factor in predicting graduation GPA, with data structures, operating systems, and software engineering coming closely in second place. On the explanatory side, we have found that discrete mathematics was the most influential course causing variations in graduation GPA, followed by software engineering, information security, and HSGPA. When we ran the model on the testing data, 77% of the predicted values fell within one root mean square error (0.29) of the actual GPA, which has a maximum of four. We have also shown that the ANFIS approach has better predictive accuracy than commonly used techniques such as multilinear regression. We recommend that IT programs at other institutions conduct comparable studies and shed some light on our findings.

An updated edition of the Federal State Educational Standard of the IEO and its impact on the development of the IT course in primary school

An updated edition of the Federal State Educational Standard of the IEO and its impact on the development of the IT course in primary school

Relacional: Easing the Crisis Effects in the Education Sector

ABSTRACT This teaching case addresses the need for change in Relacional’s business strategy, driven by the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Brazilian educational sector in the first half of 2020. The startup is a software warehouse whose systems seek to solve specific problems of educational institutions, from basic to higher level, such as relationship, attraction, and retention of students. In the midst of a scenario of probable crisis in the sector, the partners seek business alternatives to assist educational institutions while wanting to ensure the growth and continuity of the company itself. Applicable in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and IT courses in undergraduate and graduate Business Management programs, this case addresses concepts of Information Economy, models of offer and pricing of software.

Relacional: Easing the Crisis Effects in the Education Sector

ABSTRACT This teaching case addresses the need for change in Relacional’s business strategy, driven by the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Brazilian educational sector in the first half of 2020. The startup is a software warehouse whose systems seek to solve specific problems of educational institutions, from basic to higher level, such as relationship, attraction, and retention of students. In the midst of a scenario of probable crisis in the sector, the partners seek business alternatives to assist educational institutions while wanting to ensure the growth and continuity of the company itself. Applicable in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and IT courses in undergraduate and graduate Business Management programs, this case addresses concepts of Information Economy, models of offer and pricing of software.