To build student engagement and belonging early in the education is crucial for retention and student success. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, universities worldwide were forced to seek for alternative and complementary teaching approaches. In Sweden, universities adopted hybrid teaching since the end of the spring in 2020. The traditional face-to-face teaching facilitates immediate, real-time engagement with activities such as discussion and instant interaction between instructors and students and/or among students which encourages active learning, while an online teaching allows the students to watch videos and read requested materials many times, to complete the assignments at their suitable time and place, to enable good discussion and interaction via online forum and messaging. A hybrid approach combines the advantages of both face-to-face and online approaches. Research shows several challenges with online teaching, for examples, students´ engagement [1], communication between student(s) and teacher(s) [2], connection with/within the group, study groups, study buddies [3] as well as social engagement [4]. When a hybrid approach is applied to the First-Year courses due to the COVID-19, these challenges might have even more serious implications on the retention and success. This study explores two successful cases of how active learning, togetherness and engagement can be created among First-Year students. The study is based on two large introductory courses for the first-year students in Computer Science and in Business Administration at Kristianstad University, Sweden. Both programmes provide the Introduction courses for larger number of students (135 respective 195 students). Various methods and tools were used in the course design to engage students and create an active learning [5] environment using the hybrid approach. The results and experience were also presented. We experienced that students had actively participated in the arranged activities and the course passing rate was higher compared with the face-to-face teaching. The course evaluation also showed that the students were satisfied with course contents and various course activities.

Active learning is the process where students learn beyond passively listening to an instructor's lecture. In this way students are engaged in their learning activities. It has been accepted that active learning leads to deeper understanding and better learning outcomes.

The term flipped classroom has been widely used to describe a new pedagogical approach in which traditional lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed so that the initial exposure to the learning content takes place outside of the classroom. This approach frees up class time, promotes active learning and engagement in learning and facilitates student-centered learning.

In this study we experimented with flipped classroom approach in the online course Programming in C during the autumn term 2015. The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether flipped classroom can serve as an appropriate method to use in an online course and to find out to what extent flipped classroom can stimulate active learning in an online setting. Based on known concept of flipped classroom approach and literature review, we systematically reviewed YouTube videos and selected 52 video clips to use as companion course materials. We also compiled and produced 212 quiz questions to use as formative assessment. In order to promote interaction among the students, we experimented with peer-review as a part of the laboratory work process. We also provided scheduled online sessions in the form of chat rooms. Short video clips were positively received by the students. Even the peer-review approach was positively received but the students gave up this activity at the end of the course, due to the work load. Flipped classroom has potential to be used in online settings but distinction between "classroom" and "outside classroom" is not always clear.

More work is needed to make this distinction visible and to make the transition between these two learning environments smooth.

An [n, k, d] code is a binary linear code of block length n, dimension k and minimum Hamming distance d. Since the minimum distance determines the error detection or correction capability, it is desired that d is as large as possible for the given block length n and dimension k. One of the most fundamental problems in coding theory is to construct codes with best possible minimum distances. This problem is very difficult in both theory and practice. During the last decades, it has proved that the class of quasi-cyclic (QC) codes contain many such codes. In this paper, augmentation of binary QC codes is studied. A new augmentation algorithm is presented, and 10 new h-generator QC codes that are better than previously known code have been constructed. Furthermore, Construction X has been applied to obtain another 18 new improved binary linear codes.With the standard construction techniques, a total of 124 new binary linear codes that improve the lower bound on the minimum distance have been obtained.

Error control codes have been widely used in data communications and storage systems. One centralproblem in coding theory is to optimize the parameters of a linear code and construct codes withbest possible parameters. There are tables of best-known linear codes over finite fields of sizes up to9. Recently, there has been a growing interest in codes over F13 and other fields of size greater than9. The main purpose of this work is to present a database of best-known linear codes over the fieldF13 together with upper bounds on the minimum distances. To find good linear codes to establishlower bounds on minimum distances, an iterative heuristic computer search algorithm is employed toconstruct quasi-twisted (QT) codes over the field F13 with high minimum distances. A large numberof new linear codes have been found, improving previously best-known results. Tables of [pm;m] QTcodes over F13 with best-known minimum distances as well as a table of lower and upper bounds onthe minimum distances for linear codes of length up to 150 and dimension up to 6 are presented.

As a generalization to cyclic and consta-cyclic codes, quasi-twisted (QT) codes contain many good linear codes. During the last twenty years, a lot of record-breaking codes have been found by computer search for good QT codes. But due to the time complexity, very few QT codes have been reported recently. In this paper, a new iterative, heuristic computer search algorithm is presented, and a lot of new QT codes have been obtained. With these results, a total of 45 entries in the code tables for the best-known codes have been improved. Also, as an example to show the effectiveness of the algorithm, 8 better binary quasi-cyclic codes with dimension 12 and m = 13 than previously best-known results are constructed.

One fundamental and challenging problem in coding theory is to optimize the parameters [n, k,d] of a linear code over the finite field Fq and construct codes with best possible parameters. There are tables and databases of best-known linear codes over the finite fields of size up to 9 together with upper bounds on the minimum distances. Motivated by recent works on codes over F₁₁, we present a table of best-known linear codes over F₁₁ together with upper bounds on minimum distances. Our table covers the range n ≤ 150 for the length, and 3 ≤ k ≤ 7 for the dimension. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time such a table is presented in the literature. For the construction of the best-known codes, we employed an iterative heuristic search algorithm to search for new linear codes in the class of quasi-twisted (QT) codes. The search yielded many new codes with better parameters than previously known codes. In many cases, optimal codes are obtained. In addition to presenting a comprehensive table of best-known codes over F₁₁ of dimensions up to 7 with upper bounds on the minimum distances, we also present separate tables for the optimal codes and new QT codes over F₁₁. We hope that this work will be a useful source for further study on codes over F₁₁.

The flipped classroom approach provides implementation of a student-centered learning environment. By changing the traditional classroom lectures and homework elements of a course, it facilitates active learning and higher-order understanding. This paper presents initial experiments on a flipped classroom approach and its application in a programming course. The course results and evaluation show that this approach is rewarding, and why it deserves further investigation.

One central problem in coding theory is to optimize the parameters of a linear code and construct codes with best possible parameters. There are tables of best-known linear codes over nite elds of sizes up to 9. Recently, there has been a growing interest in codes over GF(11), over GF(13) and other elds of size greater than 9. The main purpose of this work is to present new databases of best-known linear codes over the elds GF(11) and GF(13) together with upper bounds on the minimum distances. To nd good linear codes to establish lower bounds on minimum distances, an iterative heuristic computer search algorithm is employed to construct quasi-twisted (QT) codes over these elds with high minimum distances. A large number of new linear codes have been found, improving previously best-known results. Tables of [pm, m] QT codes over the two elds with best-known minimum distances as well as a table of lower and upper bounds on the minimum distances for linear codes of length up to 150 and dimension up to 6 are presented.