Friday, March 21, 2008

March 21, 2008 presentation: Chris Hundhausen



EXPLORING STUDIO-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS FOR COMPUTING EDUCATION

While the demand for college graduates with computing skills continues to rise, such skills no longer equate to mere programming skills. Modern day computing jobs demand design, communication, and collaborative work skills as well. Since traditional instructional methods in computing education tend to focus on programming skills, we believe that a fundamental rethinking of computing education is in order. We are exploring a new “studio-based” pedagogy that actively engages undergraduate students in collaborative, design-oriented learning. Adapted from architectural education, the studio-based instructional model emphasizes learning activities in which students (a) construct personalized solutions to assigned computing problems, and (b) present solutions to their instructors and peers for feedback and discussion within the context of “design crits.” We describe and motivate the studio-based approach, review previous efforts to apply it to computer science education, and propose an agenda for multi-institutional research into the design and impact of studio-based instructional models. We invite educators to participate in a community of research and practice to advance studio-based learning in computing education.

Christopher Hundhausen is founder and director of the Visualization and User Programming Lab at WSU. His research focuses on the general area of human-computer interaction—the "human side" of computer science concerned with better understanding how humans interact with technology, and ultimately with designing effective interactive artifacts for humans. Within this general area, Dr. Hundhausen has established himself as an international leader in the field of algorithm visualization, which explores technology and pedagogical approaches that enhance human understanding of computer algorithms.

February 7, 2008 presentation: Sean Michael



ROADS LESS TRAVELED. MAPS RARELY USED.

Altered vision is the means to many ends. History chronicles humanity’s diverse talents for inventing mechanisms for re-seeing what has seemed obvious to most. In particular, the viewer’s seat and its positioning in relation to the subject being considered has seen countless variations. A pedagogical quest akin to humanity’s longing to understand through viewing has been played out for over a hundred years. The rich array of thinking behind how landscape architects are trained provides an enlightening look at how we see our world, ourselves, and how we find and craft place.

This talk shares key “lenses” in the history of mankind and its landscape studies. The role of perspective, scale, viewpoint, speed, orientation, map and visual literacy are presented. The journey of seeing, discovering, and writing on the land is traced through history and curriculum. How landscape architects are systematically trained in seeing the world differently, and tasked with making space from place, subsequently offers insights into what others do not see.

Sean Michael is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Washington State University. His teaching and scholarship relates to human response to the environment, including the preferences during recreation, and deterrence of criminal offenders. He is assisted in seeing the world by many lenses, including a KLR650.

Roads Less Traveled PowerPoint (32.6M)

January 25, 2008 presentation: Justin Smith



EXPRESSING KNOWLEDGE ACROSS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS

This presentation will be aired on KWSU-TV, Channel 10, Thursday, March 27th, at 9 pm, and again on Sunday, March 30th at 10 am.

What is knowledge? How do we reuse it and transfer it? How do we represent this knowledge in ways that are simple to comprehend for the uninitiated? These are all serious and inherently difficult questions that are being asked among people working in nearly every field, whether in business or politics, in education or engineering.

Philosopher and architect Christopher Alexander put forth a theory on architectural practice that emphasized the use of patterns as reusable elements of good design. When configured together these patterns formed a network, a cohesive whole, a Pattern Language. While Alexander’s work failed to bring about a revolution of modern architecture, the simplicity of his multi-dimensional approach to “Whole-Systems Design” prompted the adoption, and arguably a revolution among a number of fields completely unrelated to architecture. From object-oriented programming and software design, to community information systems, environmental planning and permaculture, patterns have become central principles for working with complex systems. However, as the number of patterns has grown within each of these fields a concern over complexity and usability has surfaced. In an attempt to address these concerns a number of scholars have begun to focus upon the visual representation and ontological configuration of pattern languages. Yet, despite the strides made with knowledge mapping and information visualization, pattern users have been slow to incorporate these approaches into their knowledge base.

To prompt further thinking on the topic of patterns and pattern language representation, this talk hopes to address possible opportunities for representing patterns that enable users to traverse the multiple dimensions
of a pattern language, as well as discuss some of the problems associated with current approaches to the visualization of a complex system of knowledge.

Justin Smith is an Environmental Science and Regional Planning Ph.D student at WSU. His primary research is centered upon the integration of Christopher Alexander's theory of "Patterns" and "Pattern Languages" as a conceptual framework for collaborative community problem-solving and sustainable development.