A scalable and incremental project-based learning approach for CS1/CS2 courses

Cupi2 is a project that promotes an integral solution to problems in teaching/learning programming using a large and structured courseware, and a student-centered pedagogical model (Villalobos and Casallas 2006a; Villalobos et al. 2009a, b; Jiménez and Villalobos 2010). As a cornerstone of Cupi2, we use incremental projects intended to motivate students, and to develop high-level programming skills throughout their learning. A critical factor of these projects is that they are specially designed so that students are engaged in activities that complete a scaffold of a complete program. However, both the scaffolds and the activities needed to complete these incomplete programs must be arranged carefully by instructors in order to stress the adequate contents for students, and at the same time, to help those students acquire programming skills effectively. Jointly, scaffold versions need to comply with high quality standards, representing a high time consuming activity for instructors, and therefore, increased costs for institutions. In this paper, we describe the way we overcome these challenges using a software factory that supports the projects’ design in a scalable way.     

A Coding System to Quantify Powerful Actions in Soccer Match Play: A Pilot Study

Purpose: The powerful activity profile of elite soccer match play has not been documented appropriately to inform specific maximal power assessment and development criteria. The aims of the current study were to develop a reliable soccer-specific powerful action (SSPA) notational analysis coding system that could be used to compare frequency and durations of powerful actions during elite youth soccer match play. Methods: Sixteen elite male English Premier League (EPL) Academy players (19 ± 1 yrs) were recorded by an individual camera during 16 competitive EPL U18 and U21 games. Video footage was analyzed using performance analysis software and SSPAs were coded according to the following categories: initial acceleration, leading acceleration, sprint, unilateral jump and bilateral jump. Results: The SSPA coding system demonstrated very good inter- and intra-rater reliability (kappa coefficients ≥ 0.827). Elite youth EPL soccer players undertook significantly more initial (31 ± 9) and leading (37 ± 12) accelerations than sprints (8 ± 3; p = .014, d = 1.7, and p < .001, d = 1.7, respectively) and jumps (6 ± 5; p = .002, d = 1.7 and p < .001, d = 1.7, respectively). Players performed a significantly greater number of initial and leading accelerations with action durations below 1.5 s compared to above 1.5 s (p = .001, d = 1.6, and p = .002, d = 1.4), respectively. Conclusions: Our SSPA coding system provides a reliable observational instrument for quantifying the frequency and duration of powerful actions performed during elite soccer match play. In our sample of elite youth soccer players, horizontal accelerations of short duration (< 1.5 s) from different starting speeds appear the most dominant powerful action in elite youth soccer match play.     

A Case Study of Relationships between Organizational Culture and Curricular Change in Engineering Education

We examined two curricular change efforts at a small, midwestern engineering and science college in order to explore how organizational culture influences curricular change processes. We found that the failure of one effort (measured by inability to sustain the curriculum over time) and the success of the other (the curriculum continues to be offered by the institution) were directly linked to how well the change strategies aligned with the culture of the institution.