WWW interactive learning environments for computer science education

Abstract

The wide accessibility of the World Wide Web makes it a perfect base for developing computer science courseware modules.Since learning involves more than just receiving transmitted information, courseware must be interactive and encourage student engagement, which is a challenge on the Web architecture. This article describes an ongoing effort to develop World Wide Web-based computer science courseware modules that will use interactive components as integral parts of the material, in order to promote student involvement. It also discusses the proposed usage of new technology such as HotJava in this framework.

Control Learning: Present and Future

“…Given the characteristics of these simulations, the tool par excellence is Java language, although it is also possible to find some developments with ActiveX controls (National Instruments). Other examples can be found in (Carlson et al, 1996;Esquembre et al, 1996;Crutchfield and Rugh, 1998;Alfonseca et al, 1999;Narayanan et al, 1999;Salazar-Silva et al, 1999;Torres et al, 2001). With this philosophy we should mention the works of C. Schmid developed at Ruhr University (Schmid, 1999;Schmid, 2000), where part of the on-line interactivity with the experimentation environment is done with a 3D interface developed in VRML.…”

“…For the development of these simulations, Java is currently the only real possibility for providing a wholly independent hardware platform. (Carlson et al, 1996;Chatterjee et al, 1997;Crutchfield and Wilson, 1998;Alfonseca et al, 1999;Salazar-Silva et al, 1999;Alfonseca and Lara, 2001;Torres et al, 2001), although there is some study on the viability of using multimedia tools such as Macromedia Flash for the simulation of real processes (Planas et al, 2001). There are also researchers who, although working in local mode, separate the engine and interface (Esquembre et al, 1996;Schmid, 1997;Schmid, 1999;Schmid, 2000;Copinga et al, 2000), i.e., the interface is on an HTML page whilst the calculation engine is outside the navigator.…”

Pedagogy and usability in interactive algorithm visualizations: Designing and evaluating CIspace

“…The CIspace applets can be run through most major browsers (provided the JVM has been installed) that support several common platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris. Web-based tools that support platform independence can help reach a wide audience of educators and students (Carlson et al, 1996;Rö ßling and Naps, 2002) in a variety of learning scenarios (goal P5). Finally, running Java applets from a Web browser eliminates the need for complicated installations (goal U3.3) (Naps et al, 1997.…”

“…A few of these early systems were empirically evaluated for pedagogical effectiveness, yielding a mix of favorable and disappointing results (Rieber, 1990). Soon after, theories on active learning began influencing the design and development of these tools as educators and researchers started recognizing the potential value of making DVs interactive (Brown and Sedgewick, 1984;Cowley et al, 1993;Wilson et al, 1995;Carlson et al, 1996;Rieber, 1990;Hundhausen et al, 2002). Experiential Learning Theory emphasized practice and knowledge application for quality learning (Kolb, 1984); Cognitive Constructivism favored knowledge construction over passive knowledge absorption (Ben-Ari, 1998).…”

Web labs for the Standard Template Library and the Java generic library in a CS2 course

“…The pedagogical advantages of this medium have been well documented (Carlson [1996], Hitz [ 19971, Paxton [ 19961). A further benefit of the World Wide Web is that its hyperlink, mail, and security features support the separation of the labs into separate stages for observation, hypothesis formation, testing and conclusions.…”