| 1. |
- Faraon, Montathar, et al.
(author)
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Learning by coding : A sociocultural approach to teaching web development in higher education
- 2020
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In: Education and Information Technologies. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1360-2357 .- 1573-7608. ; 25:3, s. 1759-1783
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As information technology continues to evolve rapidly in society, coding skills become increasingly essential to develop. The purpose of this article is to examine differences between the learner-centered and sociocultural approaches when teaching and learning coding in higher education. A quasi-experiment was applied over six academic semesters evaluating the mentioned approaches in terms of students' explicit attitudes, grades, and course evaluations. The findings indicated that the sociocultural approach may be a viable alternative to the learner-centered approach. More specifically, students indicated a preference for the sociocultural approach over the learner-centered approach, a greater number of students who passed the courses were educated via the sociocultural approach, and overall satisfaction was significantly higher for this approach as well. While the sociocultural approach has demonstrated to be advantageous, its integration in courses must concurrently be carefully balanced against constraints that teachers continuously experience in higher education, such as time and resources, which presents a challenge to the design of courses and to academia at large.
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| 2. |
- Rönkkö, Kari
(author)
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Interpretation, interaction and reality construction in software engineering : An explanatory model
- 2007
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In: Information and Software Technology. - : Elsevier. - 0950-5849 .- 1873-6025. ; 49:6, s. 682-693
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The incorporation of social issues in software engineering is limited. Still, during the last 20 years the social element inherent in software development has been addressed in a number of publications that identified a lack of common concepts, models, and theories for discussing software development from this point of view. It has been suggested that we need to take interpretative and constructive views more seriously if we are to incorporate the social element in software engineering. Up till now we have lacked papers presenting 'simple' models explaining why. This article presents a model that helps us better to understand interpretation, interaction and reality construction from a natural language perspective. The concepts and categories following with the model provide a new frame of reference useful in software engineering research, teaching, and methods development.
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| 3. |
- Larsson, Stefan, et al.
(author)
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Law, Norms, Piracy and Online Anonymity – Practices of de-identification in the global file sharing community
- 2012
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In: Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing: Special Issue on Digital Piracy. - : Emerald. - 2040-7130. ; 6:4, s. 260-280
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose The purpose of this study is to better understand online anonymity in the global file-sharing community in the context of social norms and copyright law. The study describes the respondents in terms of use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or similar services with respect to age, gender, geographical location, as well as analysing the correlation with file-sharing frequencies. Design/methodology/approach This study, to a large extent, collected descriptive data through a web-based survey. This was carried out in collaboration with the BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay (TPB), which allowed us to link the survey from the main logo of their site. In 72 hours, we received over 75,000 responses, providing the opportunity to compare use of anonymity services with factors of age, geographical region, file-sharing frequency, etc. Findings Overall, 17.8 per cent of the respondents used a VPN or similar service (free or paid). A core of high-frequency uploaders is more inclined to use VPNs or similar services than the average file sharer. Online anonymity practices in the file-sharing community depend on how legal and social norms correlate (more enforcement means more anonymity). Research limitations/implications The web-based survey was in English and mainly attracted visitors on The Pirate Bay’s web site. This means that it is likely that those who do not have the language skills necessary were excluded from the survey. Practical implications This study adds to the knowledge of online anonymity practices in terms of traceability and identification, and therefore describes some of the conditions for legal enforcement in a digital environment. Social implications This study adds to the knowledge of how the Internet is changing in terms of a polarization between stronger means of legally enforced identification and a growing awareness of how to be more untraceable. Originality/value The scale of the survey, with over 75,000 respondents from most parts of the world, has likely not been seen before on this topic. The descriptive study of anonymity practices in the global file-sharing community is therefore likely unique.
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| 4. |
- Winter, Jeff, 1959-, et al.
(author)
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SPI success factors within product usability evaluation
- 2010
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In: Journal of Systems and Software. - : Elsevier. - 0164-1212 .- 1873-1228. ; 83:11, s. 2059-2072
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article presents an experience report where we compare 8 years of experience of product related usability testing and evaluation with principles for software process improvement (SPI). In theory the product and the process views are often seen to be complementary, but studies of industry have demonstrated the opposite. Therefore, more empirical studies are needed to understand and improve the present situation. We find areas of close agreement as well as areas where our work illuminates new characteristics. It has been identified that successful SPI is dependent upon being successfully combined with a business orientation. Usability and business orientation also have strong connections although this has not been extensively addressed in SPI publications. Reasons for this could be that usability focuses on product metrics whilst today's SPI mainly focuses on process metrics. Also because today's SPI is dominated by striving towards a standardized, controllable, and predictable software engineering process; whilst successful usability efforts in organisations are more about creating a creative organisational culture advocating a useful product throughout the development and product life cycle. We provide a study and discussion that supports future development when combining usability and product focus with SPI, in particular if these efforts are related to usability process improvement efforts.
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