title: The syntax and semantics of μ-Charts

authors: Reeve, Greg

subjects: computer science

abstract: μ-Charts is a language for specifying the behaviour of reactive systems. The language is a simplified variant of the well-known language Statecharts that was introduced by Harel. Development of the μ-Charts language is ongoing research undertaken under the auspices of the Formal Methods Laboratory of the Computer Science Department, University of Waikato. This paper gives a comprehensive treatment of the syntax and semantic for μ-Charts.

text: The syntax and semantics of μ-Charts μ-Charts is a language for specifying the behaviour of reactive systems. The language is a simplified variant of the well-known language Statecharts that was introduced by Harel. Development of the μ-Charts language is ongoing research undertaken under the auspices of the Formal Methods Laboratory of the Computer Science Department, University of Waikato. This paper gives a comprehensive treatment of the syntax and semantic for μ-Charts.

year: 2004-02

title: Design of a processor to support the teaching of computer systems

authors: Pearson, Murray W.

subjects: computer science

abstract: Teaching computer systems, including computer architecture, assembly language programming and operating system implementation, is a challenging occupation. At the University of Waikato this is made doubly true because we require all computer science and information systems students study this material at second year. The challenges of teaching difficult material to a wide range of students have driven us to find ways of making the material more accessible. The corner stone of our strategy for delivering this material is the design and implementation of a custom CPU that meets the needs of teaching. This paper describes our motivation and these needs. We present the CPU and board design and describe the implementation of the CPU in an FPGA. The paper also includes some reflections on the use of a real CPU rather than a simulation environment. We conclude with a discussion of how the CPU can be used for advanced classes in computer architecture and a description of the current status of the project.

text: Design of a processor to support the teaching of computer systems Teaching computer systems, including computer architecture, assembly language programming and operating system implementation, is a challenging occupation. At the University of Waikato this is made doubly true because we require all computer science and information systems students study this material at second year. The challenges of teaching difficult material to a wide range of students have driven us to find ways of making the material more accessible. The corner stone of our strategy for delivering this material is the design and implementation of a custom CPU that meets the needs of teaching. This paper describes our motivation and these needs. We present the CPU and board design and describe the implementation of the CPU in an FPGA. The paper also includes some reflections on the use of a real CPU rather than a simulation environment. We conclude with a discussion of how the CPU can be used for advanced classes in computer architecture and a description of the current status of the project.

year: 2002

title: In their voice: Adult learners' perspectives on literacy and numeracy, learning and wellbeing

authors: Furness, Jane Amanda

abstract: In their voice: Adult learners’ perspectives on literacy and numeracy, learning and wellbeing (2023) reports on a case study undertaken in collaboration with Literacy Aotearoa. It has been undertaken as part of a larger project, The expression, experience and transcendence of low skill in Aotearoa New Zealand (2019–2024), the aim of which is to provide policy recommendations to improve life-course trajectories and socio-economic outcomes for adults with low literacy and/or numeracy (L+N) skills in Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa). In their voice: Adult learners’ perspectives on literacy and numeracy, learning and wellbeing examines adults’ experiences as they navigate their lives and develop their L+N repertoire towards their aspirations for themselves and their families. Our focus is mainly on Māori (the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa) adults.

The study has taken place at a time when adult L+N policy is at a crossroads in three senses. Policy over the last 23 years has only marginally improved L+N on the measures government uses with adults, yet it is known that wide-ranging, holistic benefits accrue from L+N education that values and embodies Māori interests and ways of being. Second, the most recent iteration of L+N policy expired in 2017 and is yet to be replaced, opening an opportunity for reconceptualisation and transformation of adult L+N policy. Third, Māori educators have articulated and demonstrated over decades the content and approaches for L+N learning that are of interest and value to Māori adults and whānau (immediate and extended family) but these remain by-and-large systemically unsupported. Nevertheless, government expectation is that all policy in Aotearoa account for wellbeing outcomes as set out in the ‘Living Standards Framework ‘and ‘He Ara Waiora’ (The Treasury, 2021, n. d.).

The standpoint for this study is that the Eurocentric perspective of literacy that predominates in adult L+N policy in Aotearoa – reading and writing alphabetic text, usually in English, and primarily for economic purposes – is inadequate in our bicultural nation. This narrow view of literacy and its purposes severely limits the extent to which Māori expectations for adult L+N education and for Māori prosperity are realised, contrary to the word and the spirit of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi). Viewing literacy through sociocultural, sociomaterial, critical literacies and Indigenous lenses, the study makes a strong case for a much broader understanding of literacy and its purposes to decolonise adult L+N policy for the future. Supporting this aspiration, the study advances the notion of multiple meanings of literacy in which Māori perspectives are valued, upheld and promoted. Māori perspectives are understood as centring on whakapapa (genealogy) which provides the framework for connectedness of all things and is the basis for Māori identity and for comprehending and interpreting the world. 

The research process was informed by Kaupapa Māori (a Māori agenda) to the extent possible. Māori researchers conducted all but one interview and contributed to the thematic analysis of participants’ narratives. Two Pākehā researchers worked closely with the Māori team members and were guided by them. The specific approach for this case study was co-designed with Literacy Aotearoa to ensure participants’ needs and aspirations in the research were met. Twenty adults (15 Māori, one Samoan and four Pākehā) graciously agreed to share their insights and were interviewed individually, in pairs or in a focus group according to their choice. They were aged from early 20s to late 60s and varied in their qualifications and learning challenges. The same number of men and women took part. The following questions directed the interviews and focus groups:

1. What has motivated people/whānau to make change in their lives?
2. What was the pathway that people/whānau have taken to make change in their lives? 
3. What are people’s experiences of their efforts to make change in their lives? 
4. What have been supports or facilitators, barriers or challenges in their efforts? 

The narrative transcripts were analysed from a critical sociocultural and strengths-based standpoint. Findings were described and discussed in relation to the following broad thematic categories:

 1. What matters to people in their lives – views of wellbeing, values and aspirations
 2. Learning and life pathways – experiences of learning, schooling and post school
 3. What enables people to live the lives they choose
 4. What makes it harder for people to live the lives they choose

The study shows the centrality of te ao Māori (Māori worldview) in the lives of Māori adults and whānau. It is fundamental to Māori identity and wellbeing and remains throughout their lives even when they have experienced periods of disconnection. Enacted valuing of te ao Māori within the programmes enabled participants to feel safe to be who they are, excited about their L+N learning, and looking forward to meaningful outcomes for themselves and their whānau despite the oft-present anxiety about returning to a classroom. Relatedly, prioritising the wellbeing of the learners through caring and respectful learning environments is crucial to coming to and staying in L+N learning opportunities which can then provide an opportunity to transcend hurtful past learning experiences and enable participants to see themselves as capable learners and contributing adults in the world. These characteristics of the participants’ learning experiences in the study programmes reflected values and ways of being fundamental to being Māori which meant the dissonance often experienced in other learning settings was not present and participants could enjoy learning what and how was important to them.

The study notes that L+N in the Eurocentric meaning was addressed in the L+N programmes our participants attended (for example digital skills for work were taught) but the programmes simultaneously embodied broader meanings and purposes of literacy that are not typically foregrounded in L+N policy in Aotearoa. The study contends that the enactment in the programmes of Māori values and ways of being and doing allowed transformative learning to occur, not just for the Māori learners but for everyone. The study demonstrated that L+N learning valued by learners themselves is best defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skills that have meaning and are useful in their lives, can contribute to better lives for whānau, hapū and iwi and can be passed on to future generations. Defined from this viewpoint, valued L+N includes matauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and Māori cultural practices, values and language; foundational skills and knowledge in English missed at school; and specific skills for changing times including work and everyday personal, family and community life that centres whānau (family and extended family) wellbeing.

The study calls for a change in the definition and rationalisation embedded in current (though expired) adult L+N policy from a narrow economy-focused approach to a broad and culturally inclusive definition and rationalisation. This requires detachment from a singular view of what literacy is to a view of literacy as a multiple construct; in other words, seeing literacy as having many meanings. Accompanying this embrace of literacies, Māori perspectives of L+N must move from the margins of adult L+N policy to the centre, led by Māori.

text: In their voice: Adult learners' perspectives on literacy and numeracy, learning and wellbeing In their voice: Adult learners’ perspectives on literacy and numeracy, learning and wellbeing (2023) reports on a case study undertaken in collaboration with Literacy Aotearoa. It has been undertaken as part of a larger project, The expression, experience and transcendence of low skill in Aotearoa New Zealand (2019–2024), the aim of which is to provide policy recommendations to improve life-course trajectories and socio-economic outcomes for adults with low literacy and/or numeracy (L+N) skills in Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa). In their voice: Adult learners’ perspectives on literacy and numeracy, learning and wellbeing examines adults’ experiences as they navigate their lives and develop their L+N repertoire towards their aspirations for themselves and their families. Our focus is mainly on Māori (the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa) adults.

The study has taken place at a time when adult L+N policy is at a crossroads in three senses. Policy over the last 23 years has only marginally improved L+N on the measures government uses with adults, yet it is known that wide-ranging, holistic benefits accrue from L+N education that values and embodies Māori interests and ways of being. Second, the most recent iteration of L+N policy expired in 2017 and is yet to be replaced, opening an opportunity for reconceptualisation and transformation of adult L+N policy. Third, Māori educators have articulated and demonstrated over decades the content and approaches for L+N learning that are of interest and value to Māori adults and whānau (immediate and extended family) but these remain by-and-large systemically unsupported. Nevertheless, government expectation is that all policy in Aotearoa account for wellbeing outcomes as set out in the ‘Living Standards Framework ‘and ‘He Ara Waiora’ (The Treasury, 2021, n. d.).

The standpoint for this study is that the Eurocentric perspective of literacy that predominates in adult L+N policy in Aotearoa – reading and writing alphabetic text, usually in English, and primarily for economic purposes – is inadequate in our bicultural nation. This narrow view of literacy and its purposes severely limits the extent to which Māori expectations for adult L+N education and for Māori prosperity are realised, contrary to the word and the spirit of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi). Viewing literacy through sociocultural, sociomaterial, critical literacies and Indigenous lenses, the study makes a strong case for a much broader understanding of literacy and its purposes to decolonise adult L+N policy for the future. Supporting this aspiration, the study advances the notion of multiple meanings of literacy in which Māori perspectives are valued, upheld and promoted. Māori perspectives are understood as centring on whakapapa (genealogy) which provides the framework for connectedness of all things and is the basis for Māori identity and for comprehending and interpreting the world. 

The research process was informed by Kaupapa Māori (a Māori agenda) to the extent possible. Māori researchers conducted all but one interview and contributed to the thematic analysis of participants’ narratives. Two Pākehā researchers worked closely with the Māori team members and were guided by them. The specific approach for this case study was co-designed with Literacy Aotearoa to ensure participants’ needs and aspirations in the research were met. Twenty adults (15 Māori, one Samoan and four Pākehā) graciously agreed to share their insights and were interviewed individually, in pairs or in a focus group according to their choice. They were aged from early 20s to late 60s and varied in their qualifications and learning challenges. The same number of men and women took part. The following questions directed the interviews and focus groups:

1. What has motivated people/whānau to make change in their lives?
2. What was the pathway that people/whānau have taken to make change in their lives? 
3. What are people’s experiences of their efforts to make change in their lives? 
4. What have been supports or facilitators, barriers or challenges in their efforts? 

The narrative transcripts were analysed from a critical sociocultural and strengths-based standpoint. Findings were described and discussed in relation to the following broad thematic categories:

 1. What matters to people in their lives – views of wellbeing, values and aspirations
 2. Learning and life pathways – experiences of learning, schooling and post school
 3. What enables people to live the lives they choose
 4. What makes it harder for people to live the lives they choose

The study shows the centrality of te ao Māori (Māori worldview) in the lives of Māori adults and whānau. It is fundamental to Māori identity and wellbeing and remains throughout their lives even when they have experienced periods of disconnection. Enacted valuing of te ao Māori within the programmes enabled participants to feel safe to be who they are, excited about their L+N learning, and looking forward to meaningful outcomes for themselves and their whānau despite the oft-present anxiety about returning to a classroom. Relatedly, prioritising the wellbeing of the learners through caring and respectful learning environments is crucial to coming to and staying in L+N learning opportunities which can then provide an opportunity to transcend hurtful past learning experiences and enable participants to see themselves as capable learners and contributing adults in the world. These characteristics of the participants’ learning experiences in the study programmes reflected values and ways of being fundamental to being Māori which meant the dissonance often experienced in other learning settings was not present and participants could enjoy learning what and how was important to them.

The study notes that L+N in the Eurocentric meaning was addressed in the L+N programmes our participants attended (for example digital skills for work were taught) but the programmes simultaneously embodied broader meanings and purposes of literacy that are not typically foregrounded in L+N policy in Aotearoa. The study contends that the enactment in the programmes of Māori values and ways of being and doing allowed transformative learning to occur, not just for the Māori learners but for everyone. The study demonstrated that L+N learning valued by learners themselves is best defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skills that have meaning and are useful in their lives, can contribute to better lives for whānau, hapū and iwi and can be passed on to future generations. Defined from this viewpoint, valued L+N includes matauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and Māori cultural practices, values and language; foundational skills and knowledge in English missed at school; and specific skills for changing times including work and everyday personal, family and community life that centres whānau (family and extended family) wellbeing.

The study calls for a change in the definition and rationalisation embedded in current (though expired) adult L+N policy from a narrow economy-focused approach to a broad and culturally inclusive definition and rationalisation. This requires detachment from a singular view of what literacy is to a view of literacy as a multiple construct; in other words, seeing literacy as having many meanings. Accompanying this embrace of literacies, Māori perspectives of L+N must move from the margins of adult L+N policy to the centre, led by Māori.

year: 2023