Recruitment, Preparation, Retention: A case study of computing culture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Computer science is seeing a decline in enrollment at all levels of education, including undergraduate and graduate study. This paper reports on the results of a study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign which evaluated students attitudes regarding three areas which can contribute to improved enrollment in the Department of Computer Science: Recruitment, preparation and retention. The results of our study saw two themes. First, the department's tight research focus appears to draw significant attention from other activities -- such as teaching, service, and other community-building activities -- that are necessary for a department's excellence. Yet, as demonstrated by our second theme, one partial solution is to better promote such activities already employed by the department to its students and faculty. Based on our results, we make recommendations for improvements and enhancements based on the current state of practice at peer institutions.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figures. For better quality figures, please download the .pdf from http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/research/techreports.php?report=UIUCDCS-R-2007-281

Can virtual seminars be used cost‐effectively to enhance student learning?

This paper describes a virtual seminar initiative designed to investigate the extent to which computer‐mediated communication (CMC) can cost‐effectively strengthen staff‐student interaction and enhance student group discussion, and thereby improve collaborative learning. After setting the scene by means of a brief review of the discursive potential of CMC, the establishment of an asynchronous bulletin board system on three modules in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manchester using industry standard software is described. Detailed time diaries kept by all staff involved revealed that organizing and running the virtual seminars were very much less time‐consuming than running face‐to‐face seminars. However, analysis of the students’ access to and mage of the virtual seminars indicates that some of them were disadvantaged by CMC and that they favoured face‐to‐face contact with lecturers over virtual seminars. The latter should therefore be part of a portfolio of teaching techniques rather than the sole form of collaborative learning. The conclusion is that a significant obstacle to benefiting from CMC is the further demand on staff time that results from adding virtual seminars as a supplement to existing teaching practices. Even though these extra demands may be modest, effectively deploying the discursive potential of CMC to enhance student learning increases staff effort rather than reducing it, as many have hoped or promised it would

REU Site: Supercomputing Undergraduate Program in Maine (SuperMe)

This award, for a new Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site, builds a Supercomputing Undergraduate Program in Maine (SuperMe). This new site provides ten-week summer research experiences at the University of Maine (UMaine) for ten undergraduates each year for three years. With integrated expertise of ten faculty researchers from both computer systems and domain applications, SuperMe allows each undergraduate to conduct meaningful research, such as developing supercomputing techniques and tools, and solving cutting-edge research problems through parallel computing and scientific visualization. Besides being actively involved in research groups, students attend weekly seminars given by faculty mentors, formally report and present their research experiences and results, conduct field trips, and interact with ITEST, RET and GK-12 participants. SuperMe provides scientific exploration ranging from engineering to sciences with a coherent intellectual focus on supercomputing. It consists of four computer systems projects that aim to improve techniques in grid computing, parallel I/O data accesses, high-resolution scientific visualization and information security, and five computer modeling projects that utilize world-class supercomputing and visualization facilities housed at UMaine to perform large, complex simulation experiments and data analysis in different science domains. SuperMe provides a diversity of cutting-edge research opportunities to students from under-represented groups or from universities in rural areas with limited research opportunities. Through interacting directly with the participant of existing programs at UMaine, including ITEST, RET and GK-12, REU students disseminates their research results and experiences to middle and high school students and teachers. This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU Site program

Introducing and Using Electronic Voting Systems in a Large Scale Project With Undergraduate Students : Reflecting on the Challenges and Successes

Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) have become a popular medium for encouraging student engagement in class-based activities and for managing swift feedback in formative and summative assessments. Since their early days of popularity and introduction some five or more years ago, the author’s UK based University has been successful in refining strategies for their use across individual academic Schools and Departments, as previously reported at ECEL (e.g. Lorimer and Hilliard, 2008). The focus of this paper is a reflection on the introduction of EVS with 300 first year undergraduate students in the School of Computer Science, within the context of a wider ‘change’ project in teaching and learning affecting the whole institution. The author examines what lessons can be learnt following this rapid scaling up of EVS activity both at a local level and more widely across an HE institution and in reflecting on the successes and challenges of this experience provides key indicators for success and useful support for others considering using EVS. The paper first considers the landscape of EVS use within the UK and then the specific introduction of EVS at her own institution, before exploring the issues in her own academic School around the latest phase of their introduction as part of an institution–wide project to review measures to support assessment and feedback.Non peer reviewe

A renaissance of audio: podcasting approaches for learning on campus and beyond

In this paper, we urge practitioners to consider the potential of podcasting for teaching, learning and assessment. Our perspective is drawn from research on IMPALA (Informal Mobile Podcasting And Learning Adaptation), which showed that there is a range of successful podcasting approaches for students on campus. After briefly surveying the background literature, we provide examples of three approaches, from three different universities: 1) helping students to prepare presentations and assessed work, 2) offering feedback from staff on students’ assessed work, and 3) assisting undergraduates to make the transition from school or college to university. Finally, we answer the important question for EDEN attendees: can podcasting approaches like these be converted for distance education? On the evidence available to date from IMPALA and other studies, we feel confident in predicting that podcasting will be integrated more and more into distance education, to the immense benefit of the long distance learner

Using electronic resources to support dialogue in undergraduate small‐group teaching: The ASTER project

Learning through dialogue is an important element of UK higher education, supported by tutorial, seminar and workshop classes. Since 1998, the ASTER project has been exploring how Information and Communication Technologies support learning in small groups (http://cti‐psy.york.acuk/aster/). Electronic resources are developed and used in courses to support a wide range of learning needs, from delivery of content to interactive teaching tools and assessment. The manner in which they are integrated into a course dictates the extent to which they support and extend learning. The ASTER survey has identified the use of a range of new technologies to support learning through dialogue in a variety of contexts. Many of the uses are common across disciplines, though we have observed some differences in the range of tools used, and how they are implemented in and beyond the classroom. These differences are partly determined by the subject content of resources, and by the activities that ICT tools support. Another factor influencing this variation seems to be traditions of academic discourse. The findings suggest that educational technology needs to support both generic education practice, and the special needs of particular disciplines

Best Practices of Honor Societies

Academic honor societies are widely available within university communities. These student organizations can fill valuable roles within engineering departments. The inception of engineering-related honor societies followed the establishment of engineering education within American universities. Honor societies with their student focus grew as complementary organizations to the professional societies for engineering disciplines. The national or international structure of honor societies generally provides considerable resources for professional education, leadership training, and service activity. For departments, an honor society chapter can provide engagement with students, alumni, community, etc. However, the existence of an honor society chapter at an institution does not necessarily mean that the chapter is effectively serving the host department(s) and its engineering students. This paper describes commonalities among engineering honor societies, the possible roles of an honor society within an engineering department, and some best practices for effective honor society chapters. Specific examples from the operation of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN), the honor society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), are given.Cockrell School of Engineerin

A renaissance of audio: Podcasting approaches for learning on campus and beyond

In this paper, we urge practitioners to consider the potential of podcasting for teaching, learning and assessment. Our perspective is drawn from research on IMPALA (Informal Mobile Podcasting And Learning Adaptation), which showed that there is a range of successful podcasting approaches for students on campus. After briefly surveying the background literature, we provide examples of three approaches, from three different universities: 1) helping students to prepare presentations and assessed work, 2) offering feedback from staff on students' assessed work, and 3) assisting undergraduates to make the transition from school or college to university. Finally, we would like readers to consider how podcasting approaches like these can be converted for distance education. On the evidence available to date from IMPALA and other studies, we feel confident in predicting that podcasting will be integrated more and more into distance education, to the immense benefit of the long distance learner

10. The Academic Departments

Includes: Collective Bargaining, Labor Law, and Labor History: The Department of Economic and Social Statistics; Labor Economics and Income Security Department: A Parent Department: Human Resources and Administration; The Organizational Behavior Department; Evolution of the Human Resources and Administration Department