Andrea W. Lawrence

Empirically evaluating the use of animations to teach algorithms

As algorithm animation systems become more widely available and easy to use, instructors will have the opportunity to utilize these systems to assist their teaching. Although algorithm animation systems have generated excitement and interest in both teachers and students, little empirical evidence exists to promote their use. This article describes a study involving the use of algorithm animations in classroom and laboratory settings. Results indicated that allowing students to create their own examples in a laboratory session led to higher accuracy on a post-test examination of understanding as compared to students who viewed prepared examples or no laboratory examples.<<ETX>>

Performance comparison of multiple image depth and shape cues

This research has implications for tasks in human‐computer interaction where the user must interact with display information that is organized on multiple axes. We describe the results of an experiment that compared the effectiveness of five different techniques for shape and depth discrimination. The methods evaluated were binocular parallax, alternating horizontal parallax, alternating vertical parallax, motion parallax, and motion parallax in conjunction with the Pulfrich effect. Binocular parallax, closely followed by motion parallax and the Pulfrich effect, was most effective for the depth discrimination task in terms of both correctness and response time. Alternating parallax techniques provided cues for distinguishing between foreground and background in a scene but did not provide cues that were intuitively translated into depth. Response time of subjects for the shape discrimination task was fastest with alternating parallax. For depth discrimination, subjects preferred binocular parallax. For sh...

Building a sense of history: narratives and pathways of women computing educators

This working group laid the groundwork for the collection and analysis of oral histories of women computing educators. This endeavor will eventually create a body of narratives to serve as role models to attract students, in particular women, to computing; it will also serve to preserve the history of the female pioneers in computing education. Pre-conference work included administration of a survey to assess topical interest. The working group produced aids for conducting interviews, including an opening script, an outline of topics to be covered, guidelines for conducting interviews, and a set of probing questions to ensure consistency in the interviews. The group explored issues such as copyright and archival that confront the large-scale implementation of the project and suggested extensions to this research. This report includes an annotated bibliography of resources. The next steps will include training colleagues in how to conduct interviews and establishing guidelines for archival and use of the interviews.

Trends and discoveries of the computing educators oral history project

Andrea Lawrence Department of Computer Science Spelman College Atlanta, Georgia 30314 USA +1 404 270-5875 lawrence@spelman.edu Lecia J. Barker (moderator) School of Information The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 78712 USA +1 512 471 3821 lecia@ischool.utexas.edu Amardeep Kahlon Department of Computer Science Austin Community College Austin, Texas 78752 USA +1 512 223 2069 akahlon@austincc.edu

Computing educators oral history project: seeking the trends

This report expands upon the work started by an ITiCSE 2005 Working Group, which established the groundwork for collecting and analyzing the oral histories of computing educators and provided a foundation for the Computing Educators Oral History Project (CEOHP). The main charge for the Working Group during ITiCSE 2008 was to begin analyzing the interviews already included in CEOHP. As part of the process of exploring analysis approaches, we revisited the status of CEOHP and what had been learned since 2005. We report on analytical procedures for using the interviews as research data and as the basis for informational, motivational resources. We describe techniques and software tools we investigated for qualitative (thematic) analysis of this rich set of personal histories. The analysis allowed themes to emerge naturally from the interviews and suggested specific areas for further investigation. The report describes plans, including procedural updates, archival options, web portal needs, legal and ethical issues, target groups, and publication targets. We conclude with a discussion of future challenges for CEOHP.

SIGCSE plus you equals leverage

This paper describes the many possibilities that SIGCSE affords to those who make use of the resources and opportunities the organization and the annual conferences provide.