Filipe de Sá-Soares

Assessment frequency in introductory computer programming disciplines

Introductory computer programming disciplines commonly show a significant failure rate. Although several reasons have been advanced for this state of affairs, we argue that for a beginner student it is hard to understand the difference between know-about disciplines and know-how-to-do-it disciplines, such as computer programming. This leads to failure because when students understand they are not able to solve a programming problem it is usually too late to catch all the time meanwhile lost. In order to make students critically analyse their progress, instructors have to provide them with realistic indicators of their performance. To achieve this awareness and to trigger corrective actions in a timely manner there is a need to increase assessment frequency. This paper discusses how this can be done, analyses benefits of the proposed approach and presents data on the effects of changes in assessment frequency for a university first year course in fundamentals of computer programming.

Computer Programming: Fail Fast to Learn Sooner

Computer programming is not only to know about the languages or the processes, it is essentially to know how to do it. This involves a constructivist approach in learning. For a newbie in computer programming it is hard to understand the difference between know-about disciplines and the know-how-to-do-it ones. This leads to failure because when they understand they aren’t able to solve a programming problem it is usually too late to catch all the time meanwhile lost. Our solution is to get them to fail soon enough. This way they still have time to recover from an eventually bad start.

Avaliação da resiliência de sistemas de informação

Over the past years information systems have become one of the fundamental components of business organizations. Nowdays, almost no organization can survive without having an information systems implemented that aids to fulfill the organizations objectives. The use of information systems is associated with the use of technological tools, and growing need to integrate business processes and technology. Given the importance of information system and technology for business, it is important that the organizations can foresee what incident could happen and if they happen, they should be able to respond to any accident or incident to avoid major harm withun the information systems and hence to operations of organization. Thus, it is extremely important that the information systems of organizations be resilient.

Information systems security management key issues in local government

Information systems security plays a central role in the provision of services by Public Administration agencies. To foster a trust climate in the development of e-government, it is important to know the main concerns when managing initiatives to protect information assets. The aim of this research in progress is to identify and prioritize the key issues that Local Government chief information officers face, or believe they will face in the near future, in the domain of information systems security management.

Secure Outsourcing: An Investigation of the Fit between Clients and Providers

In this paper we present an analysis of top security issues related to IT outsourcing. Identification of top issues is important since there is a limited understanding of security in outsourcing relationships. Such an analysis will help decision makers in appropriate strategic planning for secure outsourcing. Our analysis is conducted through a two-phase approach. First, a Delphi study is undertaken to identify the top issues. Second, an intensive study of phase one results is undertaken to better understand the reasons for the different perceptions.

Trust in e-Voting Systems: A Case Study

The act of voting is one of the most representative of Democracy, being widely recognized as a fundamental right of citizens. The method of voting has been the subject of many studies and improvements over time. The introduction of electronic voting or e-voting demands the fulfillment of several requirements in order to maintain the security levels of the paper ballot method and the degree of trust people place in the voting process. The ability to meet those requirements has been called into question by several authors. This exploratory research aims to identify what factors influence voters’ confidence in e-voting systems. A case study was conducted in an organization where such a system has been used in several elections. A total of 51 e-voters were interviewed. The factors that were found are presented and discussed, and proposals for future work are suggested.