The Internet is packed with resources which can be used for educational purposes, referred to as Learning Objects (LOs). Locating the LO which is best suited for your educational purposes can be extremely challenging. This since the context surrounding the LO in regards to intended user group, educational level etc. are not included in the resource. The SCORM standard has changed this by including contextual metadata as part of the resource. However, SCORM LOs are scarcely created, much as a result of high knowledge and time requirements needed for creating the necessary metadata. This research has been using Automatic Metadata Generation tools to assist in the metadata creation process, enabling LOs to share common contextual metadata while receiving additional high quality LO specific metadata without the need for manual metadata creation efforts.

Software engineering courses include practical and theoretical elements that give many options for pedagogical combinations among them. In this paper, we report on two different pedagogical approaches for an undergraduate, introductory project-based software engineering course with more than 500 students working in collaborative scrum teams. We call one approach 'Every Student is an Innovator', and the other 'No Student Left Behind'. This SE course has been long-running, with stable learning objectives and content. However, from one year to another, we radically changed the pedagogical approach of the course along several dimensions, among them the technical framework, software tools, project topic, mentor roles, assessment form and frequency, feedback and degree of student innovativeness. We report on the perceived challenges, detailed changes, the anticipated effects on the course learning outcomes. The results showed that innovativeness and fun need freedom and flexibility with processes and technology. However, strict design requirements and systematic guidance ensure fulfillment of learning objectives. Analyzing student and staff feedback, we find that both approaches lead to students using more time than intended and worrying about unknown assessment criteria.

The educational context for students and educators across the world changed when the COVID-19 pandemic forced most educational institutions to shut down all on-campus activities in the spring of 2020. In this paper, we explore how the study behaviors of first-year computing students in a large scale CS2 course were affected by the rapid change from campus-based to online learning. This research aims to evaluate the effect of moving to an online-only mode of studying and learning, and consequently gaining insight into the role of the physical campus in computing education. A mixed-method research approach was taken to reach these goals by combining interaction tracking data with weekly student reports and interviews. Results indicate that campus-based activities provide essential scaffolding for students' study behaviors, specifically time management and organization. Additionally, the physical study environment provided an informal space for social and academic interactions not found in the online sphere. Furthermore, when moving to the online study environment, students struggled with adapting their study behaviors, spending less time on organized activities and not changing their independent habits. Lastly, the online environment seemed to create considerable differences between those who mastered studying and those who did not, generating a larger ability gap than on campus. In the paper, we provide further descriptions of these findings and some recommendations for computing educators facing similar challenges.