waashk/acm huggingface dataset:
development of a systems analysis and design course  cleveland state university is an urban university, with the department of computer and information science residing in the college of business administration. the major objective of the department's curriculum is to educate students for productive roles in industry, primarily in the development and implementation of business information systems. several years ago, critical comments from both the business community and the students themselves gave strong indication that the courses in systems analysis and design were not fulfilling this objective. not only were the courses not teaching state of the art techniques, they tended to vary in content considerably from quarter to quarter, depending on the instructor.  the subject "systems analysis and design" covers a wide variety of material, far too much to be dealt with comprehensively in any reasonable time span. it was felt that the objectives for the courses could best be met by concentrating on structured analysis and design methodologies (particularly as they applied to the development of business information systems for computers), and by establishing well-defined syllabi for the courses. the material was divided into two courses, the first covering analysis and the second covering design.  donald g. golden
using a familiar package to demonstrate a difficult concept: using an excel spreadsheet model to explain the concepts of neural networks to undergraduates  a course introducing neural networks to second year undergraduates with mixed disciplinary backgrounds needed a tool to reduce the overheads of simplifying the complex mathematical and programming skills normally associated with the subject. an excel model was produced that had the added benefit of reducing anxiety, as all students taking the course are competent with excel spreadsheets.  william fone
the effect of a preliminary programming and problem solving course on performance in a traditional programming course for computer science majors  a preliminary pascal course which emphasized problem solving was designed for incoming computer science majors who were identified as being at risk. in addition, students in the required pascal course could transfer back to the preliminary course prior to the administration of the first examination. students in the preliminary course were paired with comparable freshman majors from the preceeding academic year. paired t-tests revealed significantly higher grades in the required course for those students who had previously completed the preliminary course. the preliminary course also served as a filter; approximately 43% of the students did not subsequently attempt the required course. sex differences in persistence were also noted.  patricia f. campbell
the quality of managerial training in telecommunications: a comparison of the marketing and information systems managers' viewpoints  this paper compares the results of two studies - the first study targeted the marketing manager while the information systems (is) managers were the focus of the second study. both studies questioned the respondents about the quality of their training in thirty telecommunications issues. what was most surprising was the total dissatisfaction with the training in telecommunications voiced by both the marketing and is managers. the marketing managers did not rate their training on even one issue as average or above. only one issue, local area networks (lan), was rated as average or above average in the quality of their training by the is managers. training in the currently used applications was rated the highest while training in the advanced or emerging applications was rated the lowest. when these applications are used innovatively, an organization can capture a strategic advantage. self-study, organizational programs, educational institutions and professional agencies were the primary sources of the training. training programs provided by professional agencies were rated the highest in quality while the organizational in-house programs were rated the weakest.  karen ketler john r. willems
consulting methods used by the text consultants at a large research laboratory  this paper will cover the methods used for consulting and teaching by the text consultants at a large research laboratory. text consulting, at this laboratory, has existed for more then ten years and many changes have occurred during this time. some of the changes that will be discussed are supported software, number of users and their changing needs. we will also cover the day to day activities of the consultants, including the methods that have been used in past years, and discoveries and conclusions that affect the way we consult today.  when and why we use formal teaching methods will be discussed, including our special secretarial training courses. the secretarial training course is, on the whole, one-on-one instruction. why this course came into existence and the methods used (past and present) will also be mentioned.  elizabeth a. mcauliffe
using visualization tools to teach compiler design  a project-based compiler course presents several challenges to the student- implementor. in addition to the "book learning about" various compiler topics, a student must assimilate a large amount of information about the compiler's implementation. furthermore he or she must be able understand each source- program construct at a number of different representation levels. finally, the student must apply that knowledge during implementation and debugging of a compiler.  this paper describes a pair of packages that employ java's graphical capabilities so that a program may be visualized at various stages of the compilation process. we argue that these tools are effective in helping students understand the transformation process from source program to machine code. we summarize our experience in using these tools in the context of a project-based compiler course. we also discuss other features of java that make it well-suited for a student compiler project.  steven r. vegdahl
science, computational science, and computer science: at a crossroads  we describe computational science as an interdisciplinary approach to doing science on computers. our purpose is to introduce computational science as a legitimate interest of computer scientists.  we present a possible foundation for computational science. these foundations show that there is a need to consider computational aspects of science at the scientific level. we next present some obstacles to computer scientists' participation in computational science. we see a cultural bias in computer science that inhibits participation. finally, we indicate areas of mutual interests between computational science and computer science.  d. e. stevenson
computer organization in the breadth-first course  the topic of computer organization in the breadth-first cs course is addressed. a set of materials and a particular ordering of sub-topics is suggested to maximize the "cognitive hooks" for students. a new entry point to computer organization based on a natural physical metaphor of knobs and switches is introduced. the k&amp;s; model 1 machine simulator is developed based on the knob and switch metaphor. the k&amp;s; simulator starts as a simple datapath and is built up in several carefully planned increments until a complete stored program machine is constructed. the use of the k&amp;s; machine simulator is placed in context by a short discussion of how it is used to motivate the investigation of binary representation, arithmetic, logic gates and combinational logic circuits. an intuitive model for cmos technology is introduced and used to demonstrate the tie between logic gates and transistors in the computer. finally, some qualitative observations are offered and improvements are suggested.  grant w. braught
computer science curriculum recommendations for small colleges(panel session)  panelists will report on the work of the acm education board's ad hoc committee to revise and update the small college curriculum recommendations published by acm in 1973. the revised report's completion is expected by the end of 1983.  a preliminary report will be given which addresses topics including suggested curriculum content, resources needed, implementation problems, and other matters of concern to small colleges attempting to develop and/or maintain a viable computer science program. audience response will be welcome to provide input to the committee.  john beidler lillian cassel richard austing
math link: linking curriculum, instructional strategies, and technology to enhance teaching and learning math link was a professional development project involving louisiana state university and the west feliciana parish school district in the united states. math link focused on teachers in grades three through six in the entire district and included over ninety percent of the teachers in the district. the teachers participated in a three week summer workshop directed by a professional staff that included two elementary mathematics specialists, a technology specialist, a mathematics specialist/site coordinator from the school district, a mathematics education professor, and an educational technology professor.during the summer, the educators worked on four major components: technology tools to support learning: mathematics standards, instructional methodology, and assessment; team building and collaboration; and instructional models that they would implement. during the academic year, a site coordinator provided instructional and resource support for all the teachers. the site coordinator also monitored progress and worked directly with the university staff directing the project. four day-long workshops were also held during the school year. during the following summer, the educators worked at the university for two more weeks to formalize their instructional models and curriculum and plan for the future. harriet g. taylor
the student consultant...supporting the microcomputer labs  efficient and effective support of the microcomputer labs consists of one major component, the student consultant. student employees must be familiar with the wide base of software and hardware supported by the computer center. the student staff is also responsible for maintaining the physical security of the software and hardware within the labs. motivating the student employee and providing a state-of-the-art computing environment requires creativity to accommodate the stagnant budget. this paper outlines the importance of scheduling, training staff and maintaining the microcomputer labs at indiana state university.  nancy j. bauer
i lift the lamp beside the golden door]  from applications programming and systems design, from teaching computer science and latin, from business and government, they're coming to user services.  "keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips. "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, i lift the lamp beside the golden door!"  the familiar passage above, inscribed on the pedestal of the statue of liberty, can very easily be applied to user services:  "well- established professions, keep your famous sons and daughters of status. give me your over-burdened teachers. your programmers yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. send these, who do not fit, to me, i light the way to golden opportunities!"  immigrants we have left the ancient lands and arrived in user services. where have we come from? where are we now? where do we go from here?  john major
computer information systems and organization structure  a study of computer information systems and management (cism) is described and selected results relating to changes in organizational structure in eight organizations are presented. in five of the organizations no changes in formal structure accompanied the introduction of cis. where organizational changes did occur, the existing structure of the organization was usually reinforced. these findings suggest that cis is a flexible tool that is compatible with a variety of organizational design options and not a cause of design per se.  daniel robey
a new breed of computer professional the information specialist  organizational concern with providing information for effective decision making has brought about new systems concepts, i.e., decision support systems, and information centers. this paper describes a new breed of computer professional, the information specialists (isp). the role of the isp is developing in response to the requirements of the new concepts, in particular those of the decision support system. the roles performed by an isp along with the skills and knowledge required are also discussed.  donald l. davis
a cognitive framework for knowledge in informatics: the case of object- orientation knowledge is a function of both skills and understanding. the interaction between instrumental and relational understanding is necessary for construction of further knowledge. constructivist theory is used to analyse the learning process in informatics. a framework for describing different types / levels of knowledge is used to describe students and professors statements about the concept of object-orientation.the findings of this study may have implications for teaching object-orientation, especially in introductory courses. christian holmboe
an upper level computer science curriculum  in response to national curricular trends, the computer science curriculum at the university of north florida has undergone three iterations since its inception in 1972. experiences with the development of the north florida curriculum coupled with recent exposure to the current thinking of the ieee-cs curriculum committee motivate this paper.  the curriculum as outlined in this paper owes its origins to the earlier acm and ieee-cs model curricula.  y. s. chua c. n. winton
summer high school computer workshop  although the use of computers in secondary schools is rapidly increasing, there still remain many schools (particularly the smaller rural schools) which have no computer access suitable for classroom instruction. providing educational opportunities in computers for students from these schools is a need which often can be easily filled by the university. the computer science department at bowling green state university has offered a week-long computer summer workshop for the past five summers aimed at filling this need. the workshops have been very successful, introducing the world of computers to many talented area high schoolers who would not otherwise have had the opportunity. as the use of computers in the secondary schools increases and changes, the role of this workshop will also change, but there will always be a need for special learning opportunities, such as this workshop, which the university can provide to supplement the computer education in the secondary schools.  gerald a. jones
a gap in the path to professional competence (panel session)  as our reliance on computers increases, so does the number and complexity of the applications and the number and quality of trained professionals that will be needed to support further progress. in the face of this evident and increasing need, we must think clearly about our expectations for computing professionals of all sorts and the way they are trained. a gulf is growing between the skills that students build at a university and the needs of industry. this panel examines the nature and extent of the problem and ways to address it.  ralph morelli moshe cohen james chiarella
an introduction to java3d (tutorial presentation)  java3d is a top- down approach for building 3d interactive programs which run in a web browser or as stand-alone applications. built on top of the java programming language, it uses a scene graph hierarchy as the basic structure. various geometrical representations, animation/interaction, lighting, texture, collision detection, and sound are supported.  java3d offers an alternative approach to teaching the traditional first semester computer graphics course. typically such courses cover basic low level algorithms such as line drawing and clipping which can take a significant amount of time to learn, implement, and integrate into a full rendering system. as a result, students gain little or no experience actually building real 3d applications. java3d can change this. students who are already well versed in java can quickly begin writing fun interactive 3d applications, thus providing context and motivation for later understanding the low level algorithms. java3d is also a natural choice since java itself is being adopted as the first computer language in more and more colleges. it has the added advantage that it is freely available and can run on a standard pc.  this workshop will present an overview of the java3d scene-graph hierarchy. classes for building shapes, textures, and lighting, as well as for creating behaviors will be described. many sample programs will also be presented.  genevieve orr
equipment maintenance as a user service  equipment maintenance services are not usually considered as a user service. these services are, however, important for user satisfaction as equipment malfunctions cause frustration and can result in loss of information. during the past two years, the academic computer center at washburn university has developed maintenance laboratory facilities and a maintenance staff of one full-time person. the impetus to do this came from the realization that acquiring off-campus maintenance was becoming increasingly costly with little or no control over the quality and timeliness of the maintenance services procured off-campus. also, there was no program of preventative maintenance which let to equipment failure during classes with the associated frustration of both faculty and students. the growth in the population of microcomputers and terminals connected to a minicomputer required that some program be developed to maintain the computing equipment and build and maintain data communications networks.  this paper will point out that maintenance, while often not considered a user service, is in fact an increasingly important user service as the user community expands and users come to look upon access to a computer as a basic service. the paper will discuss what maintenance services are provided at washburn and the policies which govern the access to these services. it will also cover the benefits and problems associated with doing your own maintenance and how some strategies for getting maximum benefit from the resources which are allocated for maintenance activities.  david oliver david bainum
a modern curriculum for an ancient culture  this paper reports on one such effort. the senior author was invited by the first ministry of machine building to review a computer science program which had been established along the lines of the ieee model curriculum [4]. the work of the two other authors and their colleagues forms the bulk of the reminder of the presentation. this discussion of a particular program presents one of the ways in which the prc is "catching up". a more complete review is provided in another document [5].  robert m. aiken chien f. chao yi fen zhu
java: hercules or godzilla  this workshop will provide an overview of java sufficient to cover the first half semester of a beginning course. we will focus on using and defining java objects, java's control constructs, using it graphics capabilities, and responding to events. each topic will incorporate, a hands-on component using graphics to reinforce ideas. it will be assumed that all participants have, experience with a programming language. the principles of object-oriented programming will be introduced, thus, knowledge of an object-oriented language is not required. however, the pace may seem quick for those with little object experience.  ed epp
distributed training: the msu computer laboratory departmental trainer program's second year  with the advent of microcomputers, distributed computing is here to stay. with distributed computing comes distributed expertise; people must learn to run their own computing centers, no matter what the size of the computers. in trying to deal with increased demands for training in a limited-resource environment, we have taken the natural step of distributing the responsibility for the training. with appropriate training materials, a person who knows how to use a program can lead someone else through the process of learning. the training materials must be sufficiently detailed to include training on all major features of the software that people regularly use and include conceptual material that takes the place of lectures. the commitment to distributed training must be real. sufficient staff must be devoted to developing training materials because the materials must continue to evolve with the software it teaches and new materials must be created to meet the demands for training on new software.  bill brown marilyn everingham
micro labs and laser printing: scenarios and solutions  with the advent of laser printers like the hp laserjet and the apple laserwriter, very high quality output using laser technology is readily accessible to microcomputer users. people trying this method of printing quickly decide that it is the method of choice for most applications. however, the popularity of laser printers in public sites can, if unregulated, quickly lead to overuse of what is a relatively high-cost method of printing. this results in excess strain on both the equipment and the operating budget.  panel members from various universities and colleges will relate their experience with laser printing in academic microcomputing facilities. discussion questions will include:  do they offer free laser printing? if so, do they restrict use to final copies and how do they enforce this restriction? are laser printers attached to stand-alone print stations or are they accessible from a network? are there other letter quality printers in the same lab? how much do they spend on maintenance and operations of the laser printer?  if they charge for the use of microcomputing facilities, do they assess a lab- usage fee, or change for printing only? do they change for all letter-quality printers or only for laser printing? do they charge by means of a vend-a-card box attached to the printer, or do they accept cash per page? how much they charge?  what problems have they had, either despite charging, because of it, or because they don't charge?  the discussion of and answers to these questions will be invaluable to those developing new microcomputing facilities and should be of interest to those running existing labs as well.  anne webster donna tatro cindy sanford linda downing lisa covi
the changing role of the user in application systems development  user participation in developing application systems has evolved rapidly over the past ten years. the user's role has changed from a passive one, with little or no involvement in data processing and computer technology, to that of an active partner in designing and successfully implementing a system. in this paper, the authors examine the changing extent of user involvement, the effect of this involvement on user and data processing organizational structures and systems development techniques, and the outlook for the future. by exploring the pros and cons of this expanded interaction between user and data processing personnel, the authors show that, for the most part, this symbiotic relationship benefits both the institution and the quality and success of the application systems.  the authors cite past and present experiences of users and data processing professionals in application systems development. the authors themselves have recently worked on a joint application system development project.  ilene v. kanoff keith e. ickes