[opeverkosto] Graduate Seminar on Evaluation of the Educational Impact of Visualization

Professor Thomas L. Naps (University of Wisconsin
- Oshkosh, US) is visiting the Helsinki
University of Technology Laboratory of Software
Technology in autumn 2007. As part of his visit,
he is giving a seminar on the topic:

Evaluation of the Educational Impact of Visualization
Interaction and Engagement in CS Learning Environments

http://www.cs.hut.fi/Studies/T-106.5800/Engagement/

T-106.5800 - Seminar on Software Techniques (3-10 cr) P V
T-106.6540 - Seminar in computing education research (3-10 cr) P V

The seminar will take place in the first period
(September - October) so that some of the modules
can be used and evaluated in the Advanced Data
Structures course later in the fall. The exact
scheduling will be organized so that researchers
from other universities in Finland can better
participate the course.

This working seminar will concentrate on topics
in our joint research in improving visualization
tools. Several themes will be discussed:

  1. Modes of delivering algorithm/software
visualization and examples of systems
illustrating each of these modes
  2. Pedagogical issues in such systems
  3. The role of interaction in such systems
  4. Incorporation of interactive visualizations
into hypertextbook learning environments.
  5. Effectiveness metrics and evaluation methods
  6. Techniques for integrating pure visualization
of algorithms with the support tools that are
necessary for making such visualization effective.
         * Discussion of the levels of engagement
of AV that were developed by the 2002 ITiCSE
Working Group [1]
         * Emerging standards for specifying such support tools in terms of XML

The seminar will have one or two introductory
lectures presenting the current state and
motivation of research and its subtopics. This
will be followed by a sequence of student
presentations where they discuss each topic more.

In addition to presentations, students will work
in pairs to prepare a project where they design
and implement, using a system of their choice, a
complete instructional module that portrays an
algorithm to learners in a way that employs all
the levels of engagement. Each team then analyzes
the effectiveness of the modules they have
designed by collecting either anecdotal or
statistical data from learners who use the module.

General

   * Instructor: Visiting prof. Tom Naps from
University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, US.
   * Coordinator: Ari Korhonen, room TB227.
   * Registration: by email to coordinator before Sep 7
   * Credits: to be announced

Material

[1] Thomas L. Naps, Guido Rößling, Vicki
Almstrum, Wanda Dann, Rudolf Fleischer, Chris
Hundhausen, Ari Korhonen, Lauri Malmi, Myles
McNally, Susan Rodgers, and J. Ángel
Velázquez-Iturbide (2003) Exploring the Role of
Visualization and Engagement in Computer Science
Education. SIGCSE Bulletin, 35 (2), June. pp.
131-152.

The final seminar material will be based on a
number of research papers some of which are
required to be obtained by participants in terms
of literature survey.

Tentative Schedule

   * Wed 19-Sep-2007 12-15 A232 Introduction
     Here we will cover those aspects of a
visualization that make it effective from a
pedagogical perspective. See the 2002 working
group report and the Implementor's Guide at the
Virginia Tech AlgoViz Wiki

   * Thu 20-Sep-2007 12-15 A232 Student project topics
   * (or Wed 26-Sep-2007 12-15 A232 Student project topics)
     This will include students' working in teams
of two, presenting quick hand-drawn prototypes of
the visualizations for the algorithm they have
chosen. The purpose of these prototypes is to
obtain valuable feedback to guide the actual
implementation of the visualization in a software
system

   * Wed 10-Oct-2007 12-15 A232 Checkpoint
     By this time the significant progress should
have been made on the implementation of the
visualizations. We will discuss and develop
strategies for user-testing their instructional
effectiveness

   * Wed 24-Oct-2007 10-17 A232 Seminar day: student presentations
   * (or Wed 31-Oct-2007 10-17 A232 an alternative seminar day)

     The presentations will include demonstrating
the visualizations in the context of their
software system and also discussing the results
of the effectiveness studies that were conducted.

Venue

Helsinki University of Technology
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Street address: Konemiehentie 2, 02015 Espoo
Seminar hall: TA232

For further information, please contact to the coordinator.

-- 
Ari archie Korhonen (Email: Ari.Korhonen_at_hut.fi)
Tel: +358-44-519 6948 (mobile); +358-9-451 3387 (work)
http://www.hut.fi/u/archie/