msbBlueTemplate

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We only think when we are confronted with a
problem. John Dewey
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What's wrong with this picture?
Course results, Intro Programming
From The Camel Has Two Humps, working paper,
Saeed Dehnadi and Richard Bornat, 2006
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Types of knowledge required for programming
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Learning Hurdles in Introductory Programming
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• Detail of Plan for CIS 115
• Computer Programming with C
• The challenge
• Teaching for the first time this semester
• Had taught CIS 190 in the past, different
  audience
• This audience Mechanical Engineering freshmen
• They have no other programming courses they
  will take
• They have a heavy and challenging course load
• Almost none of the students have had any
  programming experience
• The solution
• Reduced content to the bare minimum in an
  effort to make this their easiest course, to keep
  them enrolled
• Thought very hard about scaffolding from their
  previous experience, had success with variable
  roles approach
• Took advantage of the engineering work ethic
  (they generally do their homework, they enjoy
  solving problems) for providing feedback

Course website http//msbcis115.blogspot.com/
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Helping Students Overcome the Hurdles
Teaching variable roles helps form a bridge
between existing problem-solving knowledge and
programming.
A paper proposing variable roles Teaching Roles
of Variables in Elementary Programming Courses,
Marja Kuittinen and Jorma Sajaniemi, ItiCSE 2004.
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The looping hurdle
A similar approach can be taken to teaching how
to select the appropriate looping construct by
focusing on the loop control variable rather than
the loop. For example, rather than if the
number of passes through the loop is known in
advance, use a 'for' loop, Use if the value
of the control variable is simply a count of the
number of iterations, use a 'for' loop.
A paper proposing the constructive use approach
to teaching looping Why can't smart students
solve simple programming problems?, Russell L.
Shackelford and Albert N. Badre, International
Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 1993.
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• Detail of Plan for CIS 110
• Computer Literacy
• The challenge
• Diverse college experience (freshmen - senior)
• Diverse majors (primarily Business College,
  also Arts Sciences, College of Visual and
  Performing Arts)
• They are already familiar with email, the web
  (Facebook, MySpace), and presentation software
• Their math / algebra skills are generally weak
• The solution
• Took advantage of Business College norms
  (presentations, teamwork), to provide interesting
  teamwork activities
• Drew from business and computer science
  journals as well as current events and newspapers
  to present timely and professionally interesting
  topics
• Used many rich examples (some
  student-generated), laboratories, and hands-on
  activities for practice with spreadsheet and
  database concepts

Course website http//msbcis110.blogspot.com/
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Student Work Computer literacy Teamwork 1
Intellectual property and Online Communications
Here is a teamwork 1 website answering
questions about intellectual property.
Teamwork 2 Privacy and Security Here is a
slideshow presentation for the assignment to
create a voting system that is private, accurate,
verifiable, and accessible.. (pdf) Here is
the slideshow presentation for a banking privacy
statement. (pdf) Here is the slideshow
presentation for a recycling (public service)
data aggregation project. (pdf)
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Courses Programming CIS 115 Computer
Programming with C CIS 160 Exploring Computer
Programming with Animation, Honors CIS 180
Introduction to Programming with Java CIS 190
Introduction to Procedural Programming (C) CIS
211 Introduction to Design and Data
Structures CIS 261 Computer Programming with
Fortran Computer literacy CIS 110 Computer
Literacy Web design CMP 300, 340 Webcraft CMP
302 Online Interpersonal Communications CMP 310
Webcraft2 90.291 Introduction to HTML and
DHTML
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• Courses In general
• The challenge
• Teaching a diverse group of learners (adult
  education, computer science majors, programming
  for non-majors in engineering, programming for
  non-majors of all disciplines, students with
  learning differences, students from disadvantaged
  backgrounds)
• Finding ways to approach the material that are
  meaningful to the students not necessarily the
  same as what makes sense to an expert.
• The solution
• Providing a comfortable, well-organized,
  predictable learning environment
• Treating the students with the deepest respect
• Fostering an environment of open inquiry and
  discussion
• Encouraging all students to contribute their
  knowledge and experiences to the classroom
• Accommodating learning differences, whether
  there is an accommodations strategy in place for
  the student or not
• Having a flexible plan with contingency plans,
  depending on how a classroom lecture or activity
  plays out with that particular group of students

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• Educational Strategies
• Questionnaire the beginning of my
  relationship with the students as individuals
• Email policy
• Helping students redefine learning for
  themselves
• Queries and offers for help when their
  assessments are low
• Teamwork
• Can work as an ice-breaking activity
• Sometimes it doesn't work at all, so I abandon it
  for that group / class
• Group students by ability, because students build
  meaning through language
• Group students by ability, so that my
  interactions are valuable for the group as a
  whole
• Constant self-assessment, reading, discussion
  with colleagues, in an effort to improve my
  effectiveness

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• Older Courses Online
• CIS 160 Website http//msbcis160.blogspot.com/
• CIS 180 Website http//msbcis180.blogspot.com/
• CIS 190 Website http//msbcis190.blogspot.com/

Teaching History CIS 110 Fall 2008, Spr 2008,
Spr 2007, Fall 2006 CIS 115 Fall 2008 CIS 160
Spr 2008, Fall 2007 CIS 180 Spr 2007, Spr 2006,
Spr 1999, Spr 1998 (two sections) CIS 190 Fall
2007 CIS 211 Spr 1997, Fall 1996 CIS 261 Spr
1996, Fall 1995 CMP300/340 Aug-Oct 1998,
Oct-Dec 1998, Jan-Mar 1999, Fall 1999, Sum 1999,
Jan-Mar 2000, Apr-Jun 2000, Fall 2000, Spr 2001,
Spr 2003, Sum 2003 CMP 302 Aug-Oct 1998, Oct-Dec
1998 CMP 340 Spr 2003 90.291 Fall 2000 (two
sections) , Fall 2001, Spr 2001 Spotlight
Animation class (high school after school
program) Fall 2007, Fall 2008
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Website Design If visitors can't use your site,
they will leave and never become customers.
Jakob Nielsen, Kara Pernice Coyne, and Marie
Tahir, PCMag.com, 2001 This is a prototype of a
web site I created for a horse farm. When
learning Flash, I used the content to make
additional prototypes. 1 Mouse over horse names
on left 2 Mouse over (with fade) 3 Slide (click
on Romeo)
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Programming Background As an undergraduate, I
wrote an interface for an intelligent tutoring
system for my honors project. (An Interface
Design for an Algebraic Word Problem Tutor, Kay
Gladwell Schulze and Margaret D. Stone, HCI
International Third International Conference on
Human-Computer Interaction, 1989) In graduate
school, I wrote a word processor that used user
cues to determine the user's mental model of the
software and provide appropriate tutoring. (A
System Model Which Accounts for Previous
Experience A Combined Interface and Help
System, Margaret D. Stone, Sc.M. Thesis, Brown
University.) At IMT, I designed and developed
five educational mathematics prototypes.
(Creating Cybernetic and Psychological Ramps from
the Concrete to the Abstract Examples from
Multiplicative Structures, James J. Kaput in
Software Goes to School, Oxford University Press,
1995).
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Programming Current The programming I do now
is primarily to support my classes. This is a
Java program that I use to introduce the concept
of object-oriented programming. (After the
students play the Java game, we simulate the game
with the students as objects in the system. I
have a physical game board with all of the
pieces.) These are two very simple catapult
applets in Java to demonstrate that an engine can
be used with a text interface and then enhanced
with a graphical interface. Here is a Flash toy
that uses the most complex concept I reach in
teaching ActionScript (1/3 of CIS 160) object
instantiation. There is also a current object
concept, so you can pick up an old block and move
it. This game was created during a lecture and
has some flaws, as we were exploring different
concepts the students were learning. A cleaner
toy with less functionality is here.
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This Slideshow Is available at the following
URL http//www.cis.umassd.edu/mburke/index.html