The use of advanced computer graphics techniques to help visualize large volumes of multivariate information has become increasingly important. Most of the research in this area has been in the area of scientific visualization, and visualization has become one of the most important tools of modern computational science. It should be noted that computational science has become the third supporting methodology for the physical and biological sciences, alongside the more traditional theoretical and laboratory science areas. It is receiving considerable emphasis from the National Science Foundation in the United States.
Under the VLSI Design Action, as part of the ESPRIT Programme launched by the Directorate General (DG) XI I I of the Commission of European Communities (CEC), the service organization E U R O C H I P provides European academic institutions with a number of services. These services include access to chip manufacturing and procurement of additional workstations, test equipment, CAD software and lecture posts.
A brief report is presented on the consultancy and the one-week course “Expert systems in education”, given in four training centres (Homs, Alleppo, Lattakia and Damascus) in Syria. This was part of a United Nations Development Programme project SYR/86/12 in the Arab Republic of Syria, called “Introduction of Informatics in Secondary Education”.
The field of software engineering evolved during the last decade from pure (but excellent) programming towards an engineering discipline including managerial, organizational, hardware and even commercial aspects. Nowadays, engineers have to cope with the development of very complex systems which are composed of various components such as software, hardware, interfaces, etc., and which are expected to guarantee robustness, reliability and even correctness for their products. Thus, the width of the discipline poses a variety of problems to the teaching of the field, but sometimes resulting in courses just tackling the surface of those problems. The paper presents a curriculum for a software engineering course and identifies directions for further evolution.
Various shortcomings of the current computer science/engineering education are identified and analysed. They are seen as being to a large degree due to various currently prevailing misconceptions concerning aims, scope, methods, impacts, long-term rôle and history of the scientific base underlying computing and information processing in general. An attempt is reported to develop a new compelling view of the underlying science — Informatics1. This science is seen here not as an engineering science that should primarily serve technology but as a fundamental science (with similar scientific aims as physics) that also affords a new very fundamental and broad methodology (with similar impacts as mathematics has). A new view is presented on aims, maturity, and breadth of the current Informatics as fundamental science and on the history of Informatics. In addition, some developments indicating deeper relations between Informatics and physics are discussed as well as some implications for Informatics from views on science developed in mathematics. All that is then used to derive some general and also more specific conclusions concerning aims and methods of the computer science/engineering education, as well as of the education in Informatics within other educational programmes.1In order to emphasize that we have in mind a new view of informatics we shall use this term with a capital I.
After some general comments about computer arithmetic consideration is given to a number of branches of mathematics to see what topics are relevant to courses in computer science and to applications of computers.
The Portable AI Lab is a joint research project concerned with the design and implementation of an integrated environment to support teaching of Artificial Intelligence at University level. The system is composed of several modules implementing basic. AI techniques in a uniform way. The final section of the paper focuses primarily on the modules dealing with Automated Theorem Proving (ATP) and Natural Language Processing, and shows how relationships between the two might typically be explored within the system.
This paper argues that good human-computer interaction is an essential part of the design of modern computer systems. Consequently, university computing courses must teach students the skills and knowledge necessary to recognise and design systems which are safe, easy and enjoyable to learn and to use, as well as fulfilling the necessary functional requirements. A number of career profiles has already been identified (Mantei et al., 1991 and Preece, 1991) and these will be used as a basis for discussing the content and needs of the HCI curriculum.
It is clear to everyone involved in the field of software engineering that our instruction lags well behind research. Conservative thinkers do not want to leap onto a given bandwagon too early, while even the most progressive thinkers face a profound challenge in incorporating worldwide research into the curriculum.
The paper discusses an approach for acquainting fourth grade university students in informatics with various tools and methods of teaching informatics at school. The language Logo is used as an universal tool for:(1)introducing one variant of school informatics curriculum;(2)introducing some basic notions, principles and methods of informatics and a number of tools and specific approaches for their explanation and clarification;(3)demonstrating a variety of applications of computers in different fields: mathematics, language, drawing, music, physics, biology, history, etc.;(4)developing a sophisticated programming environment corresponding to the problem being solved and the specific users' needs;(5)demonstrating some basic principles of developing educational software, passing through all the phases of the software life cycle;(6)applying artificial intelligence methods and tools when developing and using educational software.
The United Kingdom has a long tradition of teachers voluntarily collaborating to form support groups at both local and national level. Since the introduction of computers into education, such support groups have existed with specific interest in this area. Changes in the economics of education have, however, played a major role in the way such groups have evolved and have thus influenced their organization, their impact in supporting teachers, and perhaps more importantly their ability to influence the way educational computing developed. As chairman of MUSE, the author examines the development over the last twenty years of this support group and related organizations. Drawing on the experience of history, the paper reflects present issues and proposes ways forward for the future.
Educational computing is one of several textually organized processes embedded in the social and cultural context of mass compulsory schooling. The work of teachers and students in the classroom is shaped by the administrative organization of schooling and by the cultural and political organization of the society. Data is drawn from interviews, observations and textual analyses of an urban school in Canada. The article suggests a line of research into the textual organization of educational computing. Further, the analysis brings into view the cultural spaces in elementary school classrooms within which a critical analysis of educational computing can be developed.
An advanced tutorial system for teaching the fundamentals of logic has been developed to run on unix work stations and commonly available microcomputers. An important part of this tutorial is the intelligent problem solving environment which allows students to practise writing logical sentences in mathematical notation. A natural language system for intelligent logic narrative analysis (ilona) allows students to type in their own logical sentences in plain English and then have the computer check their working when they write these in mathematical form. ilona is an intelligent tutoring system which allows students a great deal of initiative in problem solving and provides a degree of flexibility in answer evaluation not found in traditional cai systems. The concepts and structures used in the development of ilona are easily transferable to other domains.
This paper charts the use of computers in the multi-media teaching system of the British Open University through the nineteen-eighties. It follows Bramer's previous paper [5] and describes the transition from a network linking 240 hardcopy terminals to central mainframes, in 1980, to a Home Computing Programme with 13,000 students using microcomputers at home, in 1990.
International cooperation in new information technology (NIT) projects often shows certain typical problems. In this paper it is argued that these problems are not NIT-specific: the implementation of technology brings to light already existing problems which were previously hidden.
This paper will first draw a general overview of the implementation of microcomputers in the classroom in Canada provinces: ratios, funding, hardware and software, teachers' training, results. Then, the presentation will focus on one province: Québec. It will recall the main events that have occurred over the last six or seven years in the main aspects of the implementation of new technologies.
This paper presents a goal-oriented method for establishing an electronic college. The method is outlined in a milestone plan, adapted from goal-directed project management. The paper advocates commitment to training, support, and motivation of people, as well as technological expertise. The method comprises the following steps: define your aim, procure the necessary management support, define the usergroups involved, determine the users' need: information and activities, decide on which host computer to use, decide on which software to use, decide on the type of network, decide on the type of workstation, design the framework in terms of a matrix, design a training, support and motivation program. This paper describes each of these steps in detail and uses a case description, “TowerNet”, originating from the Adult Education Department of Pennsylvania State University.
What is informatics? It is both a pure and an application oriented science. The combination of applied informatics, i.e. informatics technology, with other related technologies is known as Information Technology. Applications of information technology play an important role in society and are also found in education. Current problems in society and education have much in common and may have similar solutions. In these solutions information technology plays a supportive role. However, characteristics of traditional educational organization hinder necessary innovation. Key issues concerning informatics and educational organization are:—the societal push of education towards an information technology supported, client-centred organization—the reorganization of education possibly being a necessary prerequisite for successful innovation. This paper addresses both of these issues.
Many minority students in the United States are entering higher education with less expertise and experience in using the new academic tools than majority culture students. The lack of computer competence can become an additional barrier, (in addition to the fiscal, cultural and educational barriers) to their successful pursuit and completion of an academic degree program. This paper discusses: the rapid changes which are taking place in the use of computers and related technologies in higher education institutions; the potential impact of present inequities in pre-college access and use of computers experienced by minority students, particularly Black, Hispanic and American Indian students; and strategies and recommendations to enhance the computer competence of minority students in institutions of higher education and public schools.
