Current research suggests that by actively involving students, you can increase pedagogical value of algorithm visualizations. We believe that a pedagogically successful visualization, besides actively engaging participants, also requires certain other key features. We compared several existing algorithm visualizations for the purpose of identifying features that we believe increase the pedagogical value of an algorithm visualization. To identify the most important features from this list, we conducted two experiments using a variety of the heapsort algorithm visualizations. The results of these experiments indicate that the single most important feature is the ability to control the pace of the visualization. Providing a good data set that covers all the special cases is important to help students comprehend an unfamiliar algorithm. An algorithm visualization having minimum features that focuses on the logical steps of an algorithm is sufficient for procedural understanding of the algorithm. To have better conceptual understanding, additional features (like an activity guide that makes students cover the algorithm in detail and analyze what they are doing, and pseudocode display of an algorithm) may prove to be helpful, but that is a much harder effect to detect. / Master of Science

This Master's Thesis deals with the evaluation of e-learning in a banking institution operating in the Czech market. The introduction of e-learning in a banking institution managed to reduce the educational costs. However, the pedagogical effectiveness has not been investigated yet. The aim of this Master's Thesis was to determine whether employees of a banking institution perceive e-learning as an effective method of training and determinate on the basis of their acquired knowledge whether e-learning is an effective method of knowledge transfer. The e-learning effectiveness was investigated using a combination of subjective (questionnaire) and objective (testing) methods of evaluation on 118 employees. The study indicated that employees consider e-learning as an effective learning method and that they acquired a high level of knowledge. However the questionnaire and testing revealed several weaknesses of the current e-learning system, primarily the lack of time for training through e-learning courses and employees cheating during the e-learning course completion. The solution to the mentioned weaknesses could be, shortening, e-learning courses, plus adding a final test (at the end of e-learning courses that currently do not have one), limiting the number of their repetition and ensuring their higher difficulty levels.