Working Group Information
4th Annual SIGCSE/SIGCUE Conference on
Innovation and Technology in
Computer Science
Education
ITiCSE'99
The conference will be held from June 27th to July 1st, 1999
in Cracow, Poland. This page is dedicated to the working
group portion of the conference. Be sure to also visit the main
conference web site, which includes the call for participation,
final program,
local information, etc.:
Conference Web Site.
In parallel with the summer ITiCSE Conference, four working
groups will convene to address areas related to innovation
and technology in computer science education. Working group
membership has been finalized.
In addition to the working
groups, the conference includes invited speakers and technical
sessions featuring papers, panels, demonstrations and posters.
Working Group Concept
A working group consists of five to ten members who share a common
interest related to the themes of the conference. They will begin
work by electronic communication a few months before the conference.
The more work that can be accomplished during this time, the less
pressure there will be on a working group during the conference.
The group will meet and work the day before the conference,
throughout the conference, and the day following the conference on their topic. Potential working group
members should realize that being a member of a working group will require
a large commitment during the conference. Each group will set their own
schedule, so that they can complete their report successfully by the
end of the conference. Intermediate results will be presented
to all conference attendees at a poster session early in the conference
schedule. At the conference conclusion, each group will submit a
polished report. These reports will be edited and if suitable, will be
published after the conference as a supplemental proceedings and
distributed to all conference attendees. They will also be posted
to the ACM's Digital Library.
You can find information about past working group efforts at the
ITiCSE "historical" site.
1999 Working Group Schedule
- 2/15 to 4/8: Applications to join a working group are accepted.
- 2/15 to 3/22: Early applicants may be assigned to groups.
- 3/22: Assignment of members to groups on hold until ...
- 4/8: Deadline for applications.
- 4/16: Group memberships finalized.
- 4/21 to 6/24: Working groups work electronically.
- 6/26: Saturday - Although plans are not completely set, we hope to have a
working group orientation meeting, at least for working group leaders,
on site in the late afternoon or early evening.
- 6/27: Sunday - A full day of collaborative work by each working group.
- 6/28 - 6/30: Monday to Wednesday - Working groups continue to work
during the conference.
- 6/28: Monday - There will be a working group poster session, from
16:15 to 17:15,
at which time the working groups share their work with the
conference attendees, and receive support/guidance/feedback to help
direct the remainder of their work.
- 7/1: Thursday - Working group work finishes by noon.
1999 Working Group Topics and Leaders
Some of the group leaders have set up their own pages dedicated
to their groups. Follow the "more info" link to reach that page
and learn more about the group. Note that other leaders are working
on similar pages so check back later if you like.
If you have questions about a specific working group, please contact
the working group leader(s).
- Group 1: Validation of the quality of teaching materials
Deborah Knox, The College of New Jersey, USA
(knox@tcnj.edu)
Nell Dale, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Group Photo at Conference Poster Session
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 approach to
peer review is not sufficient to insure the quality of teaching
tools. This working group will focus on the evaluation process by
applying a new review model to teaching resources. The working
group will refine the model, and will work towards the
development of reviewer training materials.
The new model of
review will be applied (at least) to the resources of the
Computer Science Teaching Center (CSTC), which is a digital library for
computer science educators. The development of the CSTC is
supported by the National Science Foundation and by the ACM
Education Board. Our work will also be made available to other
initiatives of this kind, such as the JLearn repository
(http://jlearn.mit.edu), the Java Co-odination Teaching Group at
Monash Univeristy, Australia (http://www.sd.monash.edu.au/jtcg/)
and those working within the Educational Object Economy model
(http://www.eoe.org).
More Info
- Group 2: Resources for the next generation Computer Science
I course
Joseph Bergin, Pace University, USA
(berginf@pace.edu)
Viera K. Proulx, Northeastern University, USA
(vkp@ccs.neu.edu)
Group Photo at Conference Poster Session
This working group will collect, evaluate, and foster the development of
resources that might be used in a new first course in computer science
using Java. Such a course will integrate object-oriented programming and
design, program design patterns, concurrency, and event driven
programming. It is intended to provide a focus for rethinking the first
course in computer science, by providing resources and techniques that
might be used in such a course. The focus of the workgroup will be on
tools and techniques, including demonstrations, projects, syllabi, and
pedagogical patterns. Participants before, during, and after the
working group will participate in the development of a web site devoted to
sharing such tools and techniques among educators.
Working group participants are sought who have some background in at least one
or two areas relevant to such courses. Prior to the conference,
participants will be asked to contribute one course module that might be
used in such a course. A module will consist of a preliminary document to
be examined by students, an in-class exercise, an outline of a lecture on
the topic (html document) and an open lab exercise to be completed by
students. The preliminary document can be a design or a program, together
with some explanation. It should require study prior to the introduction
of the topic in class. Group study would be preferable to individual
study. The in-class exercise will consist, perhaps, of a team interaction
creating a design of something similar to the preliminary document. The
open lab is intended to provide depth in the topic through student design
and programming. Team projects are especially encouraged. The design of
these modules broadly follow the pedagogical patterns expressed in
http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/PedPat1.2.html, and
http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/fivepedpat.html. Especially important
pedagogical patterns here are Lay of the Land, Student Design Sprint, and
Tool Box.
More Info
- Group 3: Integrating professionalism and workplace
issues into the CS/IS curriculum
Joyce Currie Little, Towson University, USA
(jclittle@towson.edu)
Mary J. Granger, George Washington University, USA
(granger@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu)
Group Photo at Conference Poster Session
Current opinion from educators teaching Computer Science and Information
Systems curricula suggests a need for graduates going into the workplace
to have more understanding of professionalism and workplace issues. It is
not enough for graduates to have technical capabilities. They must
understand many aspects of computing as a discipline,
such as the need to keep their knowledge current,
the standards of acceptable practice, the changing nature of
corporate hiring practices, the influence and role of
certification and licensing, and the equity of opportunity for
workers of various gender, race, and nationality types.
They should be
aware of the various types of CS/IS educational programs, different
job titles and functions, and some aspects of the supply/demand
situation in their arena. They should have some awareness of
the need for each computing worker to have professional responsibility
for their work, and an awareness of the importance of appropriate
ethical behavior in the group as a whole. They must also have an
awareness of the impact of information technology on society as a whole
and on people as individuals, and be prepared to handle a variety of
issues that will arise in the workplace.
Individuals in the working group will choose at least two topics to
work on and propose as class exercises, from any of the topics related
to professionalism and workplace issues. They will develop a draft of
a class experience that could be incorporated into a regular CS/IS
course as a unit. Each exercise will be accompanied by a
suggested mechanism for delivery, such as team assignment,
use of a peer-learning group, brainstorming session, debate,
technology-delivered experience (audio, video, computer, Internet, etc.),
or lecture/class interaction activity. Appropriate references and
teaching hints will be included. Faculty should find these exercises
helpful in bringing topics of professional responsibility and
understanding to their students.
- Group 4:
Creative Teaching of Electronic Collaborative Learning Groups
Eva R. Fåhræus, Stockholm University, Sweden
(evafaahr@dsv.su.se)
Barbara Chamberlain, Taranaki Polytechnic, New Zealand
(b.chamberlain@taranaki.ac.nz)
Group Photo at Conference Poster Session
The objective of this working group is to share experience and create new
ideas to assist teachers to take advantage of the new communication
technologies for collaborative learning. We want to attract teachers that
have tutored at least one distance course using group communication tools
including simultaneous and non-simultaneous conferencing systems.
Taking advantage of the new technology requires the development of methods
and pedagogical tools that are different from those traditionally used in
the classroom. Managing collaboration at a distance requires a teacher to
encourage students to apply appropriate communication skills and behavior.
The availability of the Internet extends the cross-cultural possibilities.
Using the Internet for communication together with access to other sources
of information opens new communication perspectives for tutors, their
students and courses. How can we as teachers help students to develop
(possibly new) communication skills appropriate to this environment? How do
we handle group learning situations so that we can monitor the group
discussions, yet still encourage independence? There are many other
questions to be asked and answered. Together we can help each other and
develop new ideas.
Suggested themes for discussion are:
- Identifying appropriate teaching strategies for different learning situations
- Allowing for the uniqueness of each student - their situation, their
skills, their needs
- Managing group collaboration: Applying social skills and appropriate behavior
- Supporting the teacher - in a new role and a new environment
More Info
Related Information
- Working Groups ITiCSE'98 site.
- A site dedicated to last year's working groups, including schedules,
topics, leaders, photos and more.
- Tips for Success
- Joe Bergin and Tom Naps have been involved with working groups for three
years, and have written a brief essay about how to successfully lead
a working group.
-
ITiCSE History site.
- This site includes a great deal of information about previous
ITiCSE conferences, including working group information.
In addition to the working
groups, the conference will include invited speakers and technical
sessions featuring papers, panels, demonstrations and posters.
Working Group Report Template
Here is the WG report template as a Word Document.
A few more photos from the conference
Page information
This page is maintained by Daniel Joyce, Villanova University.
Please contact him at
(joyce@vill.edu)
with questions and comments.
The last major update to this page was in the Summer of 1999.
