Deborah Knox

A model for summer undergraduate research experiences in emerging technologies

Integrating emerging technologies into the curriculum is expected in our evolving discipline, although finding the time to master these can prove difficult. Institutional expectations for scholarly achievement need not take precedence; the use of an overarching theme for a summer research experience is presented as one approach to join a group of people with a unifying topic for study and discussion leading to the natural incorporation of the emergent technology into the curriculum.This paper presents a successful model for undergraduate summer research where participants, both faculty and students, investigated information security (IS) topics and learned from IS professionals. This was applied to individual research projects in disconnected areas in computing. The unifying experiences encouraged a collegial and supportive environment, firmly establishing peer and faculty / student collaboration. Student perceptions about the field and career options were positively effected, leading to increased interest in the emergent area as well as in future graduate studies.

Use of laboratories in computer science education: guidelines for good practice: report of the working group on computing laboratories

This paper explores various aspects of the use of laboratories in teaching Computer Science. The foIlowing six topics are discussed in detail: i scope of courses, ii relationship between lecture and lab, iii pedagogy, iv an Internet repository for laboratory materials, v institutional support and vi technology, The first three items deal with content while the last three are concerned with implementation. This document is part of a continuing effort that the authors envision will result in a laboratory development manual.

On-line publication of CS laboratories

Many computer science educators are actively developing laboratory materials in support of their courses because the lab activities provide a rich learning environment. Some instructors are hesitant to pursue this type of pedagogy because of the time commitment required or because of a lack of materials to use as a starting point. This paper describes the development of a repository of computer science laboratories to encourage development and use of labs.The project described is an on-line repository, a database developed for the WEB using HTML forms to help tailor user requests for information. The backbone of the repository is currently CGI scripts written in PERL. The features of the prototype include lab submission, searching by keyword or topic, and an annotation capability for each lab.We also describe the plans for a SIGCSE sponsored peer reviewed on-line repository of lab materials which will create a recognized avenue for the dissemination of labs. The peer review process will help insure a level of quality, and grant developers recognition for their scholarly work in support of teaching.

Developing laboratories for the SIGCSE computing laboratory repository: guidelines, recommendations, and sample labs (report of the ITiCSE '97 working group on designing laboratory materials for computing courses)

We focus on the practical issue of designing laboratory activities, concentrating on identifying key components necessary to insure quality and usefulness in the on-line SIGCSE Computing Laboratory Repository. We summarize the current capabilities and future extensions of the Repository, characterize a variety of qualities necessary and recommended for successful laboratory activities, identify a standard cover page for all lab activity submissions, and specify some guidelines for referees of submitted materials. Finally, we have designed four sample laboratory projects. Their contents are summarized in this paper and the completed projects will be available from the Repository after student testing in the Fall of 1997, if not sooner.

The peer review process of teaching materials: report of the ITiCSE'99 working group on validation of the quality of teaching materials

When an instructor adopts teaching materials, he/she wants some measure of confidence that the resource is effective, correct, and robust. The measurement of the quality of a resource is an open problem. It is our thesis that the traditional evaluative approach to peer review is not appropriate to insure the quality of teaching materials, which are created with different contextual constraints. This Working Group report focuses on the evaluation process by detailing a variety of review models. The evolution of the development and review of teaching materials is outlined and the contexts for creation, assessment, and transfer are discussed. We present an empirical study of evaluation forms conducted at the ITiCSE 99 conference, and recommend at least one new review model for the validation of the quality of teaching resources.

Integrating design and simulation into a computer architecture course

This paper describes our experiences with closed laboratories in a computer architecture course and highlights the development of a capstone project. We advocate the use of software as a cost effective means of supporting analysis, design, and experimentation. Improvements to the course in regards to content, environment for learning, student perception, skills accomplished and retained, and instructor involvement are outlined. Several labs are summarized, including the capstone project tying together all aspects of machine organization. We conclude that integrating design education into computer science with the logic simulator lab approach is worthy of our continued efforts.

Using an education oriented digital library to organize and present classes in computing and information

This demonstration allows conference attendees to gain experience in using the facilities of the NSF National Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Education Digital Library (NSDL) to prepare and present College or university level classes.

Toward a sharable digital library of reusable teaching resources

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM May 2001/Vol. 44, No. 5 79 iLumina is starting with resources from its partner institutions. These include materials from the Computer Science Teaching Center (CSTC; www.cstc.org), and the ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee’s Digital Library (SECDL; www.education.siggraph.org), as well as new digital teaching materials from UNCW. Resources from these sites are not placed directly into iLumina, but reside in separate content repositories. iLumina itself actually contains only metadata associated with these resources. In short, iLumina is a partly distributed and partly centralized library. ILumina’s rich metadata, derived from the IMS specifications [1], not only enables powerful searches, but is also the basis for several secondtier user services, including:

Using CITIDEL to develop and share class plans

This demonstration will illustrate the use of existing and proposed tools in CITIDEL for finding existing resources to integrate into a course and for developing well structured descriptions of class and laboratory activities for sharing with the computing community.

Using the NSDL and CITIDEL to enhance teaching

We present an overview of the National Science Digital Library, NSDL, and focus on one of the partner projects it supports. The computing and Information Technology Interactive Digital Educational Library (CITIDEL) harvests metadata from repositories and collections, and provides tools to customize learning with these resources. CITIDELs integrated tools guide the user to create instructional environments that enhance the learning experience. Additional tools available from NSDL are included in this presentation to complete the picture. Information on integrating new collections and materials into CITIDEL is included.