Arnold Depickere

Universities teach project management to information technology (IT) students. The project management principles that students previously have learned often are put into practice in a project course that is intended to give final-year students the experience of applying their knowledge to real or simulated projects. This article reports on research that investigated the use and usefulness of project management in student IT projects. The results show that there was a wide range in the application of project management practices, with students being more likely to produce the initial documentation associated with some of the project management knowledge areas than to make use of it throughout the project to monitor the project’s progress. The results also showed that the number of project management guidelines applied in student projects was not linked to IT project success. However, there was a strong relationship between project management plan quality and obtaining a good software product.

Development of humanoid and dance robots has improved greatly due to rapid advancement of electronics, computer, mechatronics and control technologies. While humanoid robots such as Honda ASIMO, Fujita HOAP-3 and Sony QRIO have dazed the public with their amazing capabilities, such robots are in very limited supply and they are also extremely expensive. On the other hand, the low cost toy robot, WowWee's Robosapien (RS), has become very popular. It has also expanded its functionalities in later models since its line of products were first launched in 2004. The most important aspect of such robot is its cost is only a fraction of the highly sophisticated robots. This study investigates the feasibility of using low cost robots such as RS for the purposes of entertainment and teaching Thai dances. Informal feedbacks and comments have shown a high degree of acceptance and keen interest. This demonstrates the potential of low cost robots for training, entertainment and edutainment purposes.

The availability of multiple media channels through the Internet has added new dimensions of communication between people or communities who are geographically separated. In the environment of informal communication on the Internet, chat applications are popular in which a user may be represented only by a nickname or an alias. This suggests that a person may be able to communicate more freely when his or her identity is concealed. Popular chatting or instant messaging (IM) systems such as Microsoft MSN Messenger, America Online's Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and GoogleTalk have changed the way that a user may communicate with friends, acquaintances, and business colleagues. Once limited to desktop personal computers (PCs) or laptops, popular instant messaging systems are finding their way onto handheld devices and mobile phones. This allows a user to chat from virtually anywhere. Nowadays, IM is found on almost every personal PC connected to the Internet as well as on many corporate desktops.

Universities teach project management to information technology (IT) students. The project management principles that students have previously learned are often put into practice in a project course, intended to give final year students the experience of applying their knowledge to real or simulated projects. This paper reports on research that investigated the use of, and usefulness of, project management in student IT projects. The results show that there was a wide range in the application of project management practices, with students being more likely to produce the initial documentation associated with some of the project management knowledge areas than to make use of it throughout the project to monitor the project’s progress. The results also showed that the number of project management guidelines applied in student projects was not linked with IT project success. However, there was a strong relationship between project management plan quality and obtaining a good software product.