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Dr Neil Smith

Profile summary

Web links

Professional biography

Dr Smith is a senior lecturer in Computing and Communications with interests in aritficial intelligence, data science, machine learning, and pedagogy.

Research interests

My main research interests are in pedagogy of STEM education, including ways of engaging people in non-traditional contexts, such as children in Code Clubs and under-represented groups looking to move into computing.

Teaching interests

I teach in the areas of data science and machine learning. I currently lead a team developing a new module on machine learning for the OU's data science degree.

Impact and engagement

I work with several groups outside the university, including Code Club and GirlsCodeMK. Both these groups work to engage people with computing outside traditional higher-education contexts.

Research groups

NameTypeParent Unit
CRC: Language, Multimedia and Knowledge TechnologiesGroupFaculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology

Publications

A comparison of MOOC development and delivery approaches (2017)
Smith, Neil; Richards, Michael; Caldwell, Helen and Bandara, Arosha
International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 34(2) (pp. 152-164)


Educating the Internet-of-Things generation (2013-02)
Kortuem, Gerd; Bandara, Arosha; Smith, Neil; Richards, Michael and Petre, Marian
Computer, 46(2) (pp. 53-61)


Generalised diagramming tools with automatic marking (2011-02)
Thomas, Pete; Waugh, Kevin and Smith, Neil
Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences, 10(1) (pp. 22-34)


Automatically assessing graph-based diagrams (2008-09)
Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
Learning, Media and Technology, 33(3) (pp. 249-267)


A Study of Open Source Evolution Data using Qualitative Simulation (2005-09)
Smith, Neil; Capiluppi, Andrea and Ramil, Juan F.
Software Process: Improvement and Practice, 10(3) (pp. 287-300)


Qualitative Simulation of Models of Software Evolution (2002-12)
Ramil, Juan F. and Smith, Neil
Software Process: Improvement and Practice, 7(3-4) (pp. 95-112)


A Comparison of MOOC Development and Delivery Approaches (2017-01-16)
Smith, Neil; Richards, Mike; Caldwell, Helen and Bandara, Arosha
In: Childs, Mark and Soetanto, Robby eds. Online Learning for STEM Subjects: International Examples of Technologies and Pedagogies in Use
ISBN : 9781138934443 | Publisher : Routledge


Users and developers: An agent-based simulation of open source software evolution (2006)
Smith, Neil; Capiluppi, Andrea and Fernandez-Ramil, Juan
In: Wang, Q.; Pfahl, D.; Raffo, D. M. and Wernick, P. eds. Software Process Change (pp. 286-293)
ISBN : 3-540-34199-4 | Publisher : Springer | Published : Berlin


Interpreting imprecise diagrams (2004)
Waugh, Kevin; Thomas, Pete and Smith, Neil
In: Blackwell, Alan; Marriott, Kim and Shimojima, Atsushi eds. Diagrammatic representation and inference: Third International Conference, Diagrams 2004, Cambridge, UK, March 22-24, 2004. Proceedings. Lecture notes in computer science (2980) (239 -241)
ISBN : 978354021268X | Publisher : Springer Berlin / Heidelberg


Summer of Code: Assisting Distance-Learning Students with Open-Ended Programming Tasks (2018-07-02)
Smith, Neil; Richards, Mike and Cabrero, Daniel G.
In : 23rd Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE ’18) (2-4 Jul 2018, Larnaca, Cyprus) (pp. 224-229)


A comparison of MOOC development and delivery approaches (2016-07)
Smith, Neil; Caldwell, Helen and Richards, Mike
In : International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education (7-9 Jul 2016, Rhodes, Greece)


Master Teachers in Computing: what have we achieved? (2015-11-09)
Smith, Neil; Allsop, Yasemin; Caldwell, Helen; Hill, David; Dimitriadi, Yota and Csizmadia, Andrew Paul
In : Proceedings of the 10th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (9-11 Nov 2015) (pp. 21-24)


Ubiquitous computing devices in the training of teacher-trainers (2015-07)
Smith, Neil and Caldwell, Helen
In : International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education (ICICTE 2015) (9-11 Jul 2015, Kos, Greece) (pp. 42-50)


Code Club: bringing programming to UK primary schools through Scratch (2014-03-05)
Smith, Neil; Sutcliffe, Clare and Sandvik, Linda
In : 45th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 14) (5-8 Mar 2014, Atlanta, GA) (pp. 517-522)


Designing smart toys for the cognitive enrichment of elephants (2014)
French, Fiona; Mancini, Clara; Smith, Neil and Sharp, Helen
In : First Symposium on Intelligent Systems for Animal Welfare, Proceedings of the 50th Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (1-4 Apr 2014, Goldsmiths, University of London)


Automatically assessing free-form diagrams in e-assessment systems (2012-04-12)
Thomas, Pete; Waugh, Kevin and Smith, Neil
In : STEM Annual Conference 2012: Aiming for excellence in STEM learning and teaching (12-13 Apr 2012, Imperial College London)


Teaching UbiComp with Sense (2010-10)
Richards, Michael and Smith, Neil
In : NordiCHI (16-20 Oct 2010, Reykjavik, Iceland)


Diagram interpretation and e-learning systems (2010)
Smith, Neil; Thomas, Pete and Waugh, Kevin
(pp. 331-333)


Generalised diagram revision tools with automatic marking (2009-07)
Thomas, Pete; Waugh, Kevin and Smith, Neil
In : 14th annual ACM SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education (6-9 Jul 2009, Paris, France) (pp. 318-322)


The role of labels in the automatic assessment of graph-based diagrams (2009-06-09)
Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
In : 23rd ICDE World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education (7-10 Jun 2009, Open Universiteit Nederland, Maastricht)


Automatically assessing diagrams (2009-06)
Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
In : IADIS International Conference e-Learning (17-20 Jun 2009, Algarve, Portugal)


Automatic assessment of sequence diagrams (2008)
Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
In : 12th International CAA Conference: Research into e-Assessment (8-9 Jul 2008, Loughborough University, UK)


A revision tool for teaching and learning sequence diagrams (2008)
Thomas, Pete; Waugh, Kevin and Smith, Neil
In : Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2008 (30 Jun - 4 Jul 2008, Vienna, Austria)


Learning and automatically assessing graph-based diagrams (2007-09)
Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
In : ALT-C 2007: Beyond Control, Learning Technology for the social network generation (4-6 Sep 2007, Nottingham, UK)


Computer assisted assessment of diagrams (2007-06)
Thomas, Pete G.; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin G.
In : Proceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education (25-27 Jun 2007, Dundee, Scotland)


An Empirical Study of the Evolution of an Agile-Developed Software System (2007-05-20)
Capiluppi, A.; Fernandez-Ramil, J.; Higman, J.; Sharp, H.C. and Smith, N.
In : 29th International Conference on Software Engineering (20-26 May 2007, Minneapolis, USA)


Teaching and learning applications related to the automated interpretation of ERDs (2007)
Waugh, Kevin; Thomas, Pete and Smith, Neil
In : 24th British National Conference on Databases (BNCOD '07) (3-5 Jul 2007, Glasgow, Scotland) (pp. 39-47)


Tools for supporting the teaching and learning of data modelling (2007)
Thomas, Pete; Waugh, Kevin and Smith, Neil
In : Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007 (25 Jun 2007, Vancouver, Canada)


A framework for the automated assessment of consistency between code and design (2007)
Hayes, Alan; Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
In : Informatics Education Europe II (29-30 Nov 2007, Thessaloniki, Greece)


An investigation into the the automated assessment of the design-code interface (2007)
Hayes, Alan; Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
In : 12th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE 2007) (25-27 Jun 2007, Dundee)


Using patterns in the automatic marking of ER-Diagrams (2006-06)
Thomas, Pete; Waugh, Kevin and Smith, Neil
In : 11th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (26-28 Jun 2006, Bologna, Italy)


Agent-based Simulation of Open Source Software Evolution (2006-05)
Smith, N.; Capiluppi, A. and Fernandez-Ramil, J.
In : International Software Process Workshop and International Workshop on Software Process Simulation and Modelling (20-21 May 2006, Shanghai, China)


Experiments in the automatic marking of ER-Diagrams (2005-06)
Thomas, Pete; Waugh, Kevin and Smith, Neil
In : 10th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (27-29 Jun 2005, Monte de Caparica, Portugal)


Toward the automated assessment of entity-relationship diagrams (2004-07)
Waugh, Kevin; Thomas, Pete and Smith, Neil
In : Second Workshop of the Learning and Teaching Support Network - Information and Computer Science) TLAD (Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases) (5 Jul 2004, Edinburgh, Scotland)


A Developmental Framework for Computer-based Automated Assessment (2007-04-19)
Hayes, Alan; Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
Department of Computing, The Open University


An approach to the automatic grading of imprecise diagrams (2006-12-01)
Thomas, Pete; Smith, Neil and Waugh, Kevin
Department of Computing, The Open University