Better methods for teaching computer science are needed. While no clear winner emerges in studies on the effectiveness of teaching media, the use of several media can be mutually reinforcing. Methods available to computer science teachers include lecturing, giving projector demonstrations, conducting hands-on sessions, monitoring independent study, and making a teaching machine available for group or individual use.A main strength of the teaching machine is its furnishing immediate feedback as students answer its quizzes. Teaching machines can assist in the major components of instruction: presenting information, guiding students, providing practice, and assessing student learning. They may take the form of tutorials, drills, simulations, or games. Good tutorials include directions, presentation frames, quizzes, assessment of student responses (with hints following mistakes), and facility to branch to different parts of the machine. A teaching machine's usefulness may be validated by comparing pre-test and post-test scores, by tracking student performance, and by field observation. Machines may be used solo or as a supplement and used with a whole class or as a means for bright students to forge ahead or slow students to catch up. / Department of Computer Science

The thesis is focused on feasibility study, which respect subsidy policy Operational Programme ICT and shared services for obtain grant from EU funds. Introduces part of the thesis contains desciption of parts the feasibility study and supporting a grant from Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovations for Competitiveness intended mainly for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The study examined doctoral students‟ perceptions of the doctoral support and services offered by Mississippi State University (MSU). The research design used was descriptive, non-experimental design. Validity of the online survey instrument was established by a panel of experts. Internal consistency and reliability was determined using factor analysis, Cronbach‟s alpha, and test/retest reliability which revealed that the instrument was consistent and reliable. Participants included 172 doctoral students in the seven colleges which offer doctoral programs and 172 doctoral alumni who had graduated within the last 5 years. Data was collected in fall 2009. Responding participants equaled 142 (41% return rate). The results of this study revealed that both current and alumni doctoral students had a moderately positive perception of the doctoral support and services offered by Mississippi State University. The doctoral program of study was considered to be effective and suitable; support and services were considered sufficient and appropriate; doctoral supervision was considered to be sufficient and appropriate by participants. The study showed that doctoral student‟s utilization of external sources of support and services was low, but was perceived as beneficial. The financial support provided was adequate to complete their degrees. Doctoral students funded their degrees primarily through employment. Participants considered that the perceived benefits of obtaining a doctoral degree outweighed the financial cost of its completion. Multiple regression analyses revealed that predictor variables of academic status, race, and college had significant effects on doctoral student‟s perceptions. Alumni had a significantly higher perception of the doctoral support and services than current doctoral students. Speculation as to possible causes of the difference included the psychological phenomenon of memory bias. In addition, Black/African American doctoral students provided a significantly less positive endorsement of doctoral supervision than their white counterparts. Furthermore, doctoral students from the College of Education provided a significantly less positive endorsement of doctoral support and services. This sentiment was supported by the narrative responses. Avenues of future research and recommendation for the university are discussed and presented.The study showed that doctoral student‟s utilization of external sources of support and services was low, but was perceived as beneficial. The financial support provided was adequate to complete their degrees. Doctoral students funded their degrees primarily through employment. Participants considered that the perceived benefits of obtaining a doctoral degree outweighed the financial cost of its completion. Multiple regression analyses revealed that predictor variables of academic status, race, and college had significant effects on doctoral student‟s perceptions. Alumni had a significantly higher perception of the doctoral support and services than current doctoral students. Speculation as to possible causes of the difference included the psychological phenomenon of memory bias. In addition, Black/African American doctoral students provided a significantly less positive endorsement of doctoral supervision than their white counterparts. Furthermore, doctoral students from the College of Education provided a significantly less positive endorsement of doctoral support and services. This sentiment was supported by the narrative responses. Avenues of future research and recommendation for the university are discussed and presented.

As youth with disabilities age and transition to adulthood, they will often need to learn how to manage their healthcare. Siblings are members of the family who can provide support to their sibling with a disability, but their roles during transition have not been well described in the literature. Typically developing (TD) siblings identified that they require information and resources in their roles. The overall objectives of the research studies in this doctoral dissertation are: 1) to synthesize existing resources and programs to support TD siblings of individuals with a disability; and 2) to develop a deeper understanding about the experiences of TD siblings. The findings from these studies are summarized in six scholarly manuscripts prepared for peer review and publication. All studies were conducted in partnership with siblings with lived experiences. Results from the review and qualitative document analysis of online resources to support TD siblings (Chapter 2) identified that limited resources are available to support TD siblings with healthcare management of their sibling with a disability. The scoping review (with the protocol described in Chapter 3 and results presented in Chapter 4) identified that programs for TD siblings are focused on knowledge development and skill acquisition for the TD siblings themselves or on empowerment by training TD siblings in skills that they can apply with their sibling with a disability. In addition to synthesizing existing knowledge, the qualitative study provided an in-depth understanding of the experiences of TD siblings (with the protocol described in Chapter 5) in two distinct areas: their roles and responsibilities (Chapter 6) and the influence of their sibling and family relationships on their identity formation during developmental stages (Chapter 7). Overall findings from this dissertation suggest areas for future directions, including knowledge transfer to share synthesized resources with target audiences, co-creation of resources to support siblings in their roles, and enhancement of programs to involve siblings and the whole family. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / As youth with a disability transition to adulthood, many will assume greater responsibility for their own health management, activities often supported by family members, including siblings. Little information is available about the roles that siblings have to their sibling with a disability in this process. Siblings have mentioned that they need information and resources for their roles. The purpose of this work is to summarize resources and programs in Canada and internationally for siblings, as well as better understand the experiences of siblings of an individual with a disability. The information from this work can be helpful by sharing the summary of resources with siblings and families, create new resources to support siblings of an individual with a disability, and build on programs that allow for siblings and the whole family to participate.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The thesis describes a Universal meta cross assembler and an emulator for the Intel 8086 microprocessor. The utility is designed to be used as an instructional tool to teach assembly language programming to students. One implementation is available to allow students to run Intel 8086 programs on the university's vax mainframe, so that students can test their programs at their convenience. This setup also results in low operating costs with no additional equipment requirements. Several options are provided in the emulator to debug the 8086 assembly language programs composed by students. The assembler, besides generating Intel 8086 machine code, has the capability to generate machine code for a number of microprocessors or microcontrollers. The machine code file generated by the assembler is the input to the emulator. Both the assembler and the emulator are completely portable and can be recompiled to run on any system with a standard C compiler.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe how novice students solved computer programming problems in a beginning college level computer science (CS) course with an introduction to object-oriented programming (OOP) and what knowledge they obtained about OOP and computer problem solving (CPS) as a result of their experiences. Additionally, this descriptive study attempted to characterize the instruction provided to students in a beginning CS course as well as students' CPS strategies. An introduction to computer science class at the college level was selected for the sample. One experienced instructor and four students participated in this study. Data were collected through classroom observations, interviews with the instructor and students, classroom documents and researcher's journals. The analysis of the results revealed a teacher-centered instruction focused on syntactical details with an emphasis on the imperative paradigm and an introduction to object-oriented aspects of the C++ language. Results revealed that to develop the solution code for the given problems, students consistently approached them without a comprehensive written plan/design. The process students typically used in developing a solution for the given computer problem involved: (1) problem understanding, (2) preliminary problem analysis, (3) reliance on examples and (4) trial-and-error. Students typically approached debugging syntax and logic errors by (1) following the compiler generated messages, (2) using trial-and-error, (3) performing a desk-check strategy and (4) using the VISUAL C++ debugger. This study identified the features of CPS and OOP learning that can be studied for identifying how students approach CPS and OOP processes in other object-oriented languages (such as JAVA) and how their CPS and OOP processes develop as compared to C++. Differences in programming performances were found among males and females. Males in this study were more comfortable with the mechanical-orientation of programming as compared with their female counterparts. Future research is needed in CPS and OOP to explore gender issues in learning OOP languages. This study identified potential student CPS and OOP learning processes and factors using a qualitative approach. Future research should investigate the factors effecting introductory CS problem solving using a quantitative methodology or perhaps a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. / Graduation date: 2003

The thesis deals with evaluation of finances drawing in operational programmes, especially in regional ones, and provides also description of project documentation that is needed to get a subsidy from regional operational programme. The diploma paper comprises basic data about regional policy of the European Union and about implementation of this policy in the Czech Republic. The thesis carries on with the system of operational programmes in the Czech Republic, gives insight into regional operational programmes and analyses the state of finances drawing. Last part focuses on project preparing for getting a subsidy from structural funds, especially on feasibility study and project application.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education