Donald Chinn

Non-clair voy ant multiprocessor scheduling of jobs with changing execution characteristics

AbstractThis work theoretically proves that Equi-partition efficiently schedules multiprocessor batch jobs with different execution characteristics. Motwani, Phillips, and Torng (Proc. 4th Annu. ACM/SIAM Symp. on Discrete Algorithms, pp. 422–431, Austin, 1993) show that the mean response time of jobs is within two of optimal for fully parallelizable jobs. We extend this result by considering jobs with multiple phases of arbitrary nondecreasing and sublinear speedup functions. Having no knowledge of the jobs being scheduled (non-clairvoyant) one would not expect it to perform well. However, our main result shows that the mean response time obtained with Equi-partition is no more than

Exploring programming assessment instruments: a classification scheme for examination questions

2 + \sqrt 3 \approx 3.73

Using peer review in teaching computing

times the optimal. The paper also considers schedulers with different numbers of preemptions and jobs with more general classes of speedup functions. Matching lower bounds are also proved.

Minimal Adaptive Routing on the Mesh with Bounded Queue Size

Peer assessment has the potential to encourage and enhance critical thinking skills and to help students progress toward a learning model where evidence, rather than the proclamations of an Authority, is the basis for understanding. This paper describes the use of peer assessment in the algorithms course. Our results indicate that students are able to apply assessment skills to more complex problems as the course proceeds, that there is a high correlation between the quality of their assessments and their performance in non-peer assessment course activities, and that in their assessments students tend to identify high-level errors more frequently than low-level errors.

Teacher Perceptions of Student Needs and Implications for Positive Behavior Supports.

This paper describes the development of a classification scheme that can be used to investigate the characteristics of introductory programming examinations. We describe the process of developing the scheme, explain its categories, and present a taste of the results of a pilot analysis of a set of CS1 exam papers. This study is part of a project that aims to investigate the nature and composition of formal examination instruments used in the summative assessment of introductory programming students, and the pedagogical intentions of the educators who construct these instruments.

Serious fun: peer-led team learning in CS

Active learning techniques, including collaborative programming and problem solving environments, have been widely adopted by many computer science educators. A related approach is the Treisman model, which was originally designed for the first-year calculus course and involves intensive workshops where students collaborate in small groups to solve problems. We have adapted the model for both the data structures and algorithms courses at our institution. Regression analysis indicates that students who participate in the workshops for the algorithms course perform better (0.561 grade points on a 4-point scale) than those who do not, even after accounting for prior academic performance. However, the workshops appear to have less of an effect on student grades in the data structures course. This study provides evidence that the workshop model can be an effective learning environment for students in courses primarily involving analysis, but that for courses that involve large amounts of programming, further adaptations to the model might be needed.

Minimal adaptive routing on the mesh with bounded queue size

For generations, the academic community has relied on peer review as a way of encouraging scholarship and enhancing the knowledge base. Peer review has been widely used in the classroom since at least the 1970s, with hundreds of papers on its use in diverse academic fields appearing in the literature (for a comprehensive survey, see [1]). Its use appears to be on the upswing, given the current interest in active learning and teamwork. In computer science, peer review seems to have very broad application. It can be used to evaluate the contributions of various members to a project team; it can be used for design documents and code reviews, in writing assignments, and in capstone project courses. The experience of the panelists is illustrative of the wide range of peer-review practices. This panel will serve to introduce the audience to some of these applications. Since many computer-science instructors have experimented with peer review, we are anxious to have them share their experiences during the open discussion period.

Improving Mathematics Teachers' Content Knowledge via Brief In-service: A US Case Study

An adaptive routing algorithm is one in which the path a packet takes from its source to its destination may depend on other packets it encounters. Such algorithms potentially avoid network bottlenecks by routing packets around “hot spots.” Minimal adaptive routing algorithms have the additional advantage that the path each packet takes is a shortest one. For a large class of minimal adaptive routing algorithms, we present an ?(n2/k2) bound on the worst case time to route a static permutation of packets on ann×nmesh or torus with nodes that can hold up tok? 1 packets each. This is the first nontrivial lower bound on adaptive routing algorithms. The argument extends to more general routing problems, such as theh?hrouting problem. It also extends to a large class of dimension order routing algorithms, yielding an ?(n2/k) time bound. To complement these lower bounds, we present two upper bounds. One is anO(n2/k+n) time dimension order routing algorithm that matches the lower bound. The other is the first instance of a minimal adaptive routing algorithm that achievesO(n) time with constant sized queues per node. We point out why the latter algorithm is outside the model of our lower bounds.