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International Conference on Human Factors in Computing and Informatics

SouthCHI 2013: Human Factors in Computing and Informatics pp 514–533Cite as

Improving Students’ Technical Skills Using Mobile Virtual Laboratory: Pilot Study of Assembly Language Input Methods for Touchscreen Devices

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Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNPSE,volume 7946)

Abstract

The process of improving technical skills requires students to spend many hours both observing real systems at work and working in laboratories equipped with specially prepared apparatus. Beside personal motivation and discipline, there are objective factors which limit the amount of available laboratory time for students. To deal with the afore mentioned problem for electrical engineering and computer science courses teaching basic concepts of computer architecture at the undergraduate level, we have devised a pocket-size prototyping system which can be controlled from any kind of computer device, here including contemporary mobile phones and tablets. The issue which we tackle in this paper is the efficient use of touchscreen devices to input assembly language code controlling the operation of the main processing unit on the prototyping system. The results of the pilot study performed, which addresses accuracy and time needed to accomplish the task, are rather encouraging, and shows that our special variant of virtual keyboard did not deteriorate students’ performance when inputting assembly code.

Keywords

  • Technology enhanced learning
  • usability
  • mobile devices
  • touchscreen keyboards

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  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-39062-3_32
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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medimurje University of Applied Sciences in Cakovec, Bana Josipa Jelacica 22a, HR-40000, Cakovec, Croatia

    Mihael Kukec

  2. Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, Vukovarska 58, HR-51000, Rijeka, Croatia

    Sandi Ljubic

  3. University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Unska 3, HR-10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Vlado Glavinic

Authors
  1. Mihael Kukec
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  2. Sandi Ljubic
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  3. Vlado Glavinic
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation (IMI), Medical University Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 2/V, 8036, Graz, Austria

    Andreas Holzinger

  2. Human-Computer Interaction Center, RWTH Aachen University, Theaterplatz 14, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    Martina Ziefle

  3. Institute of Informatics Systems, Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, Universitätsstrasse 65-67, 9020, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Martin Hitz

  4. Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Matjaž Debevc

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Kukec, M., Ljubic, S., Glavinic, V. (2013). Improving Students’ Technical Skills Using Mobile Virtual Laboratory: Pilot Study of Assembly Language Input Methods for Touchscreen Devices. In: Holzinger, A., Ziefle, M., Hitz, M., Debevc, M. (eds) Human Factors in Computing and Informatics. SouthCHI 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7946. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39062-3_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39062-3_32

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