Informatics in Education

The role of mobile technology has significantly increased and been emphasized in English education. However, research investigating EFL teachers' attitudes and behaviors related to mobile technology has been limited in descriptive aspects of the technology, leading to misunderstandings about EFL teachers' needs. Furthermore, many prior studies have examined various aspects of electronic learning (e-learning) and technological developments of mobile learning (m-learning) in English education from the learners' perspective. Therefore, this study proposed a research model that empirically examines behaviors of EFL teacher's' m-learning acceptance by using Fred Davis's Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the research framework. As external variables, this research model includes instant connectivity, compatibility, interaction, content enrichment, and computer self-efficacy, influencing the perceived usefulness of TAM. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the data of 189 EFL teachers was used to analyze causal relationships between external variables and TAM variables. The results provide evidence that supports the tested hypotheses. The implications of the findings suggest a new direction for future studies on m-learning.

The paper presents the results of an evaluation of the Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Organisational Intelligence (OI) competences self-assessment tools developed and applied by the IGUANA1 project. In the paper Emotional Intelligence and Organisational Intelligence competences are discussed, their use in action research experiments to assess and support the development of innovation in schools is presented, together with the results of these experiments. The paper also discusses how innovation support in schools was linked to a ’Theory of Change’ approach in the IGUANA project and applied to support innovation plans developed by Portuguese and Lithuanian schools. Finally, the results of the use of the Theory of Change approach are discussed.

The Testing Algorithmic and Application Skills (TAaAS) project was launched in the 2011/2012 academic year to test first year students of Informatics, focusing on their algorithmic skills in traditional and non-traditional programming environments, and on the transference of their knowledge of Informatics from secondary to tertiary education. The results of the tests clearly show that students start their studies in Informatics with underdeveloped algorithmic skills, only a very few of them reaching the level of extended abstract. To find reasons for these figures we have analyzed the students' problem solving approaches. It was found that the students, almost exclusively, only consider traditional programming environments appropriate for developing computational thinking, algorithmic skills. Furthermore, they do not apply concept and algorithmic based methods in non-traditional computer related activities, and as such, mainly carry out ineffective surface approach methods, as practiced in primary and secondary education. This would explain the gap between the expectations of tertiary education, the students' results in the school leaving exams, and their overestimation of their knowledge, all of which lead to the extremely high attrition rates in Informatics.

The article presents the results of an experiment in which Excel applications that depict rotatable and sizable orthographic projection of simple 3D figures with face overlapping were developed with thirty gymnasium (high school) students of age 17-19 as an introduction to 3D computer graphics. A questionnaire survey was conducted to find out whether the students acquired the principles of the projection, found the lessons interesting and contributing to their technological knowledge, and found the topic motivating enough to continue with more complicated models. The results are discussed.

In the same way that natural languages influence and shape the way we think, programming languages have a profound impact on the way a programmer analyzes a problem and formulates its solution in the form of a program. To the extent that a first programming course is likely to determine the student's approach to program design, program analysis, and programming methodology, the choice of the programming language used in the first programming course is likely to be very important. In this paper, we report on a recent survey we conducted on programming language use in US academic institutions, and discuss the significance of our data by comparison with programming language use in industry.

With the advance of information and communications technologies, new teaching tools are becoming more pervasive. These tools can be utilized in a variety of ways to improve and enhance math teaching. Considering the integration of technology in teaching mathematics, it is clear that the replacement of board and chalk with digital presentation material does not cover all the aspects of the mathematic subjects. One of the important prerequisites for quality of integration technology into mathematics teaching is the teacher's personality, i.e. knowledge, willingness and desire to improve his/her lessons bringing mathematics closer to the present generations of pupils.

It has now become an important issue to evaluate the performance of technical institutions to develop better research and enrich the existing teaching processes. The results of such performance appraisal would serve as a reference point for decisions to choose a particular institution, hire manpower, and provide financial support for the betterment of students and underperforming institutions. The performance of institutions responsible for promotion of technical education in a vast country, like India also needs to be assessed for its journey to share a major role in global economy. In this paper, an integrated approach combining PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluation) and GAIA (Geometrical Analysis for Interactive Aid) methods is applied for evaluating the performance of 20 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) in India with respect to nine pivotal criteria. It is observed that NIT, Tiruchirappalli and NIT, Warangal are the two best performers based on the last five years data. On the other hand, NIT, Patna takes the last position in the ranking list of 20 NITs suggesting allocation of more resources for its efficient management and subsequent development. Placement of the graduated students from those NITs is found to be the most important criterion.

In the paper, we point out several observations and remarks on time effectiveness of electronic testing, in particular of its new form (interactive tests). A test is often used as an effective didactic tool for evaluating the extent of gained cognitive capabilities. According to authors Rudman (1989) and Wang (2003) it is provable that the relationship towards e-testing depends on the degree of previous experiences with this form of examination. Conducted experiments (not only by these authors) show that students using the traditional testing form (putting answers down on a paper) are happy to have the opportunity to use a computer for testing. The reason is the fact that they are usually used to a complete explanation of the educational content, frontal examination during the lesson and also in the course of the school year and more limited possibilities to use the Internet for educational purposes. Most of them do not even know about the possibilities of e-learning and electronic evaluation. On the other hand, the group of students who are being tested using the traditional form and at the same time using computers usually prefer the traditional form, while using multimedia tools is more or less normal to them.

Mathematics' skills and knowledge lay the basis for engineering studies. However, the resources targeted to mathematics' teaching are in many cases very limited. During the past years in our university the reduction of mathematics' contact hours has been significant while at the same time the study groups have grown. However, the mathematical proficiency of incoming students has not increased. Consequently, during the contact hours, the learning of basics requires more time and the need of personalized learning is increasing.

How to enable students to create a personalized learning environment? What are the criteria of evaluation of the ICT-based learning process personalization affordance? These questions are answered by conducting multiple case study research of the innovative ICT-based learning process in iTEC (Innovative Technologies for Engaging Classrooms) project in Lithuania. Analysis of the research data led to discernment of evaluation criteria of personalization affordance and creation of a framework for the ICT-based learning personalization affordance, comprised of the following three groups of evaluation criteria: (I) 'extremely important' criteria, (II) 'essential' criteria, (III) 'important' criteria. Students, who performed various constructionist ICT-based learning activities as part of innovative learning scenarios, evaluated these according to the 'extremely important' criteria. A majority of students have agreed that the proposed learning activities enable them to feel more confident and engaged into the learning process. The framework for ICT-based learning personalization affordance should help other teachers enable personalized learning in daily practice.