Bruce J. Klein

RUNESTONE, an international student collaboration project

Students will eventually work in a global market; what better preparation can be provided for international collaboration than...international collaboration? The RUNESTONE project is developing and evaluating the notion of incorporating international group projects into the undergraduate computer science curriculum. RUNESTONE adds new dimensions to student teamwork, requiring students to handle collaboration that is remote, cross-cultural and linguistically challenging. RUNESTONE is a three year project, with the prototype version running in Winter 1998 with students at Uppsala University, Sweden, and Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA. The 1998 pilot study will be followed by a full-scale implementation in 1999 and another in 2000.

An international student/faculty collaboration: the Runestone project

Students of today need to be prepared to work in globally distributed organizations. Part of that preparation involves teaching students to work effectively in teams to solve problems. Students also must be able to work with individuals located at distant sites where there is no or very little face-to-face interaction. The Runestone project, an international collaboration between two universities, adds new dimensions to student teamwork, requiring students to handle collaboration that is remote, cross-cultural, and technically challenging. Runestone is a three-year project funded by the Swedish Council for the Renewal of Undergraduate Education. A pilot study in 1998 was followed by a full-scale implementation in 1999 with another implementation ongoing in 2000.Each time this global cooperation project is run, both students and faculty learn important lessons in how to work with each other in a virtual environment. This paper discusses both student and faculty learning outcomes for Runestone 1999.

Application of peer learning to the introductory computer science curriculum (panel)

David Cordes Dept of CS University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL cordes@cs.ua.edu Dorothy Deremer Math, CS and Physics Montclair State University Upper Montclair, NJ deremerd@ alpha.montclair.edu Bruce J. Klein Renee A. McCauley Linda Null CIS Dept CS Dept Math Sci and CS Grand Valley University of Penn State State University Southwestern Louisiana Harrisburg Allendale, Ml Lafayette, LA Middletown, PA kleinbQgvsu.edu mccauley@usl.edu null@trex.hbg.psu.edu

Harnessing technology for effective inter- and intra-institutional collaboration (report of the ITiCSE '97 working group on supporting inter- and intra institutional collaboration)

The computer science discipline is well poised to provide leading examples of harnessing communications and computer technologies in order to encourage collaborative practices both within and between institutions. Students, academics, and institutions all potentially have access to their counterparts world-wide. This provides endless opportunities for sharing knowledge, accessing scarce expertise, making effective re-use of limited resources, collaborating to attract funding and influence policies, etc. Even so, within our own institutions we regularly miss opportunities to exploit appropriate technology for supporting both educational and administrative collaboration.The aims of this working group were to raise awareness of collaborative opportunities and practices, to investigate practically what collaboration means to academics, and to take practical steps towards promoting collaboration. The working group also aimed to identify technologies, i.e., techniques and tools, that offer pragmatic approaches to supporting collaborative schemes.

Report on improving SIGCSE/ITiCSE program creation process

Based on post-meeting review forms, most attendees of the SIGCSE Symposium and ITiCSE Conference greatly appreciate the programs put together by the respective program committees. In recent years, nevertheless, several SIGCSE members have communicated their concerns to the SIGCSE Board about the paper solicitation, submission, review, and selection process used for these meetings.