Popular achievements in CS 222: Fall 2019 edition

I'd planned to write this post each spring, after completing an academic year. However, I'm not scheduled to teach CS 222 next semester, so I decided to report on the last two semesters now. As discussed in my previous post, one of the assessible items in CS 222 (Advanced Programming) is something we call achievements. Achievements are designed to encourage student’s independent exploration of relevant course topics they choose from a provided list. Each student must complete a certain quantity of achievements if they expect to receive an A for the course, and reduced quantities for lower grades.

Originally, I set the threshold for an A at four achievements. To be more learner-centered, starting with the fall 2018 semester, I had the students collectively negotiate the threshold with me. Depending on the semester, it has been three to five achievements for the A level.

The list of available achievements has remained the same and is detailed in my original CS 222 achievements post, with the addition of Learning to Learn, introduced for fall 2018, and discussed in my spring 2019 post.

The following table presents statistics from the most recent six semesters I’ve taught the course, along with a couple of summary columns. I find it interesting to look through the table to see what is popular (and what is not). For example, considering all semesters, the Diversity Seeker and Reflective Practitioner achievements have clearly been the most popular. Coming in next are the Crystallizer and Studious achievements. These four remain in the same relationship as last spring, although Crystallizer has gained slightly in popularity. Looking at the last year, the top three remain the same, but Studious has dropped down the list, and is replaced by Rereader. Looking at individual semesters, the Fair-minded, Judge, and Learning to Learn achievements have also been very popular. The recently-added Learning to Learn achievement has proven to be quite popular, ranking fifth during the last year.



Five achievements (Campus Leader, Didact, Filmmaker, Jammer, and Open Source Contributor) have Continued to be the least popular. I have chosen to leave these as options for students with interest or skill in one of those areas, but will likely drop (some of) them the next time I teach the course. Note that the Third-part Librarian achievement was removed from the available options after the summer 2016 semester.

Lastly, I’ve found the number of achievements students choose to complete interesting. While a great many students do complete the required quantity, the majority do not. As shown in the table, the average for all semesters is just over three completed achievements per student. Due to a one-submission-per-week limitation, and their poor planning, some students simply run out of time to get all of them submitted. The slight increase for the spring 2019 semester is likely due to the threshold for an A being at five, as compared to four for other semesters. However the fall 2019 threshold was four, and resulted in nearly the same level of submissions. The threshold for the Summer 2019 semester was three, with all students meeting it.

I believe the achievement system continues to meet its intended purpose within the course. I do not observe any substantial changes in popularity as reported in my original report and last spring's report. My colleague, Paul Gestwicki, is teaching the course in the spring, and has chosen to make some adjustments to the achievement options, which I believe will be a positive change. You can read about his preparation for CS 222 in his blog post.

Lilly Conference reflections: 2019 edition

I recently spent three wonderful days at the 39th Original Lilly Conference on College Teaching at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. This is the fifth time I’ve been able to attend this conference and have been privileged to present at the conference all five times as well. As I said in my post last year, if you can afford the time and money, I highly recommend attending this conference which is held the weekend before Thanksgiving every year.

The last two years, I’ve talked about my experiences combining specifications grading with learner-centered teaching. This year I focused on just specifications grading, leading a three-hour pre-conference workshop and delivering a conference presentation. I've blogged about specs grading here and here. I also volunteered to host a discussion table during lunch on Saturday for the first seven people who signed up to eat with me and discuss specs grading. All three events seemed to go well with lots of participant interaction and positive responses from the participants.

I’ve said it before, but every time I’ve attended Lilly, I’ve come away from the experience rejuvenated. When you spend time in conversations with others excited and interested in finding the best way to teach, how can you not become excited yourself? The conference attendees are a very friendly group of people. One has a sense of attending a homecoming and getting reacquainted with old friends when one attends Lilly.

I always come away from Lilly feeling like I was trying to drink from a fire hose; there is so much good information received in such a short time. I’m still mentally processing this year’s insights, so I’m simply going to provide a list of very briefly annotated quotes I wrote down while listening to presenters. They are presented here in the order in which I experienced them.

• “If you believe the words in your video are important, why wouldn’t you want all people to have access to them?” (Brenda Jo Brueggemann) Seems like a pretty obvious justification for captioning to me.
• “On quizzes, include questions about the new material, as well as previous material.” (Sheri Stover) Retrieval learning reinforces previous learning.
• “Cramming works for a day. A week later, you’ve lost most of it.” (Sheri Stover) Spread out the studying if you really want to learn the material.
• “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” (Nelson Mandela) What more is there to say?
• “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” (Albert Einstein) If you can think, you can continue to learn.
• “Teaching is leading students into a situation in which they can only escape by thinking.” (Unknown) Sounds like a great situation to be in!
• “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of their tomorrow.” (John Dewey) As we learn of better ways to teach, we must adopt them.
• “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” (Eric Hoffer) We must be life-long learners, lest we get left behind.
• “Engagement requires both motivation and active learning.” (Elizabeth Barkley) One of them by themselves is not sufficient.
• “Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education.” (Chuang Tzu) Carrots and sticks don’t work as well as other approaches.
• “Forget the mistake. Remember the lesson.” (Unknown) Move towards a growth mindset.
• “Unpredictability can generate emotional learning.” (Mike Pinter and Peter Giordano) Shake things up a bit and get people’s attention.

Share your thoughts below. What quotes resonate with you? What ones raise questions? Do you find fault with any of them?

Image credits: All images by Dave Largent

1,623 e-mail messages and 44 days later...

So, what did 1,623 e-mail messages and 44 days get me? I don't have all the answers yet, but let's explore.

First, a bit of background. I am one of a dozen individuals from colleges and universities located around Indiana who decided they would collectively submit a proposal in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) from the State of Indiana. One thing we all have in common is an interest in helping people learn the mysteries of computer science.

The RFP was posted 44 days prior to the deadline for submission of proposals. Fortunately, it was during the summer when we faculty-type people have "nothing" to do and could thus devote our time to developing our proposal. (Actually, this is a myth for most of us. Summer is when we try to do everything we didn't accomplish during the rest of the year, while we're teaching.)

So, we started off slow, holding an online meeting to see what direction we all wanted to take the proposal. Gradually, some overlapping themes started to emerge, and we were off and running. Well, we thought we were running at the time, but by the time we got to the end of the race, we discovered we were just jogging--or maybe even walking--at the start.

I think we treated our journey in preparing this proposal as a bit of a road trip. And "what a long strange trip it's been!" (Sorry, I couldn't resist using a Grateful Dead album name.) We had a starting place, and a destination we had to arrive at by a certain date and time, but what we did in between was not planned for those other 42 days. Along the way, we picked up a couple more travelers (we started out with ten) and took a variety of turns we didn't anticipate when we started out. Some of those were based on choices we made, and at other times we ran into "detour signs" along the way and were forced to take a different route. Most (but maybe not all) of our re-routing ended up resulting in a stronger proposal.

As you've likely experienced, designing something by committee is always an interesting, and usually slow and frustrating process. I experienced that a bit this time, but not as much as I expected. We were relatively focused and headed in similar directions, and knew we had a looming deadline we had to meet. The challenges and frustrations I experienced were largely thrust upon us from external factors. It was a genuine pleasure to work with this group.

As one measure of our workload, I present the following chart showing how many e-mail messages I have sitting in a folder for this proposal. This counts both messages sent to me, and messages I sent. As you can see, we got a whole lot more serious about completing the proposal during the last few days!

So, what did these 1,623 e-mail messages and 44 days get me? I don't have all the answers yet (for instance, I don't know if we're going to be awarded the project), but let's see what I do know at this point.

After working with the other eleven professors (and a myriad of other supporting staff) for over a month (approaching 24 x 7 the last few days), I believe I've developed some new collegial friendships. At any rate, I've expanded my collegial network. I now have tremendous respect for many of these individuals, and (although I'm likely biased) I believe the others now have more respect for me.

I repeatedly practiced patience, listening, negotiating, cooperating, leadership, taking chances, and making myself vulnerable. I was able to fight my imposter syndrome a bit, realizing others value what I have to offer at times.  I found many new resources, both people and otherwise. Most importantly <grin>, I was also able to use my sense of humor (however strange it may be!) at key moments in our journey.

Was it worth it? Would I do it again?  The answer to both is a resounding "YES, in a heartbeat!" Even if we aren't awarded the project, I gained so much more from the experience. Having said that, I do hope we get the award, as I want to continue working with this group to spread computer science knowledge.

It is amazing how hard and long we will work when we're passionate about something. This was definitely a labor of love. I've come away from it with renewed energy and excitement! 

What have your received in similar circumstances? Leave me a message below, or email me.


Image credits:
E-mail: http://www.publicdomainfiles.com
Calendar: http://www.publicdomainfiles.com

47 ways to exhibit and document knowledge and understanding

Last fall, I taught an Honors College colloquium course. Rather than utilizing a final exam to assess their learning, I assigned a final project designed to serve the same purpose. As you'll understand in a bit, I did not define exactly what they were to do for the final project, at least not in terms of structure or format.

I wanted the students to be free to demonstrate their knowledge using whatever approach they chose. I also wanted then to "think outside the box." To force this a bit, I asked the students to form small groups and create a list of all of the possible ways they could imagine which could be used to exhibit and document knowledge and understanding. Each group then reported back to the class, with a member of each group writing their list on a white board. Shown in these two pictures are the 47 ideas they thought of.

I was impressed (and sometimes humored and curious) by the breadth and depth of the lists the students collectively generated. After we reviewed the lists, I gave them the final project specifications, which were:

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Final project

Your final project is to be a tangible artifact that records your responses to the course’s essential questions, as it relates to your chosen major(s) and/or minor(s). This will be submitted in two draft iterations, with a third final submission. A brief in-class presentation is also expected.

Our essential questions are:

• How has the widespread use of computing technology changed the way we work, play, and interact with other people? How will it continue to do so?
• What social and legal issues have arisen due to the widespread use of computing technology? What new issues are likely to arise in the future?
• How well are people able to accurately predict the future? What affects their accuracy?

Iteration 1 of your final project is intended to be a description of how you will be satisfying the final project as described above. 

Iteration 2 of your final project is intended to be a substantial subset of what you expect your final submission of your project to be.

Your final submission and brief in-class presentation are intended to be your best work, and should address the final project, as described above.

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Additionally, in our course management system, I provided further instructions for each submission.

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Final project details

Iteration 1 of your final project is intended to be a description of how you will be satisfying the final project as previously described.

• Provide as much detail as possible.
• Explain how your choice(s) will address the requirements.
• Describe what you expect to have complete for iteration 2, and what will be added for the final submission.
• Describe what your brief in-class presentation will be.

Here is the list the class developed when I asked "How can knowledge and understanding be exhibited and documented?" You may select ideas from this list, or add your own new ideas. [I then provided the above pictures.] 

Iteration 2 of your final project is intended to demonstrate that you have made significant progress towards satisfying the final project as previously described. In Iteration 1, you described what you expected to have complete for Iteration 2. Thus, I'll expect to see that which you committed to, or an explanation of why you were not able to complete it, or why you have chosen a different direction.

Your final submission is intended to be your final product, and should include anything that is feasible to capture in electronic form, including your in-class presentation materials or notes. If your project creates a physical object(s), and you have no other digital version of it, one option is to include a digital picture of the object(s). A brief in-class presentation is also expected. 

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I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the variety of final projects the fifteen students submitted. The submissions included the following:

• Modified version of the game of Life
• Graphical images of posters on two walls
• Modified version of the game of Monopoly
• Description of the day in the life of a pharmacist today and in 2048
• 12-sided "ball" with each panel describing something, yet connected to the next panel
• Short story
• Illustrated children's book
• Timeline of significant medical events, with current and future patient care plans
• Cartoon
• Automated forecasting model, using Excel©
• Series of blog posts
• Series of podcasts
• Extended essay
• Paper and 3D-printed dental model (jaw with teeth)
• Website

As you can see some of the students used one of the 47 ideas they generated in class, while others came up with even more ideas. I could have simply required every student to write a paper and do a presentation. By allowing each student to determine how they wanted to exhibit and document their learning, the class and I were exposed to a wonderful variety of presentations. I also believe most of the students took more ownership of their project than they likely would have of a paper. So, what did I learn from this experience? Actually, it was more of an affirmation: Give your students a choice, and they will usually pleasantly surprise you.

How would you have exhibited and documented your knowledge if you'd been assigned this final project? How creative would you have been? Leave your response in the comments below.

Am I in the right major?

Last fall, a student from my CS 222: Advanced Programming course sent me an email expressing concern about them choosing computer science as their major. The email said:

I just had a question concerning life outside of college. This first project that we just completed: is that what real work will be like in the real world? With 20+ hours of research for a small part of code? I’m just starting to question if I’m in the right major considering I couldn’t get this first project to work.

The student appeared to feel like they were “drowning,” and not accomplishing what they needed to be doing for the course. This was causing them to doubt their choice of major, wondering if they were really going to enjoy it in the future.

I’ve written some about the CS 222 course before. (What we learned—Fall 2017, and Spring 2018, and Popular achievements—Spring 2018 and Spring 2019.) The course, by design, tends to “throw the students in the pool, and encourage them to (learn how to) swim, while I stand by the side with a reach pole in case someone starts to drown.” This does not mean that I don’t provide instruction and scaffolding, but one of the objectives of the course is for the students to learning how to learn, something computer scientists are going to have to do their entire profession. As such, the course is structured such that the students have to find much of the details and skills themselves as the semester progresses.

So, how did I respond to the student? Here’s my response.

Fair question. Mostly, the answer is a resounding no.

As you become more experienced, there is less you will need to research. If you don’t recall how to do something you’ve done before, you’re likely to understand the overall idea, and just need to be reminded of the details. If you’re needing to do something new, it’s not likely to take you as long to find a solution because your past experience will lead you to an answer quicker, or often provide some of the background knowledge you need to understand the new task.

When you first learned how to tie your shoes, you likely struggled greatly, and had to keep going back to Mom or Dad for reminders. At some point you were able to reliably do it on your own—if you really concentrated. Days/weeks/months(?) later you got so experienced with tying your shoes you could do it without even thinking about what you were doing.

But then there was likely something else you needed to learn, and the process started again. Life is about continuing to learn. Stop learning, and you stagnate.

Am I suggesting you’ll never struggle getting code to work, and end up spending 10-20-30 hours trying to figure out why? No. Inevitably that will happen on occasion. I believe it will happen less and less as you become more experienced, however.

Hang in there. If you enjoy challenges, problem solving, and coding, I believe you’ll do well. If you want to talk more some time, let me know. I’m always glad to do so.

Did I provide the right response to this student? Would you have responded differently? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.

By the way, the student finished the course with an A, continued with the computer science major, and landed a very successful internship this summer. When I contacted the student for permission to include their quote, they also replied with the following:

With my internship experience now I have had to research things to be able to complete a program, but I have found that it doesn't take up as much of my time as I thought it would. I thoroughly enjoy the position I am at now and found that your response was very true in relation to this internship. I am very glad that I reached out to you and received your response in the fall, without it I may have changed majors.

Sometimes you have more of an impact on others than you realize at the time.

Student quotes are included with permission.
Image credits:
Doubting girl: https://publicdomainvectors.org
Boy tying shoe: http://www.clker.com