Siena College (Google Maps)
April 12-13, 2013
CCSCNE 2013 is the 18th Annual Conference of the Northeast region of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC). The conference is held in cooperation with the ACM SIGCSE and Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honors Society and is hosted by Siena College in Loudonville, NY.
Files
Call for Participation [button class=”pull-right” link=”http://stage.ccscne.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/CCSCNE2013.pdf”]Download[/button]
CCSCNE Program 2013 [button class=”pull-right” link=”http://stage.ccscne.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/CCSCNE_Program_2013_2c.pdf”]Download[/button]
Conference Hotel
Holiday Inn
205 Wolf Road
Albany, NY 12205
Conference Rate: $106
Keynotes
Fred Martin
Associate Professor, Computer Science
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Friday, April 12
Fight the MOOC-opalypse! and Reflections on the Aporia of Learning
[spoiler title=”Abstract”]
Wolff-Michael Roth introduced the term “aporia” to refer to the paradox of being a learner: how can we intentionally direct ourselves toward learning something new, when we necessarily do not yet understand — nor are we even able to perceive — the very thing that we seek to know?
Roth studied this in the context of high school students learning physics, showing how students were unable to draw the expected pedagogical lessons from classroom physics demonstrations. Because the students had not yet developed the underlying conceptual physics understandings, they literally did not perceive the behaviors of the instrumental apparatus as intended.
In the field of computer science, many of us have been surprised by the lasting result of the Rainfall problem, originally constructed and studied by Elliot Soloway. This work demonstrated the difficulty that beginning computing students have in composing a program that involves a loop, summation variable, and sentinel exit value. We’re surprised when we learn of this result, because the problem seems so easy. We’ve completely forgotten our own earlier novice minds, and we can’t imagine not knowing how to immediately solve what appears as a trivial problem.
These two challenges go hand in hand: the fundamental aporia of learning, and our own forgetfulness of learning afterward.
We often pay attention on improving our teaching, but here, I will focus on the experience of being a learner in computer science. I will present a personal learning story of two years of effort in coming to understand Bayes Nets and Hidden Markov Models, a flipped classroom learning environment I created with one of the seminal MOOCs (Thrun and Norvig’s Fall 2011 AI Class), and two very different “Computing I” courses.
Mark Guzdial has highlighted the looming “MOOC-opalypse” — the belief that a combination of video lessons, auto-graded assignments, and discussion forums can provide adequate learning environments for our students, coupled with academic leadership taking action on this belief by replacing conventionally-taught courses with MOOCs.
While there is evidence that MOOCs are effective for advanced, “auto-didactic” students, the evidence that MOOCs work for beginning or less self-directed learners is scant (if it exists at all).
And when we look broadly across our student body, it’s apparent that we have many more beginning students than advanced ones.
Ultimately, I will argue that learning is messy, unpredictable, frustrating, and basically not at all fun — until it turns into elation and joy. Our beginning students deserve better than MOOCs — they deserve our personal attention. By better understanding the true nature of learning, we will be more able to make this case.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler title=”Bio”]
Fred Martin is Associate Professor in the Computer Science department and Director of Student Success for the College of Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He leads the Engaging Computing Group, which develops tangible and software-based materials for science education, robotics education, and computer science education. His publications include work on informal robotics education, inquiry-based science using data-loggers, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, artificial intelligence education, and robotics. Last summer, he published an essay in the Communications of the ACM detailing his experiences teaching in the “flipped classroom” style using a MOOC. Fred holds a BS in Computer Science, an MS in Mechanical Engineering, and a PhD in Media Arts in Sciences, all from MIT.
[/spoiler]
Thomas Cormen
Professor and Chair of Computer Science
Dartmouth College
Saturday, April 13
We Must Be Doing Something Right. Or Is It the Facebook Movie?
[spoiler title=”Abstract”]
With our number of majors under half of what it had been a decade before, and spurred by an external review, the Dartmouth Computer Science department spent the 2011-2012 academic year revising our undergraduate curriculum. We focused on three key aspects: the introductory sequence, the overall structure of the major, and how to respond to the review committee’s criticism that we had “a good computer science curriculum for the 1990′s; what is needed is a good program for 2010 and beyond.” Something we did worked: from the senior class to the junior class, the number of Computer Science majors doubled.
I will detail the curricular changes that we have made, where we have succeeded, and where we still have work to do. I will also discuss our Digital Arts program, which is housed in the Computer Science department and draws students from various majors.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler title=”Bio”]
Thomas H. Cormen is a Professor in the Dartmouth College Department of Computer Science, where he has been since 1992. He currently serves as the department chair, and he directed the Dartmouth Institute for Writing and Rhetoric from 2004 to 2008. Professor Cormen received the B.S.E. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University in 1978 and the S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986 and 1992, respectively. An ACM Distinguished Educator, he is coauthor of the leading textbook on computer algorithms, Introduction to Algorithms, which he wrote with Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, and Clifford Stein. He is also the author of Algorithms Unlocked. Professor Cormen’s primary research interests are in algorithm engineering and parallel computing. He focuses on algorithms and software infrastructure to mitigate the high latency inherent in accessing the outer levels of the memory hierarchy and in interprocessor communication.
[/spoiler]
Deadlines
Submission Deadlines
11-19-2012 Papers
12-03-2012 Panels, Demos, Tutorials, and Workshops
01-14-2012 Faculty Posters
02-28-2013 Undergraduate Posters and Research Competition
Notification Deadlines
01-09-2013 Papers, Panels, Demos, Tutorials, and Workshops
01-23-2013 Faculty Posters
03-21-2013 Undergraduate Posters and Research Competition
Camera-Ready Deadlines
01-28-2013 Papers, Panels, Demos, Tutorials, Workshops, and Faculty Posters
03-28-2013 Undergraduate Posters and Research Competition
Reviewer Deadlines
12-22-2012 Papers
01-02-2012 Panels, Tutorials, Demos, and Workshops
01-21-2012 Faculty Posters
Registration
Online registration will close on Monday, April 8, 2013
Early Registration (by March 19, 2013)
Full Registration: $125
Student Registration: $50
Late and On-Site Registration
Full Registration: $155
Student Registration: $50
Full registration includes
the conference banquet on Friday evening, admission to all sessions and pre-conference workshops, and one copy of the conference proceedings. It also includes membership in CCSC.
Luncheon on Saturday is NOT provided.
Student registration includes
the conference banquet on Friday evening, and admission to all sessions. However, students who author regular papers or participate in the programming contest receive additional benefits. See the appropriate contest registration page for details.
Copies of the conference proceedings may be purchased for an additional fee.
Note: Tickets for the conference banquet depend on availability for late and on-site registrations. Banquet attendance is not guaranteed in these cases.
Program Committee
| First Name | Last Name | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darren | Lim | Conference Chair | |
| MaryAnne | Egan | Conference Chair | |
| Jim | Teresco | Papers Chair | |
| Ian | MacDonald | Papers Chair | |
| Mark | Bailey | Papers Chair | |
| Susan | Imberman | Panels and Demos Chair | |
| Yana | Kortsarts | Panels and Demos Chair | |
| Sandeep | Mitra | Undergraduate Posters Chair | |
| Robert | Dugan | Undergraduate Posters Chair | |
| Lonnie | Fairchild | Undergraduate Posters Chair | |
| Alice | Fischer | Undergraduate Posters Chair | |
| John | Russo | Faculty Poster Chair | |
| Scott | Vandenberg | Faculty Poster Chair | |
| Ingrid | Russell | Speakers Chair | |
| Bonnie | MacKellar | Tutorials and Workshop Chair | |
| Krista | Hill | Tutorials and Workshop Chair | |
| Mihaela | Sabin | Vendor Chair | |
| Matthew | Hertz | Publicity Chair | |
| Nadine | Hanebutte | Publicity Chair | |
| Mark | Hoffman | Registration Chair | |
| Lisa | Michaud | Registration Chair | |
| Robin | Flatland | Registration Chair | |
| Meg | Fryling | Registration Chair | |
| Frank | Ford | Programming Contest Chair | |
| Delbert | Hart | Programming Contest Chair | |
| Dan | DiTursi | Programming Contest Chair |