ACADEMIC RECORD

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO TEACHING INTRODUCTORY PROGRAMMING

Pullan, W., Drew, S., & Tucker, S. (2013). An Integrated Approach to Teaching Introductory Programming. Presented at the ICEEE 2013 : e-Learning and e-Technologies in Education, Lodz, Poland (2013).

Abstract - Java Programming Laboratory (JPL) is a cloud based, integrated learning environment used for teaching introductory Java programming at Griffith University, Australia. JPL incorporates a number of features found in other successful programming learning environments and builds upon them with a range of innovative features. Learning to program is a threshold concept area for ICT students and success in this endeavour is paramount for student progression and retention.  JPL provides a database that tracks individual students’ successes and progression through scaffolded programming exercises and assessment items and gives students immediate feedback on their use of programming language syntax and correctness of problem solutions. A data querying and visualisation facility allows analysis of the database to provide real-time performance indicators from the overall course / problem level down to the individual student / specific problem level.  Programming instructors and curriculum designers will find that this facility allows a responsive approach to student engagement, assistance and progression; as well as course problem tuning in a just-in-time manner

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RFID TECHNOLOGY MEASURING EFFICIENCY AND ACCEPTANCE WHEN CAPTURING ATTENDANCE

Tucker, S., Darcy, P. & Stantic, B. (2014). A Comparative Study of RFID Technology Measuring Efficiency and Acceptance when Capturing Attendance. ACSC.

Abstract - The use of Barcodes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has become a ubiquitous means of inventory and asset tracking. When considering the application of monitoring people in an enclosed environment, for example in a classroom or an examination setting, previously employed RFIDenabled solutions have yielded high costs and poor user acceptance. Previous studies have also shown that an important factor which has impacted adoption is privacy issues surrounding Ultra High Frequency (UHF) systems. In this paper, we compare attendance recording techniques and technologies to determine the optimum method focusing on the price, efficiency and user acceptance. The three approaches we have examined include manual recording, barcode scanning and Low-Frequency RFID capturing over a fixed period conducted as a technology integration pilot study. From our initial results, we have found that a low cost RFID reader and tags approach is most favoured for user acceptance, drastically reduced the recording time compared to manual methods and is comparative to the cost of barcode systems.

INTEGRATING RFID TECHNOLOGY WITH INTELLIGENT CLASSIFIERS FOR MEANINGFUL PREDICTION KNOWLEDGE

P. Darcy, S. Tucker and B. Stantic, "Integrating RFID Technology with Intelligent Classifiers for Meaningful Prediction Knowledge," Advances in Internet of Things, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2013, pp. 27-33

Abstract - Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a wireless technology that has been designed to automatically identify tagged objects using a reader. Several applications of this technology have been introduced in past literature such as pet identification and luggage tracking which have increased the efficiency and effectiveness of each environment into which it was integrated. However, due to the ambiguous nature of the captured information with the existence of missing, wrong and duplicate readings, the wide-scale adoption of the architecture is limited to commercial sectors where the integrity of the observations can tolerate ambiguity. In this work, we propose an application of RFID to take the reporting of class attendance and to integrate a predictive classifier to extract high level meaningful information that can be used in diverse areas such as scheduling and low student retention. We conclude by providing an analysis of the core strengths and opportunities that exist for this concept and how we might extend it in future research.