D. Diez

Publications of D. Diez

• DEI-CHECK. Automating the assessment process to improve the informative feedback

  Authors: D. Diez, P. Diaz, I. Aedo, C. Fernandez

  Frontiers in Education Conference, 2008. FIE 2008. 38th Annual; 11/2008

  Acquiring and developing programming knowledge is a highly complex process. It involves a variety of cognitive activities and mental depictions. Hence, programming courses are generally regarded asAcquiring and developing programming knowledge is a highly complex process. It involves a variety of cognitive activities and mental depictions. Hence, programming courses are generally regarded as difficult, and often have the highest dropout taxes. Such problem is especially significant in introductory programming courses: novice programmers need to apply the programming concepts continuously to understand them. Besides, beginner students often fail to recognize their own deficiencies and oversights. In this context, early assessment and continuous feedback are essential activities to correct mistakes and confusions. The purpose of this paper is to present our experience in teaching introductory programming courses as a case study. The course design is based on a specific assessment tool for introductory programming exercises. The tool aims at improving the assessment activity, facilitating its management and automating the communication flow in order to reduce the assessment process time-span. The final goal of our work is to increase feedback and improve the rectification of errors and misunderstandings from learners. The paper includes both the description of our assessment tool and the evaluation of its features.

• Instructional Domain Analysis: A Methodological Approach to Service-Oriented Learning

  Authors: D. Diez, C. Fernandez, J.M. Dodero, P. Diaz, I. Aedo

  Advanced Learning Technologies, 2008. ICALT '08. Eighth IEEE International Conference on; 08/2008

  The development of a learning system based on integrating a number of learning services needs both a technological platform to support the system as well as a methodology that manages the developmentThe development of a learning system based on integrating a number of learning services needs both a technological platform to support the system as well as a methodology that manages the development process. Such technological platform is provided by the service oriented learning architecture (SOLA) that defines an architecture style guiding several aspects of deploying units of learning that are packaged as services. The purpose of this paper is to review the SOLA concept and present a specific methodology, based on analysing instructional domains, to complement the SOLA approach. The method here proposed addresses the identification and classification of learning services to facilitate the integration of such services.

• Instructional Software Analysis: Lessons from Software Development Process Improvement

  Authors: D. Diez, C. Fernandez, J.M. Dodero, P. Diaz, I. Aedo

  Advanced Learning Technologies, 2007. ICALT 2007. Seventh IEEE International Conference on; 08/2007

  Instructional software can be defined as any computer program used for instruction. As a means to optimise the development process of instructional software, different authors have defined a range ofInstructional software can be defined as any computer program used for instruction. As a means to optimise the development process of instructional software, different authors have defined a range of methods based on software engineering. However, the use of a method does not guarantee the validity and quality of the product developed; hence, a series of software process improvement (SPI) approaches aimed to improve and guarantee the development process that have arisen. The purpose of this paper is to review the aforementioned approaches and to apply them to the analysis phase of the instructional software development process. The analysis phase aims to define the conditions and needs of the project in order to solve uncertainties in early stages of the process.

• Model-Driven Instructional Engineering to Generate Adaptable Learning Materials

  Authors: J.M. Dodero, D. Diez

  Advanced Learning Technologies, 2006. Sixth International Conference on; 08/2006

  The application of software engineering approaches to generate learning material adapted to a specific instructional purpose presents some issues: the use of different models, different abstractionThe application of software engineering approaches to generate learning material adapted to a specific instructional purpose presents some issues: the use of different models, different abstraction levels, different contexts and development concerns. These can be overcome by a model-driven development approach that provides different levels of automation for instructional engineering