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Towards the use of metaphors in the design and implementation of educational software: a case study
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, , , Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, Patras University, Greece, Greece ; , Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, Spain

EdMedia + Innovate Learning, in Honolulu, HI, USA ISBN 978-1-880094-73-0 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC

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Abstract

This paper presents a case study that illustrates the significance of using metaphors in the design of educational software through a specific example for the learning of basic concepts of Operating Systems (OS)by beginers.Constructivist and social views of learning have also taken into account. Our software helps students study scheduling, using a simple and fundamental algorithm – the Priority Round-Robin (PRR) algorithm, used for scheduling in most OS. The architecture of the proposed software consists of two main parts: a) an information space where students are provided with opportunities to access appropriate information about OS and b) an experimentation space that allows students to take control of their learning by forming their own set of tasks, assigning them priorities and durations. This architecture could be used for the learning of diverse scheduling algorithms. Finally, the system provides learners with feedback demonstrating the correct scheduling of the proposed tasks so that they can make self corrections.

Citation

Kordaki, M., Strimpakos, G., Charalampidis, Z. & Daradoumis, T. (2009). Towards the use of metaphors in the design and implementation of educational software: a case study. In G. Siemens & C. Fulford (Eds.), Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2009--World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (pp. 3668-3675). Honolulu, HI, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 6, 2021 from .

© 2009 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

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References

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