Monday, 8 April 2019

Computer Science textbook and library


Computer science Text book:
  1. “A textbook is a standardized manual used in formal study settings, such as high school and college environments”------ Erin Kathleen Cochran.
  2. “A textbook is a book used in schools or colleges for the formal study of a subject”.
                                                    –The American Heritage, Dictionary of the English Language
          A computer science textbook or course book is a manual of instruction in the branch of study.  Computer science textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions. 
  Although most computer science textbooks are only published in printed format, many are now available as online electronic books and increasingly, although illegally, in scanned format on file sharing networks.
Advantages of Computer textbook:
     Textbooks are especially helpful for beginning teachers. The material to be covered and the design of each lesson are carefully spelled out in detail.  Textbooks provide several advantages in the classroom.
  1. Textbook series provide balanced, chronological presentation of information.
  2. Textbooks provide organized units of work. A textbook gives  all the plans and lessons that the students needs to cover a topic in some detail.
  3. Textbooks are a detailed sequence of teaching procedures that tell you what to do and when to do it. There are no surprises- everything is carefully spelled out.
  4. Textbooks provide administrators and teachers with a complete program. The series is typically based on the latest research and teaching strategies.
  5. Good textbooks are excellent teaching aids. They are resource for both the students and teachaers.
Qualities of Good Computer Science textbook.
  1. Adequate subject matter:
a)      The textbook should be according to the psychological needs and requirements of the learner.
b)      It should be related to pupils’ environment.
c)       It should have a link with the modern technologies.
d)      It should have varied topics.
e)      It should be of practical utility and should be informative.
  1. Pictures and illustrations:
a)      Pictures and illustrations should be relevant to the nature of the topic.
b)      They should be attractive and clear.
  1. Developing programming skill:
a)      A textbook should provide necessary facilities for developing programming skills.
  1. Style:
a)      The style should be based on the principle of simple to complex.
b)      The subject matter should be presented in a logical sequence.
  1. Contents:
a)      It should contain sufficient and suitable teaching and exercises on each lesson.
b)      The instructions for each programme should be simple enough for students to understand.
  1. Technical characteristics:
a)      The paper used should be white and durable.
b)      The print should be attractive with no mistakes.
c)       The size should be bold for juniors and small for seniors.
d)      The headings and sub-headings should be in bold ltype.
e)      It should be bound properly.
f)       The book should be handy.
g)      It should be moderately priced.
  1. Practical content:
a)      The textbook should contain practicals for the implementation and application.
b)      It should have proper explanation about algorithms and its process.
  1. Hardware and software:
a)      It should contain the explanation of hardware and software and its usage with adequate information.
Uses of textbook Inside the classroom
  1. Support: School textbooks are teachers’ best friends at the beginning of their teaching career. They generally contain everything that students are supposed to learn within a certain time frame, so new teachers can focus more on how they teach than on what to teach. 
  2. Up-date Information: Textbooks are easy to use because of their structured form that goes from simple, basic issues to more complex ones in theory as well as in practice. They deal with “modern” trends and topics, so they appeal to students, making them want to study more.
  3. Stability and Reliability: The use of textbooks gives students stability and confidence. Having something real to rely on makes they feel secure. Textbooks are also a resource for self-directed learning, because students can use them wherever and whenever they want. They can read them slowly, at their own pace, or they can just skim the text for a gist.  They provide the same instruction to different classes, so students can be evaluated using similar assessment tools.  For administrators they provide a complete syllabus with objectives and teaching strategies to be used.
  4. Cost and Efficiency: Teacher-made materials are time consuming and make use of costly resources in great quantities such a paper, printers (with additional costs on maintenance ) and electricity. Textbooks are relatively inexpensive, ready to use and generally accompanied by audio or video materials related to the printed material that help students to develop several skills at the same time. Even if digital textbooks have made their way in people’s lives, classroom practices make extensive use of traditional textbooks as effective teaching and learning tools.
Use of Textbook Outside classroom:
  1. Shifts educational focus from secondary to primary sources:
     Traditional classroom teaching uses textbooks, lectures, video and the internet as instructional tools. The outdoor classroom exposes students through direct experience to nature areas and demonstration models such as weather stations, water flow systems and renew able energy installations.
  1. Uses experiential teaching methodologies to engage students:
     The outdoor classroom fosters active, hands-on, inquiry-based learning in  a real world setting. Through group problem-solving activities students embrace the learning process as well as seeking final outcomes.
  1. Makes learning a multi-sensory experience:   By engaging the senses of touch, smell, hearing, tase and seeing. Students retain an intimate physical memory of activities that are long lastsing.
  2. Fosters the use of systems thinking:  As a mini-ecosystem, the outdoor classroom emphasizes the inter connectedness of all things.
  3. Lends itself to inter-disciplinary studies:  In seeking a holistic understanding of the outdoor classroom it is often necessary and desirable, to employ multiple academic disciplines.
  4. Recognises and celebrates deferring learning styles:   As popularized in Howad Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, people have a variety of aptitudes and ways of learning. Although some students thrive in a text-based environment, others will benefit from a more experiential approach.
  5. Connects the school to the neighborhood and the world-at-large:    Through learning and stewardship activities students come to understand that their schoolyard microcosm reflects global environmental issues. Proximity to the surrounding neighbourhood often leads to service learning projects that emphasise social involvement and responsibility.
  6. Design and installation is of a modest capital expense:  School systems often struggle with budgetary issues in prioritizing initiatives. The cost/benefit ratio for installing and sustaining an outdoor classroom is attractive and the goal of an outdoor classroom in every schoolyard is achievable.
  7. Projects a positive message about public education:  Schoolyards can be degraded and unsafe or vibrant, dynamic school/community open spaces. Either way, we send a message to students and neighbourhood about how much we value the education of our children. The outdoor classroom is a reminder that innovation is alive and well in public education.
  8. Blurs the boundaries between academic learning and creative play:  Kids love the outdoor classroom. When a teacher asks who wants to go outside every hand is raised. Absenteeism goes down on outdoor classroom days. By preserving a child’s innate sense of curiosity and wonder we will foster active and engaged lifelong learners.
Criteria for Evaluation of Computer Science Textbook
     Computer science books can be evaluated using common criteria like the ones listed below,
1.       Purpose and Audience:
a)      Determine the approach used (fiction, nonfiction, opinion, or a mixture).
b)      Read introductory material.
c)       Note the tone and terminology used in the work.
d)      Examine the types of information, evidence, and examples used.
2.       Authority:
a)      Use biographical dictionaries and critical essays to investigate the author.
b)      Search appropriate databases for works that cite the book.
c)       Read reviews of the book (and other works by the author).
d)      Find out if the author has written other books or articles on the topic.
e)      Look on the dust jacket or in the preface (double-check the information.)
3.       Accuracy and Reliability:
a)      Examine the text for evidence of careful research.
b)      Check if data, statistics and facts are documented (and timely).
c)       Double-check information in the book with other sources.
d)      Read reviews in reputable sources.
e)      Examine the quality of items listed in the bibliography, if one is present.
f)       Check the publisher type: academic, commercial, independent, vanity, etc.
4.       Objectivity:
a)      Examine the writer’s claims. Are they logical and reasonable?
b)      Examine the evidence presented. Is it adequate and credible?
c)       Read reviews and critical essays about the book.
5.       Coverage:
a)      Examine the table of contents, chapter headings, and index.
b)      Analyse the breadth of content. Does it meet expectations?

Advantages of Computer textbook:
     Textbooks are especially helpful for beginning teachers. The material to be covered and the design of each lesson are carefully spelled out in detail.  Textbooks provide several advantages in the classroom.
1. Textbook series provide balanced, chronological presentation of information.
2.Textbooks provide organized units of work. A textbook gives all the plans and lessons that the students’ needs to cover a topic in some detail.
3. Textbooks are a detailed sequence of teaching procedures that tell you what to do and when to do it. There are no surprises- everything is carefully spelled out.
4.Textbooks provide administrators and teachers with a complete program. The series is typically based on the latest research and teaching strategies.
5.Good textbooks are excellent teaching aids. They are resource for both the students and teachers.
                  Computer Science Library
Meaning of Computer science library
  The Computer Science library serves the academic and research needs of the Department of Computer Science by providing journals, technical reports, and other scholarly materials to faculty, researchers, and graduate students in the field of computer science, the library is a vital resource for information.
     In computer science, a library is a collection of implementations of behavior, written in terms of a language that has a well-defined interface by which the behaviour is invoked.
Importance
1.Develop technical and scientific attitudes among students.
2. Develop the teachers to extend their Computer science knowledge.
3. Help in putting progressive method of teaching Computer science.
4. Facilitate self-study and self-education
5. Develop the students to be anxious to know more and more about computer science.
6. Make the students know everything about the technical world.
7. It acts as a source of inspiration for teachers.
8. It gives knowledge about the practical use of the computer.
9. It provides suitable base to knowledge acquired in classroom teaching.

10. It strengthen the linguistic abilities of the students.

 Value of Computer science library:   
          The Computer Science library serves the academic and research needs of the Department of Computer Science by providing journals, technical reports, and other scholarly materials to faculty, researchers, and graduate students in the field of computer science, the library is a vital resource for information.
     In computer science, a library is a collection of implementations of behavior, written in terms of a language that has a well-defined interface by which the behaviour is invoked. In addition, the behavour is provided for reuse by multiple independent programmes. A programme invokes the library-provided behavour via a mechanism of the language.
     Library code is organized in such a way that it can be used by multiple programmes that have no connection to each other, while code that is part of a programme is organized to only be used within that one programme. This distinction can gain a hierarchical notion when a programme grows large, such as a multi-million-line programme. The distinguishing feature is that a library is organized for the purposes of being reused by independent programmes or sub-programmes, and the user only need to know the interface, and not the internal details of the library.
     The value of a library is the reuse of the behavior. When a programme invokes a library, it gains the behavior itself. Libraries encourage the sharing of code in a modular fashion, and ease the distribution of the code.
Digital library:
     A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats (as opposed to print, microform, or other media) and accessed remotely via computer networks. A digital llbrary is a type of information retrieval system.
Advantages of Digital library:
  1. They are act as a means of easily and rapidly accessing books, archives and images of various types are now widely recognized by commercial interests and public bodies alike.
  2. Digital libraries have the potential to store much more information, simply because digital information requires very little physical space to contain it.
  3. As such, the cost of maintaining a digital library can be much lower than that of a traditional library.
  4. Digital libraries may reduce or in some instances, do away with these fees.
  5. Digital libraries may be more willing to adopt innovations in technology providing usedrs with improvements in electronic and audio book technology as well as presenting new forms of communication such as wikis and blogs
  6. An important advantage to digital conversion is increased accessibility to users. They also increase availability to individuals who may not be traditional patrons of a library, due to geographic location or organizational affiliation.
Ø  No physical boundary: The user of a digital library need not to go to the library physically; people from all over world can gain access to the same information, as long as an Internet connection is  available
Ø  Round the clock  availability : A major advantage of digital libraries is that people can gain access 24/7 to the information
Ø  Multiple accesses: The same resources can be used simultaneously by a number of institutions and patrons. This may not be the case for copyrighted materials ,a library may have a license for “lending out” only one copy at a time, this is achieved with a system of digital rights management where are source can become inaccessible after expiration of the lending period or after the lender chooses to make it inaccessible (equivalent to returning the resource).
Ø  Information retrieval:  The user is able to  use any search term (word,phrase, title, name and subject) to search the entire collection. Digital libraries can provide very user friendly interfaces, giving clickable access to its resources.
Ø  Prevention and conservation:  Digitization is not a long term preservation solution for physical collections, but does succeed in providing access copies for materials that would otherwise fall to degradation from repeated use. Digitised collections and born-digital objects, pose many preservation and conservation concerns that analog materials do not.
Ø  Space:  Whereas traditional libraries are limited by storage space, digital libraries have the potential to store much more information, simply because digital information requires very little physical space to contain them and media storage technologies are more affordable than ever before.
Ø  Added value: Certain characteristics of objects, primarily the quality of images, may be improved. Digitisation can enhance legibility and remove visible flaws such as stains and discoloration.
Ø  Easily accessible: The user is able to access the digital library easily.

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