There has been exponential growth in transnational education (TNE) in the last few years as UK universities have looked to expand their markets. Recipient countries have sought short cuts to developing their higher education provision which has proved a lucrative income stream for some universities. But overseas collaborations are not without risk. Recipient countries can be concerned with external influence over curricula, quality being diluted and higher education being infected by neo-imperialism. These concerns are not without foundation. There are risks for providers too. Reputations can be damaged if academic standards are compromised. Conflicts of interest can occur between quality of provision and the pot of gold on offer. Staff can view overseas collaborations as distracting from their research and commitment to home students. Computing is a particularly popular subject for TNE, but critical thinking, analysis, independent learning, and creativity can be compromised. Preventing plagiarism is difficult. Constant changes in technology result in constant curricula revision which causes severe problems for overseas collaborations. This book focuses on TNE in the computing domain. However cross-cultural issues challenge TNE management and administration whatever the subject area. If the ever present tensions are not continuously monitored they can quickly threaten the sustainability of the collaboration. This book identifies many of the threats and some of the solutions. The readership for this book is truly global. Any international development officer in higher education considering an overseas collaboration will benefit from this book. Any academic becoming engaged in, or already involved with a TNE partnership, either as provider or recipient, will gain information and insight into the practice and issues. Researchers in TNE will discover more lines of enquiry. Students considering a course with an overseas provider or in coming to the UK to study will be better prepared thereby enabling a more fulfilling and rewarding experience. Anyone who has an interest in TNE, whether at the senior executive level, operational level, delivering programmes or as a recipient of TNE should read this book. The wealth of experience gathered here will provoke questions, prompt debate and offer solutions. It has been written by people who know the issues, bear the scars and are happy to share their knowledge. It will greatly benefit future transnational collaborations.

This book argues that the key problems of software systems development (SSD) are socio-technical rather than purely technical in nature. Software systems are unique. They are the only human artefacts that are both intangible and determinant. This presents unprecedented problems for the development process both in determining what is required and how it is developed. Primarily this is a problem of communications between stakeholders and developers, and of communications within the development team. Current solutions are not only inadequate in expressing the technical problem, they also evade the communications problems almost entirely. Whilst the book addresses the theoretical aspects of the process, its fundamental philosophy is anchored in the practical problems of everyday software development. It therefore offers both a better understanding of the problems of SSD and practical suggestions of how to deal with those problems. It is intended as a guide for practising IT project managers, particularly those who are relatively new to the position or do not have a strong IT development background. The book will also benefit students in computing and computer-related disciplines who need to know how to develop high quality systems. Software systems development (particularly of large projects) has a notoriously poor track record of delivering projects on time, on budget, and of meeting user needs. Proponents of software engineering suggest that this is because too few project managers actually comply with the disciplines demanded of the process. It is time to ask the question, if this is the case, why might this be? Perhaps instead, it is not the project managers who are wrong, but the definition of the process. The new understanding of the SSD presented here offers alternative models that can help project managers address the difficulties they face and better achieve the targets they are set. This book argues that time is up for the software engineering paradigm of SSD and that it should be replaced with a socio-technical paradigm based on open systems thinking.

There is currently a great emphasis on teaching quality in Higher Education. In the UK, the Teaching Excellence Framework and the National Student Survey have contributed significantly to this focus. Additional support for staff to develop teaching skills has also come from the Higher Education Academy, whose fellowship scheme encourages HE staff to focus on their practice in the classroom. The growth in the number of students attending university has resulted in a much wider range of learning styles amongst them. Many students do not fit the idealised average of being adept at learning from primarily text-based media. Two further trends are also driving change and innovation in academic staff teaching. The first is the availability of online teaching materials such as MOOCs. The second is the emphasis now given to student postgraduate employability, represented by certain aspects of the Teaching Excellence Framework that require students not only to know information, but also to be able to articulate that knowledge and to demonstrate their skills. With a desire to enable our students to achieve their highest potential, many staff undertake initiatives to facilitate learning that accommodate a wide range of learning styles. This book focuses on approaches to teaching and learning within the discipline of Computer Science. The book consists of a selection of chapters that describe a particular teaching activity or topic within Computing in HE, presented in such a way that other practitioners can adopt and adapt them as a way of helping them to develop their own teaching. It provides a number of practical cases of putting theory into practice when teaching Computer Science to both undergraduate and postgraduate students in Higher Education institutions. A chapter on the importance of developing soft skills and a professional online presence is also included as an essential part of preparing the students for their future employment.

The march towards on-line and blended teaching—present before the Covid-19 pandemic—has been accelerated by it, and there is no going back. Students and staff may object, but the economic drive towards “greater productivity” will inevitably result in less face-to-face (f2f) instruction. Therefore, it is incumbent for those delivering this precious, in-person resource to make maximum use of time…which raises the question, “how”? The second edition of Higher Education Computer Science offers some potential answers. It also addresses other questions, such as “why have f2f teaching at all?” “what is the purpose of f2f?” and “what is the appropriate balance between the two?” The first edition began to offer suggestions for optimising limited opportunities to get together with students. Aligned with that, this unique new volume examines how to use the technology available to maximum advantage: For example, resources such as Moocs and other on-line instructional materials can provide invaluable pedagogic support. In addition, the book addresses ‘problem-based learning,’ using robotics in the teaching of programming, and a multidisciplinary approach to data science. Although it includes a chapter on distance learning, there is greater emphasis placed on the soft, transferable skills and employability skills that are best delivered in person. Further, the work provides several examples of putting theory into practice when teaching computer science at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Written by experienced practitioners, each chapter tackles a particular teaching activity or topic within computing, presented in such a way that other practitioners can use. As such, this new volume will be an invaluable resource to those who want to protect and optimise in-person teaching.

This book argues that the key problems of software systems development (SSD) are socio-technical rather than purely technical in nature. Software systems are unique. They are the only human artefacts that are both intangible and determinant. This presents unprecedented problems for the development process both in determining what is required and how it is developed. Primarily this is a problem of communications between stakeholders and developers, and of communications within the development team. Current solutions are not only inadequate in expressing the technical problem, they also evade the communications problems almost entirely. Whilst the book addresses the theoretical aspects of the process, its fundamental philosophy is anchored in the practical problems of everyday software development. It therefore offers both a better understanding of the problems of SSD and practical suggestions of how to deal with those problems. It is intended as a guide for practising IT project managers, particularly those who are relatively new to the position or do not have a strong IT development background. The book will also benefit students in computing and computer-related disciplines who need to know how to develop high quality systems. Software systems development (particularly of large projects) has a notoriously poor track record of delivering projects on time, on budget, and of meeting user needs. Proponents of software engineering suggest that this is because too few project managers actually comply with the disciplines demanded of the process. It is time to ask the question, if this is the case, why might this be? Perhaps instead, it is not the project managers who are wrong, but the definition of the process. The new understanding of the SSD presented here offers alternative models that can help project managers address the difficulties they face and better achieve the targets they are set. This book argues that time is up for the software engineering paradigm of SSD and that it should be replaced with a socio-technical paradigm based on open systems thinking.

There has been exponential growth in transnational education (TNE) in the last few years as UK universities have looked to expand their markets. Recipient countries have sought short cuts to developing their higher education provision which has proved a lucrative income stream for some universities. But overseas collaborations are not without risk. Recipient countries can be concerned with external influence over curricula, quality being diluted and higher education being infected by neo-imperialism. These concerns are not without foundation. There are risks for providers too. Reputations can be damaged if academic standards are compromised. Conflicts of interest can occur between quality of provision and the pot of gold on offer. Staff can view overseas collaborations as distracting from their research and commitment to home students. Computing is a particularly popular subject for TNE, but critical thinking, analysis, independent learning, and creativity can be compromised. Preventing plagiarism is difficult. Constant changes in technology result in constant curricula revision which causes severe problems for overseas collaborations. This book focuses on TNE in the computing domain. However cross-cultural issues challenge TNE management and administration whatever the subject area. If the ever present tensions are not continuously monitored they can quickly threaten the sustainability of the collaboration. This book identifies many of the threats and some of the solutions. The readership for this book is truly global. Any international development officer in higher education considering an overseas collaboration will benefit from this book. Any academic becoming engaged in, or already involved with a TNE partnership, either as provider or recipient, will gain information and insight into the practice and issues. Researchers in TNE will discover more lines of enquiry. Students considering a course with an overseas provider or in coming to the UK to study will be better prepared thereby enabling a more fulfilling and rewarding experience. Anyone who has an interest in TNE, whether at the senior executive level, operational level, delivering programmes or as a recipient of TNE should read this book. The wealth of experience gathered here will provoke questions, prompt debate and offer solutions. It has been written by people who know the issues, bear the scars and are happy to share their knowledge. It will greatly benefit future transnational collaborations.