With the goal of lessening barriers to the learning of advanced programming techniques, we put into place a trial which required students to get involved with online communities of programmers. Using a course assignment on software architecture styles, students had study a problem, find basis for a tentative approach, and discuss it online with programmers. The expectation was that students would find motivation for their studies from both the contact with communities of programmers, and from having to study and reflect upon their problem well enough to be able to draw the interest of members of those communities. We present the strategy we used, the developments and outcomes, and ideas for further application of this approach.

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Peer-assessed online collaborative writing is of growing importance for higher education. Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of collected data, this work presents the results of a case study in a graduate civil engineering course at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal. After an overall presentation of the learning activity, it examines students’ attitudes towards web-based peer assessment and identifies which factors are related to students’ use and appreciation of feedback. In addition, an analysis of the type of feedback is presented in an attempt to evaluate students’  written communication skills. The results of this study provide indications on how to improve the design and implementation of future web-based peer assessment tasks and raise questions on the effectiveness of peer/teacher grading in the use of feedback

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Development of a mechanical maintenance training simulator inOpenSimulator for F-16 aircraft engines AbstractMechanical maintenance of F-16 engines is carried out as a team effort involving 3 to 4 skilled engine technicians, but the details of its procedures and requisites change constantly, to improve safety, optimize resources, and respond to knowledge learned from field outcomes. This provides a challenge for development of training simulators, since simulated actions risk becoming obsolete rapidly and require costly reimplementation. This paper presents the development of a 3D mechanical maintenance training simulator for this context, using a low-cost simulation platform and a software architecture that separates simulation control from simulation visualization, in view of enabling more agile adaptation of simulators. This specific simulator aims to enable technician training to be enhanced with cooperation and context prior to the training phase with actual physical engines. We provide data in support of the feasibility of this approach, describing the requirements that were identified with the Portuguese Air Force, the overall software architecture of the system, the current stage of the prototype, and the outcomes of the first field tests with users.

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