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European Academic Software Award 1996

List of Winners

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List of Winners


On June 1, 1996, the Euroepean Academic Software Awards (EASA) 1996 were distributed at the University of Klagenfurt/Austria. After three days of intense discussions and deliberations on the side of the jurors, and of high tension at the side of the authors, the results of the evaluation were announced in an award ceremony on bord a ship in the middle of lake Woerthersee.

The international jurors' body, consisting of 22 experts and 4 students from 6 countries evaluated the 35 programs that had qualified for the finals along several criteria: Academic software - that is, software developed at and/or for universities and higher education - must, first of all, be correct and state-of-the-art in contents and has to cover a relevant field of research, teaching and learning. But a potential EASA winner also has to reach high standards of software design and educational value: it should be highly interactive and allow active learning at an appropriate level for students. It should be based on a sound educational basis, be easy to use, user-friendly and well-documented. Furthermore, the program should make optimal use of the computer and contribute new ideas to the development and use of interactive media in higher education.

The jurors finally selected 10 programs that come up to these requirements: 6 projects developed by university department, 3 programs developed by students as well as 1 commercial product for higher education. Here they are:

Department Projects:

DCSS - Digital Communication Systems Simulation, developed by Horst Friedrich Roeder and Ulrich Gojny (Fachhochschule Darmstadt, Germany), discipline: engineering.

"The program simulates digital telecommunication systems. The use of CAD-techniques allows to simula te actual terrestrial and space conditions for transmission. The program is highly interactive and simulates real equipment. It can model basic as well as advanc ed telecommunication systems and electronic measuring techniques, and can be used for tutorials, tea ching, training, development and research."

SToMP - Software Teaching of Muodular Physics, developed by Richard Bacon, R. Barnett and S. Dewar (University of Surrey, U.K.), discipline: natural sciences.

"SToMP contains a complete first year physics course as a learning ressource. It is an excellent example of a computer based learning package, which encourages a high degree of i nteractivity."

Medi-CAL, developed by Neil M. Hamilton, A. David Kindley and Iciar Frade (University of Aberdeen, U.K.), discipline: medical science.

"The program presents the major milestones in child development in a very helpful setting. Explorative but at the same time efficient learning is supported with an intelligent and pleasant us e of multimedia elements."

Oscillations, developed by Eugene Butikov (St. Petersburg State University, Russia), discipline: natural sciences.

"This is a remarkable tool for learning but also for detailed exploration of mathematical models in oscillatory physics. Its modular design makes it very easy to incorporate it into beginning and advanced university level courses. The software is available both in Russian and English and could be used in many countries."

STIMM, developed by Erich Neuwirth (University of Vienna, Austria), discipline: mathematics.

"STIMM is a textbook which integrates sounds and which is used for teaching mathematical musicology. It was realized in an innovative way and it shows that a multimedia documentation is easier to reali ze than one might have thought..."

WinEcon, developed by Philip Hobbs (University of Bristol, U.K.), discipline: economic and social sciences.

"A full-covering tutorial system for the education of economic students at undergraduate level, incl uding a complete range of assessment methods. WinEcon is very well designed and is already widely used. It can easily bee adapted to academic teac hers needs. On the whole, it is a very user-friendly system for both teachers and students."

Commercial Projects:

CC - Calculus Connections, developed by Robert Harding and Douglas A. Quinney (University of Cambridge, U. K.), discipline: mathematics.

"Calculus Connections constitutes an oustandingly novel approach to mathematics. Multimedia presentations of real life problems are used to motivate the learner, who is then encoura ged to solve them in a mathematical manner."

Student Projects:

RuckZuck, developed by Thomas Pfeiler, Andreas Woergoetter, Thomas Reichl and Eberhard Haeuslschmid (Technical University Graz, Austria), discipline: engineering.

"RuckZuck is a program for engineering and architecture students, and others who are interested in s tructural analysis. Students can easily design and modify, on screen, structures and influencing physical conditions. It is a complex program, but, nevertheless, the underlying theoretical background is completely transp arent and the student can see the results immediately. This encourages the student to experiment, and provides an excellent interactive learning environmen t."

VISCP - Virtual Instrumentation and Schematic Capture Program, developed by Maria Loreto Rodriguez Pardo (University of Vigo, Spain), discipline: engineering.

"A CAD tool for the design of electronic circuits as well as for testing developed circuits. VISCP is highly interactive with some innovative features. It fulfills an educational need to supply effective simulation of practical work which is not covered by commercial packages."

The happy bee, developed by Christian Matriche (University of Liege, Belgium), discipline: software for general use.

"A highly novel approach to health information for a wide audience, starting from the age of 12 upwa rds. The happy bee attracts the attention of the users and establishes a good starting point for a more c omplete AIDS campaign. It can easily be used Europe-wide."

For the best tool developed by students, the author of VISCP, was awarded ATS 10.000.-- by DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation), while the authors' team of RuckZuck was offered a PC by Compaq for the best educational student software.


Jurors and organisers underlined the increasing quality of EASA submissions: the integration of multimedia into educational software is becoming quite common, as are complex tools for learning and teaching with easy-to-use graphical interfaces and a high degree of interactivity. European students can indeed look forward to meeting such products as the EASA winner software in their curriculum and to work and learn with their support.

For the future, and starting with the next European Academic Software Award 1998, the organisers plan to extend the award beyond software products: they also want to honour outstanding educational achievements in using computers and interactive media in higher education.


EASA 96 was supported by:

EU Commission DG XIII
BMWVK
Industriellenvereinigung Kärnten
Stadt Klagenfurt
Land Kärnten
ESPITI
Uni-Software Hagenberg
Bank Austria
DEC
Compaq
SDS

Our special thanks also to the University of Klagenfurt's Computing Service for their active support and patience!