Undergraduate Computer Engineering Students Research Articles

Effects of a Multimedia-Enhanced GE Course on Undergraduate Computer Engineering Students’ Development of Reading Skills and Growth Mindset

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contribution:</i> Research shows that nontechnical subjects like the English language have been neglected in computer science/engineering (CS/CE) education research. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a technology-enhanced general english (GE) course that exposed CE students to multimodal input during the prereading phase to develop their reading skills and growth mindset. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Background:</i> A wide range of technological affordances have been utilized and researched in teaching CE technical courses, however, English as an invaluable asset in CE students’ academic and professional success is given lower priority. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Research Questions:</i> Do multimedia-enhanced prereading activities have a significant impact on CE students’ development of reading skills and growth mindset? What are CE students’ perceptions of multimedia-enhanced reading instruction? <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Methodology:</i> The study compares the effects of incorporating multimedia in the prereading phase of a GE course with a conventional methodology. 137 undergraduate CE students participated in the study. Reading skills and growth mindset were assessed before and after the intervention. Qualitative data were obtained through structured interviews with 18 students of the experimental groups. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Findings:</i> Significant improvements in two reading skills, i.e., skimming and scanning were observed after the experiment. The effect size of the intervention was large for skimming, indicating that multimedia videos made understanding the gist of meaning easier for CE students. This finding was verified by the qualitative data as well. Also, the experiment had a significant impact on developing CE students’ growth mindset, letting them vision their intelligence and talent as being fluid and malleable and, thus, changeable by effort and hard work.

Conceptual Modeling for Computer Organization and Architecture

Understanding computer system hardware, including how computers operate, is essential for undergraduate students in computer engineering and science. Literature shows students learning computer organization and assembly language often find fundamental concepts difficult to comprehend within the topic materials. Tools have been introduced to improve students comprehension of the interaction between computer architecture, assembly language, and the operating system. One such tool is the Little Man Computer (LMC) model that operates in a way similar to a computer but that is easier to understand. Even though LMC does not have modern CPUs with multiple cores nor executes multiple instructions, it nevertheless shows the basic principles of the von Neumann architecture. LMC aims to introduce students to such concepts as code and instruction sets. In this paper, LMC is used for an additional purpose: a tool with which to experiment using a new modeling language (i.e., a thinging machine; TM) in the area of computer organization and architecture without involving complexity in the subject. That is, the simplicity of LMC facilitates the application of TM without going deep into computer organization/architecture materials. Accordingly, the paper (a) provides a new way for using the LMC model for whatever purpose (e.g., education) and (b) demonstrates that TM can be used to build an abstract level of description in the organization/architect field. The resultant schematics from the TM model of LMC offer an initial case study that supports our thesis that TM is a viable method for hardware/software-independent descriptions in the computer organization and architect field of study.

Introduction to Programming Using Mobile Phones and MIT App Inventor

At the beginning of each year, we ask our new undergraduate students in Computer Engineering if they have ever developed a computer program. Surprisingly, the most frequent answer is no. The few students who have attended a Computer Science training module usually have some basic programming notions; however, most of our students coming straight from high school have never programmed. This lack of basic programming skills represents a major drawback when taking programming-related courses. This is especially true for the course on Computer Organization, taught during the first semester of the first year, as one of its main objectives is to explain the processor architecture, and therefore a great part of it revolves around programming in assembly language. To tackle this lack of basic programming skills, a workshop on mobile application programming using MIT App Inventor is offered to freshmen. This workshop is highly welcomed and positively received by the students, and we believe that it has contributed to improving their performance on courses related to programming and, in particular, on the Computer Organization course.

Prevalence and associated factors of computer vision syndrome among the computer engineering students of Pokhara University affiliated colleges of Kathmandu valley

Background: The increasing use of computers and electronic devices is rapidly increasing the related health issues of computer vision syndrome. Studies have identified longer use of computers, ergonomic practices as lighting condition of room, incorrect distance between eye and computer, refresh rate, use of spectacles were associated with computer vision syndrome (CVS) symptoms as back pain, tension, headache and others. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of CVS among computer engineering students of Pokhara University affiliated colleges of Kathmandu Valley and identify the associated factors and preventive measures being practiced by the students.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out using self-administered questionnaire among 234 undergraduate computer engineering students of Kathmandu Valley. Chi-square test was used to identify the association with computer vision syndrome and its determinants.Results: The prevalence of computer vision syndrome among the computer engineering students was found to be 76.50%. Only 39.3% were found to be using computer in upright with straight back posture and 73.5% were using computer at distance less than or equal to 50 cm. The 81.2% of participants were not following the 20/20/20 rule. During age, use of vision aid lens and use of protective eye glasses and artificial eye drops were found associated with CVS.Conclusions:The study revealed that the prevalence of computer vision syndrome was significantly high. Individuals using vision aid lens were found to be at risk of developing CVS and use of protective eye glass and artificial tears were found protective.

Integration of CompTIA Cloud+ into Universiti Teknologi MARA’s Computer Engineering Special Topics Syllabus

Cloud computing is one of the frontier technologies in computer engineering. Therefore, it is important to prepare the students with the knowledge and skills required in this field. This paper describes the integration of the renowned CompTIA Cloud+ professional training course into the ECE648: Special Topics in Computer Networking subject. The subject is a final year elective for the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia undergraduate computer engineering students. We first begin by assessing the current teaching syllabus of a variety of international universities to establish fundamental topics that should be covered in a cloud computing course. We then proceed to describe our implementation, which is done in accordance with the CompTIA Cloud+ certification syllabus. Among the items described are how the Cloud+ course contents are adjusted to be more suitable for the course, as well as additional practical elements (not originally available in the Cloud+ course) added to the course syllabus. Implementation results are described.

The Effect of Grammatical Collocation Instruction on Understanding ESP Texts for Undergraduate Computer Engineering Students

The researcher administered a Comprehensive English Language Test (CELT) to 80 learners and then according to their grades limited them to 60.The subjects were divided into two homogenous groups (30 subjects in control group and 30 subjects in experimental). Then a pretest was administered to both groups. The subjects who played the role of the control group kept pace with the teacher who taught the book named “English for Computer Science”. It should be noted that this group were taught the mentioned book without instructing grammatical collocations (just through a curriculum book). The experimental group was taught the same book through instructing grammatical collocations. Both groups had instruction for sixty- minute periods for ten sessions. To be sure of the effect of the treatment, the researcher tested both groups by using a posttest. The scores on the result of pre and posttest showed the efficiency of the two methods. Finally, a T-test was conducted to examine the differences of the mean test scores of the two groups. The results of the pre and posttest showed a t-value greater than the t-critical. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected and we came to this conclusion that grammatical collocation instruction had significant effect on understanding ESP texts for undergraduate computer engineering students.

Knowledge Management Integrated Web based Course Tutoring System

In this study, model and evaluation of WebCoach which works as new approach for LCMS is going to be presented. It is a web based tutoring system which uses knowledge management techniques to convert the tacit knowledge of experienced lecturers and experts into explicit knowledge. The instructional contents, quizzes and assessments, glossary of terms for information security course were prepared, compiled and organized by this tutoring system. They can be used and reused as learning objects to support learning. A comparison of WebCoach and other LCMS is given. A conceptual extension model is also presented with contributions such as PLE as a Learning object and Cloud Computing integration. It has been applied at Istanbul Commerce University within the information security course. Course grades and student questionnaires for two groups of undergraduate computer engineering students were analyzed in the scope of this study. The control group did not have access to WebCoach, while the same course was taught via WebCoach in the experimental group. The teaching methodology of the control group was based on classical narrative model. It was observed that the students using WebCoach have achieved better results in quantitative test when compared to the control group students. Moreover, 86% of the students’ opinions were satisfied with the WebCoach system.

Implementing a Personal Software Process (PSPSM) Course: A Case Study

In order to remain competitive in software industry, software engineers need to continuously improve their proficiency. Personal Software Process (PSPSM) provides a strong concept which helps software engineers inspecting and improving themselves. Yet, when being applied on an undergraduate computer engineering course, several complex mathematical calculations from PSP official exercises could encumber the performance of students who do not possess adequate mathematics background. This paper reports a result of implementing PSP course for undergraduate computer engineering students in Chiang Mai University, Thailand.

Digital reading strategies in computer English

This paper focuses on the use of web-based discourse by three Spanish undergraduate students in Computer Engineering. Key lexico-grammatical features in Computer English have been analysed by means of corpus linguistics techniques, for which word statistics and collocation functions in the WordSmith concordancer have been highly useful. The information was then used to compare the students' results. The students' reading skills have been evaluated in the documentation process of the three final projects, required prior to their graduation as engineers. Overall observations point to code-switching, re-wording, and key vocabulary identification as strategies that the students demonstrate to be able to operate with significantly after on-line reading. The students also rely more on Internet discourse as a main source of feedback for their projects and useful tool for work. Two of the projects have dealt with the design and use of interactive platforms for language learning (via two different approaches), while the third project has focused on the management of e-learning with the use of Squeak, a special language for programming. The assessment of the three students' reading / interpretation skills has taken place by means of written tasks and personal interviews.

Promoting productivity in manufacturing companies in developing countries: An information system for managing and querying knowledge bases in the automotive industry in Mexico

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that a low-budget information system using knowledge bases can be developed and adopted in a manufacturing firm to improve the productivity of the organization. The automotive industry uses complex software systems to perform product engineering at all stages of the production process, from conceptual design to manufacture. For each of these stages, different software tools of great complexity are employed, and the people using these tools need constant support in order to continue being productive even when problems arise with the software they are using. Given the amount and variety of queries made by product engineering personnel to the software support staff, said staff can benefit from a software tool that stores their expertise for reuse and can be queried in order to generate quick solutions to problems with product engineering software. In this article, we describe an information system that uses these ideas related to case-based reasoning in order to flexibly and efficiently reply when problem situations are encountered by the product engineering staff of a major automobile manufacturer. This setup can relieve some of the burden placed on the software support staff and reduce their response time. The information system resulted from a collaboration between a large multinational company and our university, specifically its undergraduate computer engineering students, benefitting all parties involved in the project and helping in the development of our country, Mexico. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.