Open Research

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Tuwhera Open Access Research Outputs provides free access to full texts of scholarly works from AUT's Schools, Research Institutes and Centres.

AUT's research is built on a foundation of innovation and excellence, with the aim that its discoveries and applications are shared in ways that enhance wellbeing and prosperity.

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AUT staff research outputs are added to this collection via Research Elements. All items submitted to this collection are checked to ensure material does not breach publisher copyright and is suitable for archiving prior to being made open access.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 4727
  • Item
    GenGIS: A Geospatial Information System for Genomic Data
    (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2009)
    The increasing availability of genetic sequence data associated with explicit geographic and ecological information is offering new opportunities to study the processes that shape biodiversity. The generation and testing of hypotheses using these data sets requires effective tools for mathematical and visual analysis that can integrate digital maps, ecological data, and large genetic, genomic, or metagenomic data sets. GenGIS is a free and open-source software package that supports the integration of digital map data with genetic sequences and environmental information from multiple sample sites. Essential bioinformatic and statistical tools are integrated into the software, allowing the user a wide range of analysis options for their sequence data. Data visualizations are combined with the cartographic display to yield a clear view of the relationship between geography and genomic diversity, with a particular focus on the hierarchical clustering of sites based on their similarity or phylogenetic proximity. Here we outline the features of GenGIS and demonstrate its application to georeferenced microbial metagenomic, HIV-1, and human mitochondrial DNA data sets.
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    Documentation and agile methods: striking a balance
    (ACM, 2003) Clear, Tony
    I have written previously about the need for students to develop discrimination as part of their preparation for professional practice during their undergraduate capstone courses. But nowhere is this need for discrimination more problematic than in the area of software documentation. Perhaps the only consolation is that professional developers are equally challenged. Yet in migrating students from the set of beliefs and practices that may have worked for them in programming-in-the-small, to those required for programming-in-the-large, sound documentation practices are critical to effective development and delivery of a professional product.
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    Nga iwi o Ngapuhi membership system: relationship management and relational design
    (NACCQ, 2004) Clear, Tony; Charkova, R.; Lin, A.; Lomax, T.
    This paper reviews a capstone project undertaken by Auckland University of Technology (AUT) students to develop a tribal membership register for Te Runanga a Iwi o Ngapuhi. The initial scope of the project incorporated a database to record details of people, land, and their common history. As the project unfolded complex issues related to land, genealogical and historical relationships had to be addressed. The paper discusses the relationship between the clients and developers and the partnership model that was adopted. Research conducted to develop a suitable data model uncovered the GENTECH genealogical data model originated by genealogists in Texas. This model was adapted for this project to suit the unique needs of Maori. The paper describes the initial implementation of an online membership register and concludes with a critique of this model proposing further extensions to address the interactions between people, land and history.
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    Fluency in information technology - FITNZ: an ICT curriculum meta-framework for New Zealand high schools
    (NACCQ, 2005) Clear, Tony; Bidois, G.
    This paper proposes an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Curriculum Meta-Framework to operate at the senior secondary school level in New Zealand. This meta-framework arises from the Fluency in Information Technology (“FITNZ”) Project, a collaborative venture between tertiary and secondary sector educators, government and industry. The initiative is intended to address the poor alignment between tertiary education and the Information Technology needs of the industry sector. The confused perceptions of ICT and the fragmented and uneven state of computing education at the secondary level have contributed to the disparity between tertiary education and industry needs. The paper draws on previous work on IT fluency. It also positions the computing disciplines within the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) computing curricula 2005 document in order to propose a soundly based set of graduate outcomes.
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    Valuing computer science education research?
    (ACM, 2006) Clear, Tony
    This paper critically enquires into the value systems which rule the activities of teaching and research. This critique is intended to demonstrate the application of critical enquiry in Computer Science Education Research and therefore uses critical theory as a method of analysis.A framework of Research as a Discourse is applied to explore how the notions of research as opposed to teaching are presented, and how discipline and research communities are sustained. The concept of a discourse, based upon the work of Foucault, enables critical insight into the processes which regulate forms of thought. This paper positions the field of Computer Science Education Research, as an illustrative case, within the broader discourse of Research, and argues that Computer Science Education Researchers and educators need to understand and engage in this discourse and shape it to their own ends.
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    Software engineering and the academy - uncomfortable bedfellows
    (ACM, 2004) Clear, Tony
    With software engineering (S. E.) now beginning to emerge as a distinct discipline, through initiatives such as the SWEBOK [1], the growth of undergraduate programmes in the U.S. [2] and collaborative efforts to offer programmes with breadth and depth [3], the challenges for the academy in balancing rigour and relevance can only become more intense. For some reason the contrast between the academic and the professional perspectives within the software engineering community is quite marked.
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    E-learning or e-lemmings? Who pipes the tune?
    (CSS Journal, 2002) Clear, Tony
    This paper urges a rather more critical view of e-learning than that taken to date. It is argued that strong forces are converging to redefine education as a commercial rather than public activity, of which e-learning is one element. Inherently different perceptions of the teaching and learning process, based upon a commercial rather than a public model, combined with a certain amount of naïve technological progressivism are challenging the role of higher education. Poor implementations based upon flawed assumptions are also likely to lead to an e-learning bust in much the same way as the dot com phenomenon has collapsed under the weight of its own hype. The case is argued for diverse and informed models of education (including e-learning approaches) that nurture local cultures and values, and produce socialized, adaptable and capable citizens rather than captive globalised consumers, colonized by monoculture online.
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    A collaborative learning trial between New Zealand and Sweden - using Lotus Notes Domino in teaching the concepts of Human Computer Interaction
    (ACM, 1999) Clear, Tony
    This paper reports the results of a collaborative learning exercise between students at Auckland Institute of Technology and Uppsala University. The exercise was conducted using both a Lotus Notes Domino collaborative database and electronic mail to support students working in remote groups to perform a common task. Issues concerning the logistics of such an exercise, student participation and evaluations of the process, ethical considerations and the quality of the learning process are discussed. Some conclusions are drawn concerning the value of Group Ware technology to support this form of collaborative learning, and suggestions are made for future developments.
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    Using Groupware for international collaborative learning
    (IEEE, 2000) Clear, Tony; Daniels, M.
    The paper reports the lessons learned from a two year collaborative learning trial between students at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and Uppsala University. The trials took place using a combination of email and a custom developed Lotus NotesTM database. The first trial involved a case study in which students performed different roles in designing a software solution for an Auckland based nailcare distributor. The second trial built upon the knowledge base of the earlier trial, and required students to evaluate and rank the previous design proposals. A theoretical model developed from the group support systems literature guided some of the changes in the second trial. The software, the collaboration process and the evaluation methods evolved over the course of these trials. The challenges of creating global student communities within a short collaboration window in existing courses of study are discussed. Further extensions to this research are proposed and some general recommendations are made
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    International collaborative learning - the facilitation process
    (EdMedia, 1999) Clear, Tony
    International collaborative learning is becoming more viable through a variety of Internet enabled software products. Group Support Systems appear to offer promise. But it is not well understood how to facilitate the teaching and learning process in electronic environments. If education is to involve an interactive process of collaborative inquiry and dialogue between remote groups of learners, then designing meaningful learning experiences presents challenges in logistics, technology support, software design, and pedagogy. To better model the facilitation process in such environments, a theoretical framework based on an extension of Adaptive Structuration Theory is suggested. This framework is then related to experiences with custom application software development using Lotus Notes Domino(TM), internal trials and a limited scale collaborative learning exercise between students at Auckland Institute of Technology and Uppsala University. The paper concludes by providing some recommendations for the redesign of the application, suggesting revisions to the collaborative process based on the framework presented, and discussing further extensions to the trials.
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    2D & 3D introductory processes in virtual groups
    (IEEE, 2003) Clear, Tony; Daniels, M.
    This paper reports on a collaborative learning trial conducted in 2002 between students at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand and Uppsala University, Sweden. The trial design included an initial phase in which virtual groups became acquainted using different modes of cyber-icebreaker and a subsequent phase with a common task involving group decision making - evaluating and ranking the different icebreaker experiences. The software used in the trial comprised 1) a custom-developed web-based groupware database and 2) a Java 3D application, implying configurable avatars, which could be manipulated in a virtual world. Each of these applications supported icebreaking activities intended to establish trust between virtual group members, the latter in 3D mode and the former in 2D mode. The trial process and the software are initially outlined. The evaluation strategy and approaches to data analysis are then discussed and the paper concludes with a report of preliminary findings from the trial.
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    A cyber-icebreaker for an effective virtual group?
    (ACM, 2001) Clear, Tony; Daniels, M.
    This paper reports selected results from the most recent of a series of international collaborative trials between students at Auckland University of Technology and Uppsala University. The trials require students to work together in virtual groups, comprising students from each institution, to perform a common task. The topic of this paper is how to form and sustain more effective virtual groups. In this trial a cyber-icebreaker task has been introduced and its contribution to group effectiveness is explored. Some conclusions are drawn pinpointing the strengths and weaknesses of this trial design, and some insights into effective design of electronic collaborative learning groups are gained.
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    The waterfall is dead - long live the waterfall!!
    (ACM, 2003) Clear, Tony
    I find myself now in the throes of rewriting the guide I provide to our students undertaking their capstone software development projects. Like many such artifacts it has evolved over time and is an amalgam of my own and prior colleagues’ thoughts, informed by numerous sources from the literature. However, we are now at some form of watershed, experiencing an increasing level of discomfort with the existing guide and the schedule we have applied for assessing students’ work.
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    Disciplined design practices: a role for refactoring in software engineering?
    (ACM, 2005) Clear, Tony
    Reflecting upon the recent experience of teaching our undergraduate software engineering course has caused me to revisit several questions at the core of the discipline. What is the essence of software design, how should it be taught and how does it relate to software engineering?
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    Practitioner education - degrees of difference?
    (ACM, 2000) Clear, Tony
    No abstract.
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    Using IT for active student feedback in the learning environment
    (NACCQ, 2000) Clear, Tony
    This paper describes the use of a web-based groupware product (specifically a Lotus NotesTM & DominoTM discussion database), as a means of gaining direct and regular feedback from students on the progress of a course. Some of the pitfalls and issues are discussed, including motivation for use, barriers to effective feedback, the value of anonymity and appropriate netiquette. Some recommendations are made for others wishing to use such a feedback mechanism, and for those who do not have Lotus Notes installed, how a feedback system such as this might be implemented in some other web based product.
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    Met a researcher? Research paradigms among those new to research
    (NACCQ, 2002) Clear, Tony; Young, A.
    This paper reports some insights into the understandings about research of computing educators and novice researchers in the NACCQ sector. These insights arise from a self-assessment of their approaches to teaching and research, undertaken at NACCQ sponsored "Getting Started in Research Workshops". The self-assessment was intended to assist workshop participants to become aware of and reflect upon their predominant teaching and research paradigms. It also served as a means of actively modelling use of the critical method in research. Three paradigms – Functional, Transactional and Critical were used in the assessment process, and attendees were asked to indicate which paradigm best applied to their practice and beliefs in their teaching and research respectively. This paper will discuss the settings, the instrument used, review the findings from data gathered to date, and indicate future directions for this research.
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    An exploratory study into the impact of NACCQ Research
    (NACCQ, 2007) Clear, Tony; Young, A.
    This paper reports the findings of a preliminary investigation into the impact of research within the New Zealand National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications (NACCQ) sector. Using a strategy based predominantly upon keyword search of academic reference databases, the study found that NACCQ projects and publications are beginning to be cited in diverse outlets, and are now making a contribution to the international literature in the computing disciplines. The study and its findings are briefly reviewed and the outlets in which NACCQ research has been cited are tabulated. This paper establishes the first profile of international citations for NACCQ research and provides a replicable baseline for subsequent studies into the impact of research originating in the sector.
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    Comprehending large code bases - the skills required for working in a "Brown Fields" environment
    (ACM, 2005) Clear, Tony
    In the search for answers to the effective teaching of programming at the beginner level, we are now seeing broader programs of research investigate the distinctions between reading, comprehending and writing small programs [1], [2]. In New Zealand we have joined this work with the "Bracelet" project, in which multiple institutions will investigate how students comprehend small computer programs. We hope this may help answer critical teaching and assessment questions.
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    Knowledge skills and abilities demanded of graduates in the new learning environment
    (NACCQ, 1999) Young, A.; Senadheera, L.; Clear, Tony
    Changes in technology and employer demands require that we regularly survey our stakeholder communities to ensure the relevance and currency of what we are teaching, and the qualifications we offer to prepare our students for practice. At a presentation to an IT breakfast of the NZCS Auckland Branch in October 1998, the audience were surveyed in order to gauge how well we were doing in developing tomorrow's practitioners. Topics surveyed were: the relative importance of different technical skills required by employers, the key trends that we need to prepare graduates for, the impact of the Internet on skills required, the most urgent up skilling requirements of employees and the relative value of vendor vs. formal Polytechnic qualifications. The results of the survey are reported, the key findings analysed and some strategies are suggested which address the identified gaps.

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