W. Richards Adrion

Student reactions to classroom lecture capture

This paper evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of lecture recording, which aspects of lectures and lecture capture systems are most used, and what additional features and functions would make the experience more effective. We evaluated 4 computer science courses recorded during spring 2011 using our comprehensive lecture capture system PAOL and presented with webMANIC. We discuss the results of student surveys and focus groups and compare these with prior surveys that investigated how students reacted to the availability of online lecture content and how they used these resources in large- and small-scale deployments with both home-grown and commercial lecture capture technologies. The primary motivation for this study was to analyze how lecture capture fits in the context of computer science curricula and pedagogy and about how we can enhance our systems to be more educationally effective.

First experiences with a classroom recording system

This paper describes our experiences with the first partial deployment of Presentations Automatically Organized from Lectures (PAOL), a lecture recording system developed and tested at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. PAOL automatically records all information presented during lectures using any combination of computer, whiteboard, and overhead presentation and compiles the captured lectures into indexed presentations. We discuss lessons learned from this deployment that have application in lecture recording specifically and classroom technology in general. We also discuss our initial evaluation of created presentations as determined by a small focus group study.

Integrating evaluation into program development: benefits of baselining a NSF-BPC alliance

The Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE) is one of 11 National Science Foundation Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) alliances aimed at increasing the participation and success of underrepresented groups in information technology (IT). From the beginning, CAITE partners worked to integrate a detailed and comprehensive evaluation strategy to provide a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of CAITE action plans on its main objectives. We collected large institutional data sets for the seven academic years prior to the project inception from each of the nine original partners, the six additional partners and several other institutions. These data serve as a baseline for assessing the efficacy of CAITE interventions and make it possible to examine trends in student participation and success across each CAITE partner and the alliance as whole. Importantly, these data provide valuable insight into each of the institutions that has allowed CAITE to tailor its inventions to reflect local conditions at each institution and within each region. From the evaluation data, it became clear that we needed to adjust action plans to better meet CAITE objectives. We describe specific aspects that warranted data-driven adjustments, and highlight lessons learned from these revelations.

Evaluation of automatic classroom capture for computer science education

Our research into automatic recording of the complete classroom experience has led to the development of many software systems, one of which captures an image stream of all content presented on a computer. We have just completed a first deployment of this computer capture system in which 3 separate courses were recorded for an entire semester with the content being presented to students within 24 hours of the class meeting time. This system has been envisioned as a component of a complete lecture capture system but a component with real value even when used as a stand alone. In this paper we discuss student feedback to this computer capture system, revision of system functionality, and thoughts on the usefulness of capturing computer content in computer science courses in general.

Automatic creation of indexed presentations from classroom lectures

This paper describes a system designed to automatically capture classroom events as videos and images. This content is delivered in several ways, most commonly as indexed multimedia presentations but also in real time as notes of classroom events. This content creation system identifies when significant events occur, e.g., material presented by computer and projected on a screen or written on a standard whiteboard, and saves these events as enhanced images. In parallel with the whiteboard capture, a digitally-zoomed video of the speaker is created. The significant event images (from cameras and computers) are used to create an index into the video and the images, video and index are complied into a Flash presentation. These presentations are used by on-campus or distance students. The event images can also be stored and exported to a Ubiquitous Presenter-style server that provides students with real-time, in-class access. The event images and video are recorded transparently to the lecturer. The lecturer need not make any modifications to teaching style or modality (whiteboard, computer-based presentation, or a combination). The primary focus of this paper is on event image and video capture techniques. The lecture capture system has great benefits for education and we report some initial experience using it in support of computer science curricula.

State-Based Progress Towards Computer Science for All

R ecognizing the importance of providing every student with an opportunity to learn computer science, President Obama announced his Computer Science for All initiative in January of 2016 [17]. Though this is a laudable goal, in the United States the federal government does not have the authority to make this a reality. While the federal government can provide funding, the individual states and territories make decisions about standards, curriculum, teacher certification, and professional development. In the end, only the individual states and territories can realize the goals of Computer Science for All (CSforAll). To support state-level computing education initiatives, the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance brings states together to foster computing education reforms and the adoption of best practices for broadening participation. ECEP builds on five years of work by Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Alliances in Massachusetts and Georgia—the Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE) and Georgia Computes! [15]. These projects both facilitated systemic change that improved the quality of computing education and broadened participation in computing. ECEP started in 2012 with California and South Caroli-na as partner states, Alabama and Indiana as associate states, and Puerto Rico as an associate territory. ECEP has grown to include Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, Texas, and Utah as additional associate states. Partner states received more financial support and focus the first few years of ECEP to boost their ability to start making state-level change. After the first few years, additional associate states were added, states that had leaders who were willing and ready to work on state-level change. The leaders from these states and territory share plans, challenges, and ideas on monthly conference calls and at yearly in-person meetings. ECEP also partners with other BPC Alliances—such as National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) and STARS Computing Corps

Generation CS: the growth of computer science

Across North America, universities and colleges are facing a significant increase in enrollment in both undergraduate computer science (CS) courses and programs. The current enrollment surge has exceeded previous CS booms, and there is a general sense that the current growth in enrollment is substantially different from that of the mid-1980s and late 1990s. For example, since the late 1990s, the U.S. Bureau of Labor data shows that the number of jobs where computing skills are needed is on an upward slope [1], illustrating the increased reliance our society has on computing. We also know that more disciplines are becoming increasingly reliant on large amounts of data, and that handling this data effectively depends on having good computational skills. This makes computer science courses at all levels of greater interest to students from other majors.

Assessing Supplemental Courseware in an IT Fluency Course

Information technology is affecting every aspect of life and work - and incorporating IT education effectively across the curriculum is common goal in undergraduate education. The University of Massachusetts Amherst launched a new interdisciplinary, campus-wide undergraduate IT minor that has influenced information technology programs across the state and the nation. The Research in Presentation Production for Learning Electronically (RIPPLES) Group adapted its widely used open-source, cross-platform multimedia course delivery system, MANIC, to provide materials for an IT prerequisite course. Qualitative and quantitative data collected during the first offering of this course suggest that this supplemental use of technology outside of the classroom significantly enhanced student understanding of the material. This paper analyzes the data collected from this instance of the course and explores which aspects of this use of technology worked best, which areas can be improved upon, and the implications and opportunities for other technical and applied courses

The Role of CS Departments in The US President's "CS for All" Initiative

In January 2016, US President Barack Obama started an initiative to provide CS for All -- with the goal that all school students should have access to computing education. Computing departments in higher education have a particularly important role to play in this initiative. Its in our best interest to get involved, since the effort can potentially improve the quality of our incoming students. CS Departments have unique insights as subject-matter experts to inform the development of standards. We can provide leadership to inform and influence education policy. In this session, we will present a variety of ways in which departments and faculty can support CS for All and will answer audience questions about the initiative. Our goal is to provide concrete positive actions for faculty.

Generation CS: the mixed news on diversity and the enrollment surge

I the June issue of ACM Inroads [1], we consider the phenomenal growth of computer science (CS) in both CS undergraduate degree programs and CS courses at doctoral-granting and non-doctoral-granting units.1 This article examines the impact of the undergraduate enrollment surge on diversity (i.e., women and underrepresented minorities) using two existing data sets (i.e., the CRA Taulbee Survey [3] and IPEDS [5]) and data collected from the CRA Enrollment Survey [2]. We also highlight relationships discovered from the CRA Enrollment Survey between actions taken by units to manage the surge and their impact on diversity.