Venky Shankararaman

Multiple representation for understanding data structures

Abstract The nature of the nations dynamic workforce and the demand for workers with knowledge-based and information systems skills require with increasing importance the delivery of education with a focus on these areas of activity. Those who seek post-secondary education often are unable to attend class seminars in the traditional campus-oriented learning environment. Advanced information technologies-interactive television for example-are becoming viable and popular extensions of the traditional classroom. The capabilities of these media differ, however, in their characteristics and in their ability to deliver instruction. Case data were collected in order to explore whether and how the computer-based systems construction, in the form of expert systems development by students, can be achieved successfully in a distance learning environment. The results of the study suggest that not only can successful systems development be achieved, but that the hands-on aspect of systems development contributes to increased student attention, learning, and sense of achievement. However, one must be cautious when implementing such projects in a distance environment. Issues which merit careful consideration prior to such an undertaking include the choice of software, direction in the use of the software, and means of instructional support for students who have questions or experience difficulties with the concepts and software.-The nature of the nations dynamic workforce and the demand for workers with knowledge-based and information systems skills require with increasing importance the delivery of education with a focus on these areas of activity. Those who seek post-secondary education often are unable to attend class seminars in the traditional campus-oriented learning environment. Advanced information technologies-interactive television for example-are becoming viable and popular extensions of the traditional classroom. The capabilities of these media differ, however, in their characteristics and in their ability to deliver instruction. Case data were collected in order to explore whether and how the computer-based systems construction, in the form of expert systems development by students, can be achieved successfully in a distance learning environment. The results of the study suggest that not only can successful systems development be achieved, but that the hands-on aspect of systems development contributes to increased student attention, learning, and sense of achievement. However, one must be cautious when implementing such projects in a distance environment. Issues which merit careful consideration prior to such an undertaking include the choice of software, direction in the use of the software, and means of instructional support for students who have questions or experience difficulties with the concepts and software.

Actively linking learning outcomes and competencies to course design and delivery: Experiences from an undergraduate Information Systems program in Singapore

While numerous Engineering education programs seem to have learning outcomes or competencies defined, in many cases, those learning outcomes or competencies do not have any practical relevance for the course design and delivery lifecycle. This conference contribution reports on curriculum and course design and delivery experiences made within the Bachelor of Science (Information Systems Management) degree program (BSc (ISM)) offered by the School of Information Systems (SIS) at the Singapore Management University (SMU). In particular, this paper focuses on the ongoing efforts to actively link program educational objectives, program level learning outcomes and course level competencies to the actual course design and delivery. Using a large third year core course of the BSc (ISM) program (called Enterprise Web Solutions course) as an example, this paper shows how the learning outcomes defined at the program level enable the cross-course alignment within the program, how the course level competencies support the inner-course content alignment, assessment component design and feedback delivery, and how the actual course delivery process enforces changes in course competencies and even changes in the program level learning outcomes.

Change analysis and management: a process model and its application within a commercial setting

This paper discusses the need for systematic and methodical approaches to Change Analysis and Management (CHAM) on software projects. Our main contribution is a framework for CHAM, called the Change-Cycle, which is concerned with identifying and formalising reusable change knowledge. We review current methods and techniques for handling change and discuss the desirable features of a change process. We describe the Change-Cycle in detail and our experience of using if within a commercial setting.

Combining CBR and GA for designing FPGAs

Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are a form of user-programmable logic devices that contain an array of logic gates. As there is no complete set of techniques for designing any FPGA program, researchers have been successful in evolving program designs using genetic algorithms (GAs). However, using GAs to generate software programs for FPGAs faces two main problems, namely scaling and errors. In this paper, we present our on-going research towards overcoming these problems by the integration of GAs with case-based reasoning (CBR). CBR is a problem-solving method that reuses old solutions to solve new problems. Our research work aims to apply CBR to reuse genetically evolved FPGA programs in order to develop larger programs at a reasonable computational expense. This paper describes our preliminary experiments and their results, which are encouraging.

Knowledge-based safety training system (KBSTS)—a prototype implementation

Abstract A computer-based safety training system for process operators must be able to make effective presentation of textual material, test the trainees understanding through quizzes and facilitate plant simulation. The general framework of such a system is presented in an earlier paper ( Computers in Industry , Vol. 17, 1991, pp. 349–358). In this paper, we discuss the development and implementation of a prototype Knowledge-Based Safety Training System based on the framework. The design philosophy, system architecture and the plant modelling methodology are described.

Text-mining approach for verifying alignment of information systems curriculum with industry skills

Managing and developing competencies or skills are vital to professional development of an individual. Many tertiary education institutions are therefore focused on developing curriculum that will help the graduating students acquire skills that are aligned with industry practice. Industry skills frameworks such as Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) define the professionals required for an IT professional. Therefore, mapping the curriculum competencies to the industry skills framework has a dual purpose of aiding the educationists to improve the curriculum, and the students to plan the courses according to their career plan. Existing mapping methods are manual and painstaking processes. In this paper, we present an automated solution based on text analytics techniques to map the curriculum to industry framework and provide a visual based analysis to discover the strengths and weakness of the curriculum. We evaluated our solution model on an undergraduate core curriculum; Bachelor of Science (Information Systems Management) degree program BSc (ISM), offered by the School of Information Systems (SIS), Singapore Management University (SMU) and Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA).

Unifying EA, BPM and SOA through a Synergestic Framework

Organizations have been independently applying EA, BPM and SOA disciplines for business transformation. However, greater value can be gained through the unification of these disciplines by leveraging their synergies. In this paper we propose the approach for unification of EA, BPM and SOA disciplines. We then postulate the need for incorporating IT Governance and Portfolio, Programme and Project Management practices within a reengineered IT organization to benefit optimally from the unified approach. We argue that in order for this unification to be effective, we need to transform the IT organization, and we show an example of such a transformed organization from the financial services sector.

Patient care management using a multi-agent approach

Patient management and medical decision making involves collaboration between a number of health professionals such as nurses, laboratory analysts, general practitioners, specialist consultants and the patients. This is particularly true for chronic diseases where the follow up takes place over a long period of time involving a number of people. We present our ongoing research effort in the application of multi-agent systems to support patient care management through effective collaboration between health professionals. We present a conceptual model of our approach and then describe a prototype system for diabetic patient care management that has been implemented using the Java Agent Development Environment (JADE).

Leveraging competency framework to improve teaching and learning: A methodological approach

A number of engineering education programs have defined learning outcomes and course-level competencies, and conducted assessments at the program level to determine areas for continuous improvement. However, many of these programs have not implemented a comprehensive competency framework to support the actual delivery and assessment of an individual course. This paper highlights how a competency framework can be used across the life cycle of a course to effectively deliver and assess course content, and give valuable, timely feedback to students thus, improving teaching, student motivation and learning. A framework for leveraging course competencies during course design and delivery is presented, and addresses the following five phases of a course, namely, content design, assessment design, content delivery and assessment, assessment results analysis and feedback, and content review. Using a large first-year core course of the BSc (Information Systems Management) program, at School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University, Singapore—called Information Systems Software Foundation (ISSF)—as an example, this paper shows how course competencies support the framework’s five phases. Data from a student survey indicates that the framework has contributed to enhancing their motivation to learn, provides enhanced learning experiences in terms of helping students prepare for each assessment, providing better feedback by raising awareness of what they know and do not know, and revisiting topics that relate to competencies that have not been fully acquired. Results from interviewing instructors revealed that the competency framework provides valuable and timely feedback on how students are performing, and additionally what changes are required to both the content and method of delivery in order to improve teaching. This contributes towards more effectively closing the “teaching and learning loop”.

Measuring student performance and providing feedback using Competency Framework

A number of Computer Science and Information Systems programs have effectively defined learning outcomes, course level competencies, and conducted assessments at the program level to determine areas for continuous improvement. However, many of these programs do not fully leverage the course competencies during the actual delivery and assessment of the course. This paper presents how course competencies can be used to effectively deliver and assess the course content, and give valuable timely feedback to the students. Using a large first year core course of the BSc (Information Systems Management) program (called Object Oriented Application Development course-OOAD) as an example, this paper shows how the course competencies support the five phases of the Course Life Cycle and Competency Framework.