Learning Smart - a community-driven, best learning resource sharing website.

Dr James Xue from Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies, University of Northampton and Ahmed Salim (an MSc Computing student) have developed a community-driven, best learning resource sharing website. 

Originally developed as his Ahmed's dissertation under James supervision, it is now live at  www.learningsmart.co.uk

The following are some of the main features: 

1. Top-five resource list for each subject area is updated at real-time (nearly) automatically based on real users’ reviews (one user can only review a resource once, this stops fake reviews)
2. Learning resources are classified based on levels of difficulty (e.g., beginner, intermediate, advanced) so that learners won’t waste time searching for the right resources or reading inappropriate resources.
3. Any contribution (upload and review of resources, interaction with other learners) will be rewarded some points, top contributors are displayed on the home page. As a result, more good resources are expected.
4. Users can create learning groups and other learners at similar levels can join the groups.
5. Messaging service allows learners to discuss issues on a one-to-one basis.
6. Seamless Facebook integration to reach wider audience. e.g.,Facebook login, cross comments on both sites.
7. Personalised reading lists allow learners to create their own learning portfolio.

James Xue "... this site will benefit our students and other learners in general in many aspects. e.g., it’s a good addition to our “Module Reading List” as they are created and reviewed by the community (instead of the lecturers). It encourages collaborative learning..."

Go have a go yourself go to http://www.learningsmart.co.uk/ 


All views are the authors, and may not reflect the views of any organisation the author is connected with in any way.

Apps – annotating PDF

Re-posted from: Apps for Teaching and Learning – annotating PDF files by Julie Usher "With thanks to Dr. James Xue, Lecturer in Computing, for the iAnnotate recommendation." 

Being able to add your own notes to PDF files can be really useful, whether they are lecture notes you want to add your own thoughts to, documents or journal articles you have downloaded for your own research,  or student or collaborative papers that you need to feed back on. There are many different options available for this. Here are a few we found.

iOS (Apple) apps

neu.Annotate is a free app that will allow you to open a PDF file (e.g. from email, the web or a cloud storage service like Dropbox), and annotate it using typed text or freehand annotation in a range of colours, as well as adding shapes, stamps and images. You can even add whole new pages, and annotate those too. The annotations are saved as part of the PDF, which can then be sent out by email or saved back to Dropbox.

iAnnotate PDF is an advanced tool with lots of options, including the usual highlighting and annotation. It can be set up to sync with Dropbox, but also has it’s own sync tool, called Aji PDF service, that allows you to set up a live link to a folder directly on your PC or Mac. This allows you to batch download original files, and then batch upload your annotated versions.

There is also an iAnnotate Lite version of this app for Android.

GoodReader is an app that can handle many different types of files. It’s really a file management tool, that allows you to access PDFs, Office and iWork files, images, video and even archived web pages on your iOS device. It can collect together files from a range of sources, including Google docs, Dropbox and iCloud, and let you read, organise, annotate (PDF and txt only) and re-upload them. It’s pretty complicated, as apps go, but if your files are a bit all over the place, this might be a good one for you. The PDF annotation  here is kind of a bonus.

Android apps

Again, there are a number of options available. Features vary, but all of the following will allow you to mark up, type on and highlight PDFs, as well as fill in PDF forms. In order of price at time of writing:

• ezPDF Reader includes text-to-speech and the ability to view audio and video files if they are embedded in the PDF. It also has a plugin to integrate with Google docs.
• Repligo Reader allows you to annotate and send PDF files via email, Bluetooth, Dropbox and Evernote.
• qPDF also allows you to send files via Bluetooth and sync files in Dropbox.

A note on workflows

If you’re planning to annotate a number of files, it’s worth thinking through how you will transfer these to and from the device. Many of the apps listed above will allow you to download files from (and sometimes upload or sync them to) cloud storage services, like Dropbox or Google docs. This saves having to attach individual files to email, but these services also have their own limitations.

We recommend, particularly when working with documents relating to student assessment, that you transfer the files directly between your device and a University computer wherever possible, rather than using a third party cloud storage solution. You may be able to do this wirelessly, using WebDAV or FTP, otherwise you may need to connect your device to the computer. With an iOS device, you can transfer annotated files via the iTunes software for all of the apps mentioned above. If you have an Android device, you may be able to connect it via USB as you would a memory stick, and batch transfer your files.

With thanks to Dr. James Xue, Lecturer in Computing, for the iAnnotate recommendation.

Model for Computer Forensics

An paper on teaching computer forensics was recent published at 7th Annual Teaching Computer Forensics Workshop University of Sunderland on the 10^th Nov 2011.


An Embedded Pedagogic Model for Computer Forensics within an
Undergraduate Programme
Authors: Ali Al-Sherbaz , Amir Minai, James Xue, Rashmi Dravid , The University of Northampton


Abstract
The discipline of computer forensics which has a strong mutli-disciplinary background derives from the computing subjects in networking, programming, security and mathematics. Increasing awareness of cybersecurity and emphasising the need for a common vision among students addresses the challenges. The proposed pedagogic model is to embed the computer forensics materials within the undergraduate modules to extend students’ knowledge and skills in a practical context. However, it is also recognised that the depth of knowledge required learning such topics as cyber security should be offered from the underlying principles to their abstraction.


Cyber crimes are on the rise however, Cyber security professionals are in a depressingly low numbers. The lack of focus on this area has certainly resulted in a limited number of experts. Today, there is a demanding need to create new cyber security jobs, which should hopefully bring leverage to the uncontrollable rise of cyber crimes. It is, therefore, necessary to develop the analytical skills which create challenges in building a constructive approach to learning. Also, reflecting the technological fluctuations, it is seen as essential for students to be continuously updated.


The proposed model focuses on the delivery and assessment of certain computing modules, with an evaluation of its efficiency on the use of time and effort in order to satisfy the minimum requirements of the curriculum. The study has also discovered that some of the modules already cover part of computer forensics implicitly. Therefore, highlighting these topics to the students and making them more visible as computer forensics is one of the main objectives. Another objective is to enhance the existing computing modules by dedicating certain amount of lecture time on computer forensic related concepts. The model can then be adopted by Universities when considering developing new modules.


Over  the  last  few  years  there  have  been  large  increases  in  cyber-crimes  which  have  threatened individuals and organisations. To reduce the threat it is imperative that the computing courses within universities increase the level of student awareness by providing them with professional education in computer forensics and cyber-security without the need to create a separate specialised pathway.