St. Louis, Missouri USA February 23-27, 2005

Getting started is one of the hardest parts in an object-oriented introductory programming course. BlueJ is designed to help with these problems. Knowing the technical capabilities of BlueJ, however, does not make it obvious how to use it to achieve good results. In this workshop, we will discuss pedagogical principles and give concrete advice on starting an objects-first style programming course. Examples are presented that can immediately be used in class. The presenter is one of the principle BlueJ developers, and co-author of a successful textbook: Barnes/Kölling: Objects First With Java. In this workshop, the important principl es underlying the BlueJ design and the textbook pedagogy are presented.

This workshop will focus on kinesthetic learning activities, i.e., physically engaging classroom exercises. These might, for example, teach recursion by simulating the Towers of Hanoi with students instead of disks, or highlight the difference between pipelined and non-pipelined execution using a human assembly line. The workshop will begin with a brief kinesthetic learning activity to motivate the value of these activities. We will follow with a variety of examples, and discuss how to deploy these in a classroom. Most of the workshop will be devoted to facilitated group work to help the participants design and test their own activities.

Active and cooperative learning provides a powerful mechanism to enhance depth of learning and increase material retention. Active and cooperative learning gets students involved with the material rather than passively listening to a lecture. This workshop will use introductory material on active and cooperative learning for a number of activities that will give participants direct experience with and the chance to observe these techniques in action. There will also be opportunities for open discussion of situations that participants may have already encountered.

Instruction related to ethical, social, and moral material in computer science must have as a key component some form of active engagement with the issue at hand. Structured controversy is a cooperative learning technique first proposed in science education in the late 1970s. The activity engages students and instructors in a process of presenting both sides of a given issue and arriving at a consensus solution. This workshop focuses on instructor responsibilities for setting up and running a structured controversy in his/her classroom, culminating in some of the participants actually walking through the activity.

This is the first of two hands-on workshops for CS educators seeking to develop curricula in computer security. We provide guided hands-on instruction on various Windows and Linux based tools commonly used for gathering information about, and assessing the vulnerability of, other systems. Participants will experiment with these tools as the presenters guide them through typical tool use scenarios. The session concludes with an information gathering exercise on an isolated network. Participants will use laptops running both Windows and Linux images preconfigured with common security "holes" so that they may experience first-hand the process of information gathering and vulnerability detection. (HANDS-ON)

This workshop covers the computer book-writing process from start to finish. It covers both textbooks and books for the general public. Workshop topics include choosing a subject, writing a proposal, submitting sample chapters, finding a publisher, contacting an agent, reading a contract, meeting deadlines, working with coauthors, reviewing copy edited material, responding to technical reviews, creating ancillary materials, and marketing your book. The presenters are computer science professors so (naturally) the discussion will be honest, informative, and unbiased.

Many introductory programming assignments such as games, mazes, and various types of simulations, involve objects in a two-dimensional data structure. These projects lend themselves to graphical representations, but the overhead involved in implementing graphical user interfaces, especially interfaces that support user interaction, is non-trivial. The Grid Package provides a set of simple Java classes for modeling objects in a two-dimensional grid, and provides a library of other classes that make it easy to create interactive, graphical user interfaces to control and display 2D array applications. This workshop will introduce the Grid Package and how to use it in assignments in introductory courses.

This workshop will offer a hands-on introduction to programming with Alice. Alice is a powerful program visualization tool that enables students to “see” objects and work with object-oriented programming. Participants will learn how to use Alice to build virtual worlds and how to use this approach in introductory-level computing courses (introductory programming for majors, programming for non-majors, computer literacy, etc.). Participants will receive a CD containing the latest version of the software and curricular materials (lectures, closed laboratory assignments, take-home assignments, and sample exams) developed as part of NSF-0126833 and NSF-0339734. (HANDS-ON, OFF-SITE)

This workshop will demonstrate that students’ understanding of mobile and ad-hoc wireless networking can best be developed and assessed through quality,interactive,simulation tools. Classroom-tested material will demonstrate detection and recovery from data corruption and loss, collision detection and avoidance, data-link protocols, table-driven and on-demand routing algorithms, and the security of mobile and ad-hoc wireless networks. The workshop draws on our 13 years’ teaching experience with the simulation of wide-area, local-area, and mobile and ad-hoc wireless environments, in undergraduate courses of up to 180 students each year. Faculty will be introduced to exercises and assessments suitable for undergraduate open- and closed-laboratory sessions, and even capstone projects. (HANDS-ON, OFF-SITE)

This workshop provides a practical, hands-on introduction to how one can incorporate software testing activities as a regular part of programming assignments. It presents five different models for how one can incorporate testing into assignments, provides examples of each technique, and discusses the corresponding advantages and disadvantages. Approaches to assessment—using testing to assess student code, assessing tests that students write, and automated grading—are all discussed. Advice for writing “testable” assignments is given. Hands-on examples are used throughout to illustrate the techniques. (HANDS-ON, OFF-SITE)

This workshop will explore how to use LEGO MindStorms as an active-learning platform for teaching topics ranging in the CS 0 - CS 1 - CS 2 portion of the typical computer science curriculum. We will identify common problems first-timers may face in adopting the platform, and describe approaches to overcome them. Participants will work with pre-built robots and learn how to use Java to program and control the robots. C++ support material will be available upon request. This workshop is strictly for instructors who have not previously used MindStorms in their classroom. (HANDS-ON, OFF-SITE)

This workshop is designed to introduce computer scientists to the emerging field of bioinformatics. The workshop will include an overview of basic biological concepts, including fundamental structures such as cells, genes, chromosomes and proteins along with higher-level concepts such as genomes, proteomes and bibliomes. Some important algorithms for bioinformatics analysis will be introduced, in particular those related to sequence assembly and gene prediction. Hands-on experience with Perl programming for bioinformatics will be incorporated into the workshop. An exploration of bioinformatics resources for educators, including software, databases, course and laboratory materials, exercises, and on-line teaching tools, will conclude the workshop. (HANDS-ON, OFF-SITE)

The Advanced Placement Computer Science curriculum has evolved from a procedural based curriculum, to the current object oriented curriculum. A significant understanding of object oriented concepts and techniques is essential in order for students to find success in AP CS courses. This workshop will provide teachers with hands-on experiences in using HTML and Javascript to introduce the object concept to pre-AP students. In particular, tools for creating and viewing HTML and Javascipt documents will be presented and discussed. A large number of web documents and Javascript code examples will be presented and electronically distributed to participants. (HANDS-ON, OFF-SITE)