Mats Daniels

Automatic verification of real-time communicating systems by constraint-solving

In this paper, an algebra of timed processes with real-valued clocks is presented, which serves as a formal description language for real-time communicating systems. We show that requirements such as “a process will never reach an undesired state” can be verified by solving a simple class of constraint systems on the clock-variables. A complete method for reachability analysis associated with the language is developed, and implemented as an automatic verification tool based on constraint-solving techniques. Finally as examples, we study and verify the safety-properties of Fischer’s mutual exclusion protocol and a railway crossing controller.

RUNESTONE, an international student collaboration project

Students will eventually work in a global market; what better preparation can be provided for international collaboration than...international collaboration? The RUNESTONE project is developing and evaluating the notion of incorporating international group projects into the undergraduate computer science curriculum. RUNESTONE adds new dimensions to student teamwork, requiring students to handle collaboration that is remote, cross-cultural and linguistically challenging. RUNESTONE is a three year project, with the prototype version running in Winter 1998 with students at Uppsala University, Sweden, and Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA. The 1998 pilot study will be followed by a full-scale implementation in 1999 and another in 2000.

An international student/faculty collaboration: the Runestone project

Students of today need to be prepared to work in globally distributed organizations. Part of that preparation involves teaching students to work effectively in teams to solve problems. Students also must be able to work with individuals located at distant sites where there is no or very little face-to-face interaction. The Runestone project, an international collaboration between two universities, adds new dimensions to student teamwork, requiring students to handle collaboration that is remote, cross-cultural, and technically challenging. Runestone is a three-year project funded by the Swedish Council for the Renewal of Undergraduate Education. A pilot study in 1998 was followed by a full-scale implementation in 1999 with another implementation ongoing in 2000.Each time this global cooperation project is run, both students and faculty learn important lessons in how to work with each other in a virtual environment. This paper discusses both student and faculty learning outcomes for Runestone 1999.

Development of professional competencies in engineering education

This paper reports on a study conducted at a Swedish university in which engineering students reflect on their attainment of professional competencies using generic graduate attributes as a guiding framework. In this study, the nine graduate attributes from Curtin University in Perth, Australia were used as this framework. The Swedish students were asked to reflect on their understanding of the competencies, and to select three on which to focus over the course of the semester. Students predominantly selected professional skills, thinking skills, information skills, communication skills, and intercultural understanding. In a subsequent reflection, students were asked to self-assess improvement of their chosen attributes. Results showed that while the teaching staff judged that the students had further developed the competencies, students lacked a framework to see this for themselves and reported difficulty in reflecting on progress in professional competency attainment. This suggests that a more holistic approach should be taken earlier in the degree to focus student attention on professional competencies, and provide ongoing experience reflecting on progressive achievement.

Student evaluation in an international collaborative project course

Grading is a frequently discussed and contentious issue. There are several views on how best to do grading and deciding how to grade students who participate in a joint international project-oriented course is far from trivial. This paper examines some in-situ observations and concerns, here referred to as myths, which arose during the project. Some statistical information extracted from the assessment data is used to examine the truth and relevance of these myths.

Reflections on International Projects in Undergraduate CS Education

Educational methods race to keep pace with the opportunities afforded by technology, and in computer science we need methods that tie together the diverse aspects of the discipline and set them in ...

Multi-level project work; a study in collaboration

This is a description of our latest effort to find new education forms. We have a long experience with running large projects (Daniels and Asplund, 1999), but wanted to expand the concept into an interdisciplinary setting. By combing three different student groups we have been able to formulate a project aiming at building robots from scratch that will participate in the robot soccer championships. This complex project resembles a realistic industry development that covers the, for us, usual computer science aspect, as well as interfacing with electronic hardware and mechanical construction.

Building a rigorous research agenda into changes to teaching

Building research into teaching has particular value in the current academic climate; this paper considers why and reflects on the particular need for Computer Science education research in its own ...

Using groupware for international collaborative learning

The paper reports the lessons learned from a two year collaborative learning trial between students at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and Uppsala University. The trials took place using a combination of email and a custom developed Lotus Notes/sup TM/ database. The first trial involved a case study in which students performed different roles in designing a software solution for an Auckland based nailcare distributor. The second trial built upon the knowledge base of the earlier trial, and required students to evaluate and rank the previous design proposals. A theoretical model developed from the group support systems literature guided some of the changes in the second trial. The software, the collaboration process and the evaluation methods evolved over the course of these trials. The challenges of creating global student communities within a short collaboration window in existing courses of study are discussed. Further extensions to this research are proposed and some general recommendations are made.

On valuing peers : theories of learning and intercultural competence

This paper investigates the links between the contributing student pedagogy and other forms of peer-mediated learning models, e.g. open-ended group projects and communities of practice. We find that a fundamental concern in each of these models is the attribution of value; specifically, recognition of the value of learning that is enabled by peer interaction, and the way in which value is created and assessed within a learning community. Value is also central to theories of intercultural competence. We examine the role that the concept of value plays in the development cycle of intercultural competence and relate it to its function in peer-mediated learning models. We also argue that elements of social learning theory, principally recent work on value creation in communities of practice, are very relevant to the construction and assessment of the type of activities proposed within the contributing student pedagogy. Our theoretical analysis is situated within the context of a globally distributed open-ended group project course unit and our conclusions are illustrated with reference to student practice in this environment.