The use of reverse engineering to analyse student computer programs

In this paper, an explanatory program understander that can analyse student solutions for programming assignments is described. The approach uses a number of reverse engineering techniques and is grounded on a cognitive model of procedural programming knowledge. It will be shown that, through the use of reverse engineering techniques, a lot of feedback (e.g. on errors) can be generated without having to use any prior knowledge on what the program is supposed to do. When such information is available, problem-specific feedback can also be generated. Furthermore, the use of the cognitive programming concepts allows one to specify the errors in an understandable way using exactly the same words and concepts as human programmers. This opens interesting possibilities for other uses of the proposed program understanding technique described in this article.     

Can typical game features have unintended consequences? A study of players’ learning and reactions to challenge and failure in an educational programming game

It is difficult to motivate learners to seek out and persist at challenging learning tasks where failure is likely. However, in game environments, people seem highly motivated to engage with challenges and respond productively to failure. Many typical game features purportedly enhance intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, which should improve students’ reactions to challenge and failure, which should in turn enhance learning. An experimental study with early middle school students tested these assumptions by comparing a “Full” version of a typical, commercial programming game to a “Minimal” version of the same game where common game features such as narrative, performance metrics, high-quality graphics, and sound were removed. In contrast to our hypotheses, players of the Full Game were less likely to choose coding challenges, were less tolerant of coding failures and gained less coding knowledge. Intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy did not differ between conditions. Correlational analyses showed that failure tolerance and challenge seeking may critically affect learning from educational games. The current study offers an existence proof that some common game features can hinder players' failure tolerance, challenge-seeking and learning, in certain game contexts. Future research should isolate the effects of individual game features, test generalizability and explore which contextual variables influence the findings.     

International large-scale assessments: what uses,what consequences?

Abstract

Background: International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) are a much-debated phenomenon in education. Increasingly, their outcomes attract considerable media attention and influence educational policies in many jurisdictions worldwide. The relevance, uses and consequences of these assessments are often the focus of research scrutiny. Whilst some argue that the assessment outcomes provide an effective basis for informed policy-making, critics claim that the use of international assessment data can result in a range of unintended consequences, such as the shaping and governing of school systems ‘by numbers’.

Purpose: This article explores and analyses the arguments about the uses and consequences of ILSAs. In particular, the discourse about the assessments’ consequential validity will be discussed and evaluated.

Sources of evidence: Literature relating to the uses and consequences of large-scale assessment was analysed, with a focus on research on the consequential aspects of validity.

Main argument: Much research suggests that ILSAs have unintended consequences that affect and influence educational policy. However, the influences on educational policy are complex and interwoven: for example, it is not clear-cut whether effects such as converging curricular are, necessarily, direct consequences of large-scale assessments. Further, it is suggested that a beneficial consequence of large-scale assessment is the infrastructure they provide for studies in the social sciences, although caution must be applied to causal claims, in particular because of the cross-sectional design of the assessments.

Conclusions: The considerable literature discussing the uses and consequences of large-scale assessments tends to point out potential negative aspects of the studies. However, it is also apparent that large-scale international assessments can be a valuable resource for studying global trends and evolving systems in education. Despite the extensive debates around large-scale assessment outcomes both in the media and in educational policy arenas, empirical educational research all too often appears underused in the discussion.     

The “manifest destiny” of the performing arts by A. Peacock

Journal of Cultural Economics -     

Coaching performance and leadership behaviours in team sports

The aim of this study was to investigate coaching performance in team sports taking leadership behaviours into focus. To do so, coaching performance was put in a literature-based frame and analysed with reference to a task structure based on the idea of hierarchical planning. The focus of the paper is on a mixed methods multi-strand study using qualitative as well as quantitative threads to develop and verify a set of coaching strategies focussing on teambuilding and team leadership. Qualitative analyses showed that coaches do have a clear understanding of forming and leading a team, which could be shown by a specific set of strategies being used by high performance coaches from different team sports (basketball, football, handball, and volleyball). These strategies could be confirmed in a sequential quantitative study analysing coaches’ and players’ attitudes towards the previously analysed schemes. The results of this study are discussed in terms of methodical and practical implications.     

Adaptive progressive download based on the MPEG-4 file format

In this paper we describe how progressive download and adaptive streaming can be combined into a simple and efficient streaming framework. Based on the MPEG-4 file format (MP4) we use HTTP for transport and argue that these two components are sufficient for specifying an open streaming architecture. The client selects appropriate chunks from the MP4 file to be transferred based on (1) the header information (i.e. the "moov" box) in the first part of the file and (2) his observation of network throughput. The framework is completely client driven which allows for better server scalability and reduces signalling overhead. We discuss architecture and implementation issues such as complexity, interoperability and scalability and compare to 3GPP PSS Re1-6 adaptive streaming when appropriate. Measurements from a simple MP4/HTTP streaming client are presented showing that appropriate chunks are selected such that increased reliability is achieved.     

Adaptive progressive download based on the MPEG-4 file format

In this paper we describe how progressive download and adaptive streaming can be combined into a simple and efficient streaming framework. Based on the MPEG-4 file format (MP4) we use HTTP for transport and argue that these two components are sufficient for specifying an open streaming architecture. The client selects appropriate chunks from the MP4 file to be transferred based on (1) the header information (i.e. the “moov” box) in the first part of the file and (2) his observation of network throughput. The framework is completely client driven which allows for better server scalability and reduces signalling overhead. We discuss architecture and implementation issues such as complexity, interoperability and scalability and compare to 3GPP PSS Rel-6 adaptive streaming when appropriate. Measurements from a simple MP4/HTTP streaming client are presented showing that appropriate chunks are selected such that increased reliability is achieved.     

Authorship order

Considering the fact that authorship order plays such a significant role as a basis for scientific merit, this paper looks into the practices of authorship order from a research ethical perspective. We conclude that there is a wide variety of practices and no common understanding of what the different authorship positions signify. Authorship guidelines do not provide much help. We recognize that, regardless of what system for valuing authorship positions is used, it will be misleading and unfair in most applications because relative contributions vary in ways that are not captured by fixed value assignments to authorship positions. In theory, assigning percentage figures reflecting the relative contributions of the authors would solve that problem, but we argue that such a scheme is not likely to work in practice. It can also be questioned whether relative, rather than absolute, contributions should be the basis for scientific merit. Contributorship is discussed as an alternative, but is recognized to be insufficient both in communicating absolute and relative contributions, as standardly used. However, there may be a way forward with contributorship, but then, the level of detail needs to increase considerably and its application be standardized.     

Regulation and deregulation in education policy: new reforms and school sports in Swedish upper secondary education

During the 1990s, neoliberal reforms in Sweden increased local school actors' possibilities to develop school profiles regarding both organization and content. This restructuring has increased the total number of school sports programs as well as the possibilities for upper secondary schools and sports clubs to develop elite and amateur sports on a local level. In a new educational reform, the Swedish Government criticizes parts of the Swedish school sports system. The Government believes that the majority of local school sports programs and courses obstruct the maintenance of national equivalence, that upper secondary schools use school sports to attract pupils for economic reasons and that some pupils involved in school sports may fail to reach the academic or vocational goals of regular upper secondary education. Using critical discourse analysis, the present paper illustrates how educational policies are linked to wider symbolic meaning systems in an attempt to legitimize, define and organize upper secondary schools and to characterize pupils as either eligible or ineligible to participate in school sports. The analyses are based on various types of empirical data: policy documents, official letters from the sports movement on the government bill and in-depth interviews. The results indicate that the reform represents a shift in the policy rhetoric: from a normative rhetoric highlighting pupils' social and emotional reasons for choosing school sports, to a rational rhetoric emphasizing efficiency, standardization and regulation of pupils' educational choices. Using school sports as an example, the paper shows how the main aim of the reform—to raise educational standards and maintain national equivalence—is achieved through social differentiation, meaning that pupils with the right performance indicators are selected for participation in programs to which they are suited.     

Eine generische Komponente zur rechnergestützten Nutzung von Aufbauorganisationen

Zusammenfassung.   Die klassische Unterscheidung zwischen Aufbau- und Ablauforganisation eines Unternehmens deutet auf eine getrennte rechnergestützte Realisierung dieser beiden fundamentalen Komponenten einer Organisation hin. Dieser Beitrag unterstützt diese These, verweist aber gleichzeitig auf die integrierende Bedeutung einer rechnergestützten Aufbauorganisationsverwaltung, welche unterschiedliche Realisierungsformen der Ablauforganisation (unter anderem workflow-management und eCommerce) bedient. Die generelle Konzeption und Umsetzung einer solchen Aufbauorganisationsverwaltung wird in diesem Beitrag vorgestellt. Eingegangen am 14. Februar 2000 / Angenommen am 31. Mai 2000