Sunday 15 May 2011

CEISE keynote: Green computing and the role of higher education

The keynote session for 7th China – Europe International Symposium on Software Industry Orientated Education to be held 23-24th May 2011 at School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton, UK. We have been fortunate to have three keynote speakers.



Speakers:
Denise Oram– Ethical dimensions, building and procuring for sustainability
Colin Pattinson- Sustainability in the IT/CS curriculum
Bob Crooks– Wider UK government and BCS work on Green ICT

Abstract
 As both large consumers of technology and energy with significant sustainability impacts, and agents for changing behaviours and technologies, universities have a pivotal role in securing a greener planet for us all. We aim to set out the drivers for change and how we in the UK are driving change forward through UK Government, Education and Industry work.
 The first session will set the context for action, highlight the opportunities that can be taken in procuring and designing for more efficient ICT use and practices , and how UK Professional  and Educational bodies are leveraging these opportunities and the progress made to date
 Next we will explore how the Green ICT agenda can be taken forward in the HE environment taking on board student perspectives and the design of a well-balanced curriculum. We argue that this needs to get across the whole area of sustainability, its language, challenges  impacts from ICT and in depth exploration and learning around areas of large impact eg data centres, printing/paper, Cloud services.
 Finally we will  step back to look at the various wider UK government and EU programmes impacting and driving Green ICT work for Public Sector organisations such as universities and other HE establishments, and provide an opportunity for discussion of the issues raised

For more details of the conference can be found at this link.

Learning Global - Fourth Learning & Teaching Conference

The fourth Teaching and Learning Conference - Learning Global took place on 11th May.  The conference was well attended by members of staff and students from school, as well as having five papers:






Mind the Gender Gap - Reflections on addressing gender Diversity in Computing and Engineering
Tricia Goodchild, Rashmi Dravid, Scott Turner


Technology enhanced transistion programme
Louise Maxwell, Ruth Copelend-Phillips and Paul Cox


Cyberspace - The New Women Frontier for Mobile Communications
Rashmi Dravid and Catherine Klimes


Influencing students' construction of peronalised concept maps through the use of query expansion (QE) searching of the World Wide Web
Kieran MCGovern, Peter Mothersole and Scott Turner


Is it Visual? problem solving evaluation
Kumuditha Kariyawasam and Scott Turner


For more details click here.

Monday 9 May 2011

A Participatory Approach to Improve the Management of E-waste in Nigeria

An abstract from the 7th China – Europe International Symposium on Software Industry Orientated Education to be held 23-24th May 2011 at School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton, UK. For more details can be found at this link.



A Participatory Approach to Improve the Management of E-waste in Nigeria
Margaret P Bates[a], Kathleen M Holley[a] and Oladele Osibanjo[b]
a Centre for Sustainable Wastes Management, The University of Northampton, Northampton, UK NN2 6JD
b Basel Convention Regional Coordinating Centre for Africa for Training and Technology Transfer, University of Ibadan, Nigeria


Abstract
Approximately 125 million computers are discarded annually, with most ending up in landfill sites. The number of waste computers is high because of the short lifespan of personal computers (PCs) (Kiatkittipong et al. 2007). The typical life of a PC in the work place is approximately 2-3 years, while in the home it is 3-5 years, with an additional two and a half for second use (Kiatkittipong et al. 2007; Osibanjo and Nnorom 2007). As a result of the rising quantity of waste, within recent years there has been growing debate about the export of computers to Africa, and other developing countries, and even calls for banning this activity. Using the City of Lagos, Nigeria, as a case study, this paper describes a project which employed a participatory approach involving a range of stakeholders to address the issues of export and the environmental and financial lessons learnt from the importing and (mis)management e-waste and Waste and Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) into Nigeria.


Details of the conference can be found at: http://www.computing.northampton.ac.uk/~landt/conference.html

Green Computer Science Courses! We’re going mobile!

An abstract from the 7th China – Europe International Symposium on Software Industry Orientated Education to be held 23-24th May 2011 at School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton, UK. For more details can be found at this link.


Green Computer Science Courses! We’re going mobile!

Gary Hill, Espen Svennevik, Scott Turner
Division of Computing & Immersive Technologies, University of Northampton, UK


Abstract

Traditionally computer sciences courses have been taught using laboratories full of expensive desktop computers. This approach may have been valid in the 80, 90’s and even the early part of this decade. This paper suggests that buying; maintaining and replacing laboratories full of computers are no longer a requirement. This paper raises the issues associated with such a ‘bold’ step, but offers potential solutions that, in some cases, may make Computer Science courses at such ‘brave’ institutions more appealing.




Details of the conference can be found at: http://www.computing.northampton.ac.uk/~landt/conference.html