Abstract: Provenance refers to the entire amount of information, comprising all the elements and their relationships, that contribute to the existence of a piece of data. The knowledge of provenance data allows a great number of benefits such as verifying a product, result reproductivity, sharing and reuse of knowledge, or assessing data quality and validity. With such tangible benefits, it is nowonder that in recent years, research on provenance has grown exponentially, and has been applied to a wide range of different scientific disciplines. Some years ago, managing and recording provenance information were performed manually. Given the huge volume of information available nowadays, the manual performance of such tasks is no longer an option. The problem of systematically performing tasks such as the understanding, capture and management of provenance has gained significant attention by the research community and industry over the past decades. As a consequence, there has been a huge amount of contributions and proposed provenance systems as solutions for performing such kinds of tasks. The overall objective of this paper is to plot the landscape of published systems in the field of provenance, with two main purposes. First, we seek to evaluate the desired characteristics that provenance systems are expected to have. Second, we aim at identifying a set of representative systems (both early and recent use) to be exhaustively analyzed according to such characteristics. In particular,we have performed a systematic literature reviewof studies, identifying a comprehensive set of 105 relevant resources in all. The results show that there are common aspects or characteristics of provenance systems thoroughly renowned throughout the literature on the topic. Based on these results, we have defined a six-dimensional taxonomy of provenance characteristics attending to: general aspects, data capture, data access, subject, storage, and non-functional aspects. Additionally, the study has found that there are 25 most referenced provenance systems within the provenance context. This study exhaustively analyzes and compares such systems attending to our taxonomy and pinpoints future directions.

Abstract:  In today’s globalized world, it seems important that students can telecollaborate in a team by making effective use ofinformation and communication technologies. This collaboration format can positively influence their academicperformance, enhance engineering student interest in the subject, and improve skills such as communication andteamwork. In this work a collaboration model between engineering students, and also between instructors, from twodistant traditional universities is presented and analyzed. Potentialities, challenges and key elements for a viable experienceare identified, that would be capable of achieving the proposed objectives, and sustainable over time. Considering theseactivities as projects, instructors are actively involved in the initiation, planning, monitoring and controlling, and closing ofthese activities. On the other hand, students are those who must perform scheduled tasks. This article identifies thedifficulties and potentials for each of these roles.

Abstract: In this work, we explore the differences between proctored and unproctored Internet administration for a Basque language low-stakes test considering demographic factors such as age, gender, and knowledge level in the subject. To this aim, we have developed an ad hoc application that allows us to establish a set of filters and techniques that successfully control dropout and non-serious test takers, two of the main threats of low-stakes testing. A total of 2,095 sessions has been registered. The obtained results show that age and knowledge level influences the execution of the test, whereas gender does not. Moreover, it is made explicit that conducting the test in an unproctored manner redounds to the achievement of better results. Finally, even if the time needed to complete the test is comparable in both cases, it is better invested in the unproctored version, i.e. less time is devoted to easy questions and more time is devoted to difficult questions if compared to the proctored version. These results seem to indicate that the unproctored version measures better the knowledge level for language low-stakes tests because they are carried out in an environment that is familiar to the examinee, and they lack the pressure of proctored testing.

Abstract: This study analyzes the impact of adding a review exercises module to an online tool used in a software engineering degree program. The objective of the module is to promote students’ self-learning effort to improve their performance. We also intend to determine if this new feature has any effect on the amount of code copies detected in lab sessions when using the same online tool. Two groups of students were compared quantitatively: the first group used the tool exclusively during lab sessions, whereas the second group had the option of employing the tool's new module to enhance their study. The tool allows us to collect interesting data related to the focus of this research: supplementary work completed voluntarily by students and the percentage of students copying others’ code during compulsory lab sessions. The results show that the students in the second group achieved better academic results and copied less in lab sessions. In the second group, the students who invested more effort in doing revision exercises and copied less in lab sessions obtained better results; and, interestingly, the effort invested in completing review exercises did not seem to compensate for the learning effort avoided by copying others’ exercises during lab sessions. The results show the advantages of a tool used with a dual orientation: compulsory and voluntary. Mandatory usage in lab sessions establishes some milestones that, eventually, act as an incentive fostering learning, while voluntary use reinforces students’ perception of the tool's usefulness in terms of learning.

Presentation (spanish): Video.

Abstract: It is important for both computer science academics and students to clearly comprehend the differences between academic and professional perspectives in terms of assessing a deliverable. It is especially interesting to determine whether the aspects deemed important to evaluate by a computer science expert are the same as those established by academics and students. Such potential discrepancies are indicative of the unexpected challenges students may encounter once they graduate and begin working. In this article, we propose a learning activity in which computer science students made a video about their future profession after hearing an expert in the field who discussed about the characteristics and difficulties of his or her work. Academics, professional experts, and students assessed the videos by means of a questionnaire. This article reports a quantitative study of the results of this experience, which was conducted for three academic years. The study involved 63 students, 6 academics, and 4 computing professionals with extensive experience, and 14 videos were evaluated. Professional experts proved to be the most demanding in the assessment, followed by academics. The least demanding group was the students. These differences are more salient if more substantial issues are examined. The experts focused more on aspects of content, whereas the student preferred to concentrate on format. The academics’ focus falls between these two extremes. Understanding how experts value knowledge can guide educators in their search for effective learning environments in computing education.

Abstract: In this article, we present an integrated instructive methodological approach. We begin with a set of proposals for educational innovation oriented towards active learning that have been tested separately and implemented for various subjects in courses of different levels. The approach integrates the following elements: (1) the dynamic generation of digital content by students and their integration into shared knowledge bases of the subjects involved; (2) the systematic use of quality content, mainly in video format, distributed through online platforms as support for flipped classrooms; (3) peer evaluation to support the development of reflective and selfcritical capacities; and (4) systematic collaboration with students and professors from other universities to develop the enumerated activities. The methodology has been tested in a variety of subjects, thanks to its flexibility. In all experienced cases, it has been shown that it is feasible for students to generate enough valuable and reusable content. In addition, students have expressed high levels of satisfaction with the implementation of the proposal.

PDF (open access)

Abstract: In recent years, research on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) management has grown exponentially, giving rise to a multitude of heterogeneous approaches addressing any aspect concerning it. In this paper, we plot the landscape of published works related with KPIs management, organizing and synthesizing them by means of a unified taxonomy that encompasses the aspects considered by other proposals, and it captures the overall characteristics of KPIs. Since most of the literature centers on the definition of KPIs, we mainly focus on such an aspect of KPIs management. Our work is intended to provide remarkable benefits such as enhancing the understanding of KPIs management, or helping users decide about the most suitable solution for their requirements.

Abstract: Model Driven Engineering promotes the use of models as the main artifacts in software and system development. Verification and validation of models are key activities to ensure the quality of the system under development. This paper presents a framework to reason about the satisfiability of class models described using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The proposed framework allows us to identify possible design flaws as early as possible in the software development cycle. More specifically, we focus on UML Class Diagrams annotated with Object Constraint Language (OCL) invariants, which are considered to be the main artifacts in Object-Oriented analysis and design for representing the static structure of a system. We use the Constraint Logic programming (CLP) paradigm to reason about UML Class Diagrams modeling foundations. In particular, we use Formula as a model-finding and design space exploration tool. We also present an experimental Eclipse plug-in, which implements our UML model to Formula translation proposal following a Model Driven Architecture (MDA) approach. The proposed framework can be used to reason, validate, and verify UML Class Diagram software designs by checking correctness properties and generating model instances using the model exploration tool Formula.

Abstract: Contribution: Internships designed to provide training and an initial period of contact with industry, prior to a computer science engineering capstone project, have a very positive impact on both industry and academic capstone projects.  

 Background: Internships and capstone projects are widely used to integrate work-related learning in computer engineering curricula. Both activities offer numerous benefits  for students, industry and academia. Although their effects have been extensively studied separately, the interaction between them remains unexplored.

Research Questions: What is the effect of internships on the development of a subsequent capstone project?

Methodology: The hypothesis was that the completion of an internship will have positive effects on several aspects of the capstone projects: (1) improved student competencies, (2) improved capstone project outcomes, and (3) decreased supervision effort. Further, these positive effects were expected to be greater in industry-based projects than in academic projects. The hypothesis was tested through a quantitative study of data collected from 274 computer science engineering capstone projects. A period of time with internships was compared with another period without internships, and differentiating between academic and industry projects.

Findings: Internships prior to capstone projects improve student skills in autonomy, technology, methodology and project management; increase the complexity and technological novelty of the resulting projects; and reduce advisor involvement in practical (technology, execution) and keep-the-project-alive issues, and increase advisor involvement in monitoring student work (meetings, reports and initial arrangements). This effect was observed in both industrial and academic projects.

Abstract: A capstone project is an extensive learning experience traditionally developed during a student’s final academic year. Assessing such a complex assignment involves several challenges and is usually based upon the evaluations of at least two different people: the capstone project advisor, and one or more other assessors. Quantitative studies comparing only different assessors' grades and qualitative studies investigating the origin of possible discrepancies have been conducted. In both cases, contradictory conclusions were reached. The objective of this study is to analyze the factors that are given consideration by assessors of engineering capstone projects and the influence of these factors on the discrepancies between different assessors’ opinions of the same project. This study quantitatively examined 162 computer science engineering capstone projects developed by one student and supervised by one advisor. Each project was assessed by the project advisor and a committee. For each project, the advisor and the committee were asked to complete an additional questionnaire on product characteristics, student competences, and project supervision. Competences demonstrated by the student were found to be the most relevant element when a capstone project was evaluated by the advisor and the committee; product characteristics were found to be second in influence. Furthermore, advisors grant minor significance to the advisor-involvement component. Discrepancies between grades seem to be associated with those aspects to which one assessor has access, while the other does not, such as student skills demonstrated during project development or their performance in the oral defense. Both the advisor’s and the committee’s perspectives are important in the assessment of this complex task and they complement one another.

Presentation (spanish): Video.