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SIGCSE- 2001
Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions

  1. 5:15-6:15 PM – 211A: Mathematicians Teaching Computer Science
  2. 5:15-6:15 PM – 211B: Can robotics activities help attract women students into the computer field?
  3. 5:15-6:15 PM – 212AB: Computing for non-majors: What should an educated person understand about computing?
  4. 5:15-6:15 PM – 213A: Computing History: Real and Virtual Museums
  5. 5:15-6:15 PM – 213BC: Multiparadigm Programming Without Loss of Depth
  6. 5:15-6:15 PM – 213D: An NSF Mock Panel Session
  7. 5:15-6:15 PM – 214: Programming Contest Preparation
  8. 5:15-6:15 PM – 215: Getting Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) into Computer Science Programs
  9. 5:15-6:15 PM – 216AB: The Why, What, and How of Student Participation at the SIGCSE Symposium
  10. 5:15-6:15 PM – 217A: Mathematical Thinking in Computer Science
  11. 5:15-6:15 PM – 217BC: CAC/ABET will accredit Computing Programs; Any questions?
  12. 5:15-6:15 PM – 217D: Hiring CS Faculty in 2001
  13. 6:30-7:30 PM – 211A: Using Elementary Patterns in CS Instruction
  14. WITHDRAWN 6:30-7:30 PM – 211B: Networking for (Soon-to-be) New Instructors and Professors: What Works in the Classroom and What Doesn't
  15. 6:30-7:30 PM – 212AB: Innovation in the Publication of Reusable Resources
  16. 6:30-7:30 PM – 213BC: Software Engineering Education: Emerging Curriculum and Program Development
  17. 6:30-7:30 PM – 214: Retaining Student ACM members
  18. 6:30-7:30 PM – 215: Copyright & Ethics - Web Issues - What our students Need to Know
  19. 6:30-7:30 PM – 216 AB: Critical Technological Issues related to Growth in R & D at Minority Institutions
  20. 6:30-7:30 PM – 217A: Mathematical Games as an Aid for CS Instruction
  21. 6:30-7:30 PM – 217D: Let's commiserate: Advice from students & faculty about making the transition from graduate student to faculty member
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SIGCSE- 2001
Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions
Session Descriptions

  1. 5:15-6:15 PM – 211A: Mathematicians Teaching Computer Science
    Mark Johnson, Central College
    johnsonm@central.edu
    Discussion forum for those who are coming from a different field such as mathematics to teach computer science without completely retraining with a second Ph.D. Topics might include teaching strategies, sabbatical possibilities, or developing individual research programs.
  2. 5:15-6:15 PM – 211B: Can robotics activities help attract women students into the computer field?
    Nieves A. Mcnulty and Madeleine Schep, Department of Mathematics, Columbia College
    nmcnulty@colacoll.edu and mschep@colacoll.edu
    Girls typically do not have the experience that boys have with technically challenging toys such as construction sets and remote controlled devices. As such they have not developed some of the skills that help students in learning programming such as planning, designing, testing, etc. In this session, we hope that participants will share their experiences in using robotics, like the Lego Mindstorms, to introduce programming concepts for both genders. But we are especially interested in how girls and women respond to such activities. We will also exchange ideas on course material, laboratory projects, etc., what works and what doesn’t.
  3. 5:15-6:15 PM – 212AB: Computing for non-majors: What should an educated person understand about computing?
    John P. Dougherty, Haverford College, and Kurt F. Lauckner, Department of Computer Science, Eastern Michigan University
    jd@cs.haverford.edu and csc_lauckner@online.emich.edu
    The National Academies of Science and Engineering have released an important report entitled "Begin Fluent with Information Technologies." It encourages academicians to augment the computer literacy curriculum for the general population by including more than just skills. They strongly suggest that understanding concepts and developing intellectual capabilities are of the utmost importance. This session would discuss computing fundamentals needed by students as professionals outside of a computing discipline (e.g., CS, CE, IS, SE). It is unlikely that consensus can be achieved on a single list of fundamental topics; however, it is likely that such discussion will help identify the relevant factors that determine whether a topic is to be included as fundamental for a given educational context. This session would also discuss various methods used, and proposed, to achieve student understanding of computing within one or two courses.
  4. 5:15-6:15 PM – 213A: Computing History: Real and Virtual Museums
    John Impagliazzo, Department of Computer Science, Hofstra University
    cscjzi@Hofstra.edu
    The focus of this session is to bring to the forefront many of the computing museums that exist around the world. Such museums exist as real or virtual entities, and include The Computer Museum, The Charles Babbage Institute, The American Computer Museum, The Virtual Museum of Computing, The Museum of the History of Science, and the Smithsonian Institution. Some of these museums will be presented in terms of content and summary. This will serve as an initial basis for discussion by all. Participants are encouraged to bring to the session information about other computing museums. They are also encouraged to comment on these other museums and to explain their salient features.
  5. 5:15-6:15 PM – 213BC: Multiparadigm Programming Without Loss of Depth
    Juris Reinfelds, Klipsch School of EE & CE, New Mexico State University
    juris@nmsu.edu
    Many universities are teaching several programming paradigms as well as Graphic User Interface building, operating system and concurrent and distributed programming skills. Achievement of sufficient depth with this approach is impeded by the time wasted on learning of many very different program development environments that interconnect badly or not at all. At this BOF participants will share the results of their efforts to achieve depth and effective knowledge transfer without sacrificing a wide variety of important programming and problem solving skills and issues. In particular several Mozart-Oz developers and teachers will be present to share their experience with teaching in a single paradigm-neutral environment. (Mozart-Oz (www.mozart-oz.org) is a new programming language that combines the best features of imperative, logic, functional, object-oriented, concurrent and distributed programming as well as the Tk widget set for GUI building into one programming language that has an easy to learn syntax, clean semantics and a well-tested implementation and documentation.)
  6. 5:15-6:15 PM – 213D: An NSF Mock Panel Session
    Andrew Bernat and Harriet Taylor, Program Directors, National Science Foundation
    abernat@nsf.gov
    Attendees will participate in a mock review panel using actual funded proposals in order to get a deeper understanding of the process. The goal is to help prospective proposers to develop their ideas and put them into a form that maximizes the competitiveness of their proposals.
  7. 5:15-6:15 PM – 214: Programming Contest Preparation
    Howard Whitston , Lawrence Technological University
    whitston@ltu.edu
    Preparing Teams to successfully compete in ACM Regional Programming contests (i.e. solve at least one problem) is the focus of this session. The scope includes techniques, problem sets, attitude of members, selection of team members, and general methods of preparing for the competition, as well as how to overcome resistance by department faculty.
  8. 5:15-6:15 PM – 215: Getting Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) into Computer Science Programs
    Frances S. Grodzinsky, Computer Science/Information Technology, Sacred Heart University, Daniel D. McCracken, Computer Science Department, City College, City University of New York, and Rosalee Wolfe, School of Computer Science, DePaul University
    grodzinskyf@sacredheart.edu, mccracken@ccny.cuny.edu, and wolfe@cs.depaul.edu
    The purpose of the proposed Birds-of-a-Feather Session is to share experience: success stories, teaching resources, strategies for introducing HCI into the CS curriculum, obstacles and how they might be overcome. The expected audience consists of any educators who share these concerns, and want to do something about them. Together, we can compile a list of resources, methods, and materials to use in the teaching of HCI.
  9. 5:15-6:15 PM – 216AB: The Why, What, and How of Student Participation at the SIGCSE Symposium
    Judy Williams, Applied Computer Science, William Penn University
    williamsj@wmpenn.edu
    Student involvement in SIGCSE provides significant benefits to participating students, to computer science education and the individual institution, and to the participating students. This session will provide faculty and student views of the benefits of student participation, a student view of what form student participation can take, and a faculty view on logistical and financial details in bringing a fair-sized student contingent to the symposium. Questions and comments will be welcomed from all participants, after a brief framework is provided by two faculty members and two students who have experienced several SIGCSE symposia.
  10. 5:15-6:15 PM – 217A: Mathematical Thinking in Computer Science
    Doug Baldwin, Department of Computer Science, SUNY Geneseo
    baldwin@geneseo.edu
    Mathematical reasoning is central to computer science. Mathematics should therefore be an integral part of the entire CS curriculum, with special emphasis in the early courses. We invite participants in this birds-of-a-feather to discuss these ideas and their implications.
  11. 5:15-6:15 PM – 217BC: CAC/ABET will accredit Computing Programs; Any questions?
    Doris K. Lidtke, Computer & Information Sciences, Towson University
    lidtke@towson.edu
    The integration of CSAB And ABET has moved along as planned, and the Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) was formed as the fourth ABET commission. Beginning with the 20001-02 accreditation cycle, computing accreditation will be carried out by CAC/ABET. This session will be of interest to many in the CS community who may have questions relating to the impact of the integration of ABET and CSAB on the accreditation of computing programs and its process.
  12. 5:15-6:15 PM – 217D: Hiring CS Faculty in 2001
    Roberta E. Sabin, Computer Science Department, Loyola College
    res@loyola.edu
    Today, with the economy surging and the need for computer professionals growing, attracting qualified computer scientists to academe is a challenge. What is the current situation? What strategies can be used to attract a quality applicant pool? What factors most influence an applicant's decision? How much "reality education" should and must be done with administrators, who may be accustomed to a buyers' market?
  13. 6:30-7:30 PM – 211A: Using Elementary Patterns in CS Instruction
    Eugene Wallingford, Department of Computer Science, University of Northern Iowa
    wallingf@cs.uni.edu
    This session will give people interested in the use of elementary patterns of programs in CS instruction a chance to gather, discuss topics of mutual interest, share the results of past work, and plan for future work. We hope that this session will help folks with little or no background in patterns to learn a little bit about elementary patterns and what is available now.
  14. WITHDRAWN 6:30-7:30 PM – 211B: Networking for (Soon-to-be) New Instructors and Professors: What Works in the Classroom and What Doesn't
    Stephanie Ludi, Computer Science and Engineering Dept., Arizona State University
    sludi@asu.edu
    The objective of this BOF is to allow new instructors and prospective faculty to share experiences, advice and ideas. Direct instructional topics such as creating a syllabus, instructional materials, and teaching strategies to be applied in a variety of learning environments will be discussed. In order to make the gathering more meaningful other topics such as the use of the Internet in instruction, utilizing office hours effectively, and the unexpected will also be areas of discussion. Perspectives from a variety of institutions in terms of size, purpose, and location are welcomed.
  15. 6:30-7:30 PM – 212AB: Innovation in the Publication of Reusable Resources
    Deborah L. Knox, Department of Computer Science, The College of New Jersey
    knox@tcnj.edu
    This birds-of-a-feather session assembles editorial staff of a number of publications used by computer science educators and joins them with an audience of developers and adopters of a variety of reusable resources. The publications represented cover traditional paper journals, online journals, and online collections. All of these venues are needed to meet the needs of authors and users. The assembled editorial group is most interested in facilitating the dissemination and publication of completed resources and works-in-progress. Participants will have the unique opportunity to help shape the future of these publications and collections.
  16. 6:30-7:30 PM – 213BC: Software Engineering Education: Emerging Curriculum and Program Development
    Laurie Honour Werth, Department of Computer Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin
    lwerth@cs.utexas.edu
    This Birds-of-a-Feather will briefly introduce current activities of the various groups related to Software Engineering Education: Software Engineering Education Project (SWEEP), Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). Discussion will include Computing Curriculum 2001 (CC2001 - Software Engineering curricula), the curriculum model developed by the Software Engineering Institute Working Group on Software Engineering Education (WGSEE) and the first annual international survey of software engineering programs recently completed by the newly organized International Software Engineering University Consortium (ISEUC).
  17. 6:30-7:30 PM – 214: Retaining Student ACM members
    Howard Whitston , Lawrence Technological University
    whitston@ltu.edu
    This session is concerned about how to encourage students to join the student chapters and the type of activities that work to make a chapter successful. We will discuss issues of maintaining ACM student chapters when many students have other important matters in their lives and also discuss activities that work to illustrate the diversity of possible careers.
  18. 6:30-7:30 PM – 215: Copyright & Ethics - Web Issues - What our students Need to Know
    Becky Rutherfoord, Department of Computer Science, Southern Polytechnic State University
    brutherf@spsu.edu
    The new Digital Millenium Copyright Act and other laws need to be taught to our students - are most faculty aware of these laws and other important issues? This session will discuss how faculty can get information in these areas and share information with other colleagues.
  19. 6:30-7:30 PM – 216 AB: Critical Technological Issues related to Growth in R & D at Minority Institutions
    Robert A. Willis Jr., Department of Computer Science, Hampton University
    Andrea Lawrence, Department of Computer Science, Spelman College
    Elva Jones, Department of Computer Science, Winston Salem State University
    robert.willis@hamptonu.edu, lawrence@spelman.edu, and jonese@wssu.edu.
    This session is of special interest to faculty from African American, Hispanic and Native American serving institutions and provides an opportunity to share information about the Association of Computer and Information Science/Engineering Departments at Minority Institutions (ADMI), the 2001 ADMI Symposium May 31 – June 3 hosted by Hampton University, and to discuss other issues of special concern to minority institutions.
  20. 6:30-7:30 PM – 217A: Mathematical Games as an Aid for CS Instruction
    David Ginat, CS Group, Science Education Department, Tel-Aviv University
    ginat@post.tau.ac.il
    Games can be utilized to motivate students, enrich their intuition, and illustrate fundamental principles of algorithm design such as exploration of regularities, modularity, correctness, and efficiency. Many CS instructors look for ways to motivate, enrich intuition, and illustrate the subject matter they teach. Mathematical games are a means of doing so. In this session, I will present examples, encourage participants to present examples, discuss didactic aspects of games, try to identify curricular topics for illustration with mathematical games, and initiate an interest group on that topic.
  21. 6:30-7:30 PM – 217D: Let's commiserate: Advice from students & faculty about making the transition from graduate student to faculty member
    Peter DePasquale, Department of Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic and State University
    pjdepasqvt.edu
    This Birds of a feather session seeks to bring together recent Ph.D. graduates who are now in a faculty position in order to offer advice to those about to graduate and seek such a position.

Questions?  Please contact Venu Dasigi at 770-528-5559 or vdasigi@spsu.edu.