Luis Fernandez-Sanz

Gamifying learning experiences: Practical implications and outcomes

Gamification is the use of game design elements and game mechanics in non-game contexts. This idea has been used successfully in many web based businesses to increase user engagement. Some researchers suggest that it could also be used in web based education as a tool to increase student motivation and engagement. In an attempt to verify those theories, we have designed and built a gamification plugin for a well-known e-learning platform. We have made an experiment using this plugin in a university course, collecting quantitative and qualitative data in the process. Our findings suggest that some common beliefs about the benefits obtained when using games in education can be challenged. Students who completed the gamified experience got better scores in practical assignments and in overall score, but our findings also suggest that these students performed poorly on written assignments and participated less on class activities, although their initial motivation was higher.

Personal Skills for Computing Professionals

In this paper, the issues regarding computing professionals and their personal skill required in industry is discussed. A study commissioned by a Spanish private university analyzed the social and organizational image of professional graduates in various fields. This study found that computing people tend to be considered technically competent and efficient, but were seen as outliers in the game of influence within their organization. They typically work in places close to data processing centers, far away from the luxurious offices of top management. In general, human resources specialists tend to believe that computing people must improve their interpersonal competence. In the area of human resources, competencies management has been the rage for the past several years. This approach highlights general personal skills as the key for success in any discipline of the professional world. Different studies have developed lists of what employers, or what people in charge of HR or the main areas of company management, think are the most adequate abilities for high performance in almost every area of business action. Words like teamwork, leadership, and creativity have been touted as desired talents. Relating these concepts to computing professionals is the challenge.A method and apparatus for applying adhesive to the flutes of corrugated board to bond a face thereto. An applicator roll is provided with a uniform thin coating of adhesive by a flexible bar urged toward the surface of the applicator roll. A rider roll is provided adjacent the applicator roll and at the same height to form a vertical space for passage of the board therebetween so that the amount of glue applied to the tip of the flutes is directly proportional to the speed of the applicator roll. The space between the applicator roll and the rider roll is precisely controlled to minimize the amount of crush or deformation of the flutes during the application of the adhesive thereto. The dwell time in which the flutes are in contact with the adhesive layer on the applicator roll is reduced by minimizing the size of the rider roll and wrapping the face substantially around the rider roll. The applicator roll is driven at a speed substantially less than the speed of the rider roll to reduce the amount of adhesive applied to the tip of the flutes. Therefore, the speed of the applicator roll can be automatically adjusted to control the amount of adhesive applied to the tip of the flutes.

Factors with Negative Influence on Software Testing Practice in Spain: A Survey

Software testing is the commonest technique for software quality assurance. It is present in every development project and concentrates a large percentage of effort, there are still not many studies which address the real practice of individuals and organizations. Anyway, practitioners usually agree with the idea that software testing efficiency and effectiveness in their organizations might be improved. Two previous studies in Spain have revealed implemented testing practices in organizations and individual performance of software professionals when designing test cases should be improved. This paper presents the results of a survey designed to know if 23 factors determined by a panel of experts in 2007 may explain this situation of testing practice. Data collected reveal that none of the factors is clearly rejected as a negative influence for testing although some of them are not generally accepted. Exploratory statistical analysis reveals relations between certain pairs of items as well as a new grouping in factors.

On self-adaptation in systems-of-systems

Adaptivity and systems-of-systems (SoS) have always had a close relationship, as it is one of their defining features. Moreover, there is a clear similarity between the requirements of a SoS and those of many adaptive systems, such as autonomic and self-adaptive systems. In recent years, this kind of adaptive systems has been carefully studied; however, they often operate at a very different scale, being smaller than a typical SoS. The common nexus between both perspectives seem to be situated at the architectural level: the same adaptive techniques are recursively applied in different strata in a hierarchical composite. Therefore, the principles embodied in adaptive architectures seem to provide a good basis for the definition and description of SoS. This paper relates those principles to the corresponding structures in software evolution, and suggests to coordinate both through a pace layering strategy.

Multiobjective Testing Resource Allocation Under Uncertainty

Testing resource allocation is the problem of planning the assignment of resources to testing activities of software components so as to achieve a target goal under given constraints. Existing methods build on software reliability growth models (SRGMs), aiming at maximizing reliability given time/cost constraints, or at minimizing cost given quality/time constraints. We formulate it as a multiobjective debug-aware and robust optimization problem under uncertainty of data, advancing the state-of-the-art in the following ways. Multiobjective optimization produces a set of solutions, allowing to evaluate alternative tradeoffs among reliability, cost, and release time. Debug awareness relaxes the traditional assumptions of SRGMs—in particular the very unrealistic immediate repair of detected faults—and incorporates the bug assignment activity. Robustness provides solutions valid in spite of a degree of uncertainty on input parameters. We show results with a real-world case study.

SOFTWARE QUALITY EVALUATION FOR SECURITY COTS PRODUCTS

Increasing demand for security commercial products requires an improvement of methods for evaluating their software quality. Existing standards offer general frameworks but more specific models which reflect the perception of experts and customers as well as the particular characteristics of this type of products are needed. This article presents a method for generating domain-oriented software quality models for specific types of applications. It is applied to the generation of a model for security COTS products based on systematic review of standards, related literature and conclusions of evaluation experiences as well as the statistical analysis of information collected from 203 security experts and practitioners. Results reveal interesting conclusions on the importance given by users to the different quality characteristics of security commercial software products.

Experimental Simulation-Based Performance Evaluation of an SMS-Based Emergency Geolocation Notification System

In an emergency, a prompt response can save the lives of victims. This statement generates an imperative issue in emergency medical services (EMS). Designing a system that brings simplicity in locating emergency scenes is a step towards improving response time. This paper therefore implemented and evaluated the performance of an SMS-based emergency geolocation notification system with emphasis on its SMS delivery time and the systems geolocation and dispatch time. Using the RAS metrics recommended by IEEE for evaluation, the designed system was found to be efficient and effective as its reliability stood within 62.7% to 70.0% while its availability stood at 99% with a downtime of 3.65 days/year.

Creating a Framework for Quality Decisions in Software Projects

This work analyzes the challenges that quality decisions represent to software project managers. Projects’ goals are normally determined by the paradigm of the Iron Triangle of project management. Managers need to know which are the effects of a quality assurance (QA) decision on the three axis: which effects in quality they can get but at what cost and which effects may appear in terms of schedule. This decision problem is clearly related to existing disciplines like SBSE, multi-objective optimization and methods for ROI calculation and value-based software engineering. This survey paper critically reviews the contributions of these disciplines to support QA decisions together with basic information from a pilot survey carried out as part of the developments of the Iceberg project funded by EU Programme Marie Curie.

Software operation time evaluation based on MTM

Many usability approaches have been devised to enable software developers to evaluate and improve user interfaces. Techniques have been focused on design recommendations not always supported by empirical evidences. However, in different environments based on Internet/web browser access, software applications are the support for repetitive tasks (in many cases supporting industrial or engineering processes, e.g. hosted in Intranets) where operation time and learning curve are important items to be controlled. In this paper, a new method for measuring required operation time as basis for improving interaction and interface design is presented. The basis of the method has been inspired on the adaptation of the well-known MTM method for time measurement and task analysis in industrial environments. Empirical evidences support the relationship between the proposed measure and the time required for operations by software users.

Accessible platforms for e‐learning: A case study

This paper presents a technical solution to improve accessibility in e‐learning platforms. The guidelines for the solution were concluded from the analysis of literature with the goal of achieving scalable, reusable, and easily manageable platforms. The method has been tested through a case study conducted on Moodle where a sample of the target population experimented it through several Engineering Education courses resulting in a high degree of perceived usefulness. We also found out that deaf students encountered less problems accessing the information than blind students due to different reasons.