Debra L. Smarkusky

Competency matrices for peer assessment of individuals in team projects

Assessing individual contributions on team projects and promoting the maturation of team knowledge skills in students is difficult. Traditional assessment tools score an individual over a set of categories that are loosely defined and lack well-defined expectations. Further, for curriculum in which team-based learning is a primary component, the traditional approach to assessment fails to provide visibility to the students as to how their team-knowledge skills should mature as they progress. In this paper we present a competency matrix based approach that defines expected performance for required team knowledge skills, where assessment is performed relative to the expectations for the current level of the student. This competency matrix not only provides guidance and clarification for students learning these skills as they mature in their academic careers but also provides a foundation for self and peer assessments. A comparison survey was distributed to students at various levels within the curriculum currently using a traditional assessment instrument. While the students recognized that the competency-based approach was more involved and time consuming, the results of that survey demonstrate that students have a stronger preference for the competency matrix approach. We also include a discussion of the benefits and difficulties associated with this model and future work.

Hierarchical performance modeling for distributed system architectures

Performance modeling and evaluation techniques are essential when designing and implementing distributed software systems. Constructing performance models for such systems can require significant effort. This paper presents Hierarchical Performance Modeling as a technique to model performance for different layers of abstraction. Once the system architecture and software functionality have been specified, this model supports performance model generation for the evaluation and analysis of computation delays of software processes, communication delays of distributed software architectures, and hardware platform alternatives. A simplified example is presented to illustrate the concepts of the Hierarchical Performance Model.

An interdisciplinary approach in applying fundamental concepts

Software applications and music compositions share a similar development process. This paper summarizes the results of a joint effort between faculty in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology and the Department of Music to develop an innovative and interdisciplinary course for non-majors that incorporates music composition, programming, and animation. Active learning exercises using Alice, Flash and Sibelius provide students with an opportunity to express their creativity and enhance fundamental concepts in both disciplines. In addition to the development lifecycles, students learn fundamental programming concepts (variables, control structures, methods and event-handling), animation principles (design, layout, specialized effects, actions, and sounds) and music theory (scales, intervals, chords, scores and digital playback). Our goal is to create a learning environment where students are excited about using technology to create musical animations. We are in the process of having this course approved as a General Education course to recruit non-majors into our program.

A framework for designing performance-oriented distributed systems

A methodology and related software design environment for the development of performance-engineered object-oriented distributed systems is essential. In this research, a performance-engineered design framework that utilizes the system architecture and object-oriented software design techniques of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the architecture of the Hierarchical Performance Model (HPM) is developed to assist designers in evaluating alternatives for performance enhancement. The developed framework integrates the architectural, structural and behavioral components of an application with the performance parameters required for performance model generation and evaluation during the software design process. Performance views for the presentation of performance information and selection of critical path scenarios along with an example are briefly described.