ghc2006
posted by Katie at 1:09 AM
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Female Friendly Education: Increasing Participation or Watering Down?
Allan Fisher, iCarnegie, Inc
Sue Rosser, Georgia Tech
Jane Margolis, UCLA
Mark Guzdial, Georgia Tech
Welcome. They appreciate our enthusiasm and the fact that we aren’t at the bar. They want this to be informal.
Allan
Jane and Allan wrote Unlocking the Clubhouse
Sue Rosser writes on female friendly science
Why this session:
computing community not as familiar with Sue’s work as are natural scientists
negative reactions to the phrase female-friendly science
among those familiar, sometimes an overemphasis on curriculum as a diversity solution
session overview
5-10 min of remarks
discussion
continue at the bar
Some questions:
how gender specific are these ideas?
Does the term female-friendly cause problems
does computing as a field pose challenges or opportunities different from those in the fields originally studied
Stereotypical STEM values
strong emphasis on truth, beauty and puzzles, less time on community and impact. Medium on career.
This is why some people don’t “fit”
An ideal STEM community
A diverse culture has a large convex hull. The goal of female-friendly science is to enlarge it.
Sue:
need to attract women to cs
origin of female friendly science
female friendly pedagogy
expand the kinds of observations beyond those traditionally carried out in scientific research. Women students may see new data that could make a valuable contribution to scientific experiments.
increase the numbers of women
incorporate and validate personal experiences women are likely to have had as apart of the class discussion or the lab exercise
undertake fewer experiments likely to have applications of direct benefit to the military and propose more experiments to explore problems of social concern
consider problems that have not been considered worthy of scientific investigation because of the field with which the problem has been traditionally associated
Sue Rosser wrote the Science Glass Ceiling
formulate hypotheses focusing on gender as a crucial part of the question asked
undertake the investigation of problems of more holistic, global scope, rather than the more reduced and limited scale problems traditionally considered
what will the effect of women be?
What can women bring?
female friendly pedagogical techniques-methods
use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in data gathering
use methods from a variety of fields or interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving
use more interactive methods, thereby shortening the distance between the observer and the object being studied
decrease lab exercises in intro courses in which students must kill animals or render treatment that may be perceived as particularly harsh
theories and conclusions drawn from data
use precise gender neutral language in describing data and presenting theories
be open to critiques of conclusions and theories drawn from observations differing from traditional ones
encourage uncovering of biases
practice
use less competitive models in the practices of scitech
family friendly issues
METALESSON: Discuss the practical uses of science and engineering in their social context.
curriculum transformation
absence of women not noted
women as an add-on to the curriculum
women as a problem, anomaly, deviant
focus on women
transformed, curriculum that includes all
implications for computing
workforce-who is where in cs and ICT workforce
design-what changes in hardware, software, HCI if started from the user
use-do women and men use computers differently
curriculum-what innovations would attract women and more diversity in cs.
Mark
Media Computation: CS as Female Friendly Science
teaching cs in a relevant context
presenting CS topics wit h media projects and examples
iteration as creating negative and grayscale images
indexing in a range as removing redeye
algorithms for blending both images and sounds
linked lists as song components woven to a song
examples of student work
VERY open ended i.e. build a movie, make a collage
there is an online shared repository (gallery)
overall results
avgcs1 pre-MediaComp avg 72.8
in mediacomp, mostly non cs 51% female->avg is 84-90%
similar results with CS majors and
management majors success 49%->88%
students are excited and becoming CS majors, minors, CS teachers, and computational media degree (over 200 majors, 25% female, 2 years old)
students who take cs classes and go on to major, succeed at same rate
like work. (keep working after homework is due)
Media computation as female friendly science
incorporate and validate personal experiences
it’s about using the media in your own life
use methods from a variety of fields or interdisciplinary approaches
psychophysics plays a prominent role in media computation
but it does mean reduction in CS1/CS2 topics
Non competitive models to practice science
focus is on collaboration, yet unique solutions/artifacts
A Cs-specific form of female friendly science
computer science is not a natural science
(can’t emphasize observation)
Media computation lends itself to a focus on observation.
Have you ever seen an effect like this?
Jane
wanted to leave lots of time for discussion
the way this all began (to have this panel discussion) was that there have been some articles that criticize unlocking the clubhouse that equate female friendly with watering down
this has been in the culture that have attacked lots of this sort of initiative
recent editorial about “girly science” How come boys do fun stuff? Blow things up? Hard, fun things…female friendly, no rough and tumble hard science. Equating female friendly with something that it is not, but making it lesser than.
mark’s comment that teaching all the same CS, but in a different context is the key. That the science and the content are the same, but it’s speaking to different motivations.
“Is there a problem with this phrase female-friendly science?” “Does it suggest watering down?”
Anything that is associated with female in formerly male dominated fields, female==lesser than.
What about inclusive science or human-friendly science? But if we drop the female friendly, we’re backing away from bringing more women in and making it a more inclusive culture. In this political climate there is such backlash against any initiatives that speak on the behalf of any special groups. Any disenfranchised. There is immediate pushback…by accusing female friendly science. It is either people thinking our work isn’t lesser than and it’s fear that you’re being marked as inferior and I think that a lot of these…I just fear that backing off from it is feeding into backlash…and that addressing the underrepresentation that is going on…but I’m not for it, but I think that there could be some arguments.
So what do you think?
audience:
primary experience at U of
Not fond of term. It seems like there’s some basic accommodation factor.
Most people are against the term.
female friendly tends to be used to make things easier (basic training) connotation is what are they taking out. It’s a well intentioned word…BUT in this society, it’s not doing any favors. Do we have enough time to fight the fight?
Sue: When first used term it was trying to get at the biological issues. However liberal arts, fears the loss of focus on gender. We need focus before we are transformed.
people will feel the same way about any “label”
female-friendly has hand wringing. it’s about adding cool stuff. We need to focus on the addition, not subtraction. Focus on enhanced computer science
Allan: What about ComputerScience++?
Female-friendly is a North American concept. There are structural problems that terminology won’t heal. We talk the talk, but we aren’t walking the walk. (from kindergarten).
Mark: Likes the fact that label won’t matter “contextualized cs” CS is new. “Students coming out of CS1 don’t have a strong notion of variables.” We can’t show differences in how people are learning. ITiCSE conference. People don’t know much. We need to be able to show that today’s methods AREN”T working.
Sue: We dealt with this in med school curriculum. Different perspectives and content.
Easier makes her not want to do it. examples would make everyone understand it more.
Why does female-friendly sound bad? It’s not the female…it’s the friendly.
Mark: all other cs is human-antagonistic cs.
Jane: one place very worried that by recruiting women they would lower their standards. How do diversity projects without thinking that you are lowering the standards. Language is important in how we frame it. Wanting to spotlight a group that’s been underrepresented. Not want to back away…it’s an incredible tension. Bothered by “the best and the brightest.” Everyone wants. Makes sense. But what does it represent so much in this country? Have the pathways to being the best and the brightest been equal? The phrase is so loaded.
made her realize that’s what’s at issue is parallel to the issue of affirmative action. taints achievement. Could argue AA is just increasing size of the pool, yet people think of you differently? Parallel is helpful.
Allan: That’s a good point. It’s not so much a question of making it more accessible or lowering the standards. It’s an issue of making it more attractive! We’ve got a big sales and marketing problem here.
It’s not selling enough men OR women.
Allan: For many of the same reasons. Preferential differences in the margin. This is what we need to be doing across STEM to recruit more people.
But guys won’t want to take a female-friendly course.
Allan: But going back to the value profiles. If in various places build in things that appeal to a broader range of people, yes you’ll probably improve the gender and ethnic balance.
Sue: If you implement it improves it for EVERYONE! We’re just the initial canary
at Georgia Tech, been redoing the face of computing. “WE are the new sexy.”
undergrad at UCSD. in this political climate, picking out individual group segregates, instead of diversifying. How about innovative? It’s a new approach. It’s an innovation. We don’t want it to be the sole existence. It’s trying to include a minority group to the point of excessiveness. Focus on innovation, not Gloria Steinem
Mark: hesitate on innovative, cause it can only be innovative for so long. teaching things abstractly makes it harder to learn. If learn in context, you learn well, and things learned well are easier to transfer!
confused as to why we want to introduce a new term. “shouldn’t we just call it computer science and just teach it better?”
posted by Katie at 1:05 AM
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The Journey to a Teaching-Oriented Faculty Positions
Janet Davis, Grinnell
Ruth Anderson, U of Wa
Cheryl Seals,
Megan Thomas,
Tammy VanDeGrift, U of
Tell us a little about your current positions and other positions you have held?
C: worked at
Others were covered in their intro, which I missed.
How can I gain teaching experience
Tammy: went to U of Wa, people expected to go to research careers. Knew wanted to go to teaching school (small LA for undergrad), other undergrads wanted to teach. Started a seminar & organized for other grad students. Education based, theory & pedagogy. Good communication with teaching assignments person. taught TA training seminar. Taught CS 1 course.
Informal: volunteered to tutor 1+ undergrads/sem. Still gives idea how to help students and engage in learning.
As an undergrad, teachers need graders. (Another way to get involved in the process of teaching). Give idea of what mistakes students make and help you learn to give feedback.
Experiences don’t count for much unless you document them. Document grading, interactions, tutoring. Hard copy verification is good too.
Janet: UG can be lab assistants
Megan: Teaching a class is good. Hiring committees look for a sign of genuine interest in teaching. Public library programs.
Where and when can I find job ads?
Tammy: Handout has a list of URLs. ACM, IEEE, CRA, Chronicle of Higher Ed. Check out websites of schools if you know where you are interested in going. Mailing lists. Small teaching oriented schools…SIGCSE mailing list.
Megan: Start in early fall. Check Weekly. Send send and send again.
What application materials will I need to prepare?
Janet: if seeking primary teaching position, make it clear that teaching is your priority
1st-Teaching Philosophy statement (how teach, what accomplish, what’s important, techniques) (less than 2 pgs)
research statement. Not all will require, but it’s good if yours is good. Talk about research & future. Emphasize how work can engage UGs in research and how can your research inform your teaching (less than 3 pgs)
CV-put teaching first & include service. Tammy told her to include personal interests. Grinell people liked that because she appeared as human and showed bredth.
cover letter-address specific issues. People will actually read at a small school
some schools want additional stuff (evidence of teaching excellence, teaching evaluations, descrips of courses want to take, statement of faith)
transcripts (plan ahead, order in advance)
letters of rec (think carefully about who’s writing. Need someone who can talk about your teaching. Make their job as easy as possible)
Ruth: teaching track faculty member first. Letters can make it clear that they were a BAD match.
point out teaching experience on CV
if have evals or teaching materials is good!
pick up SIGCSE proceedings!
add personal things on CV
you’re a team member and want to contribute
Does Education research go into teaching statement or research statement?
teaching statement is more experiences and philosophy, research is research
philosophy doesn’t have to be right…it just has to be if you’ve thought about it
What is a teaching philosophy?
Megan: Why am I concerned about that? What do I try to bring into the lectures? What would interest CS students?
Is how planning to organize lecture part of philosophy?
Tammy: Definitely part of teaching philosophy
Additional materials? Should you send a video of class?
SEND IT (if it’s good)
What should I think about when I am planning my job talk?
Cheryl: First, what type of dept are you interviewing at. Where do you fit in? Start using your research. (proposal or defense). Also, what classes would you like to teach.
Megan: Do not underestimate the difference between research universities and a teaching university. Audience will be primarily students. They are watching your rapport with the students. Don’t talk over their heads. “Rewind way back. Back to the dawn of time when a stack was new.” Put in silly pictures to make them pay attention and remember you.
Ruth: It’s different than a defense or a conference. They think you know enough already. They are asking: CAN THIS PERSON COMMUNICATE? Gave talk in the way she’d teach class.
Janet: You may be asked to give a teaching demo on a standard topic in addition to or in place of research talk.
What if you’re interviewing at both?
You need 2 talks!
Is it ok to interact with audience?
YES!
Advance notice for teaching demo?
Megan: Yes. Had to turn down job interview because no time for prep.
Teaching philosophy: what if mixed philosophies?
Megan: Evidence have thought about topic. That’s the main point.
Teaching Evaluations: How should you view your evaluations? And how do you view other peoples evaluations?
Cheryl: Take it as a learning experience, but don’t take it personally.
Tammy: If not as good as want to be, don’t worry about it. It depends on a lot of factors. If you are submitting them, comment on what you learned from the evals.
What do you do about confidentiality of teaching evals?
Tammy: Only sent aggregate data…Summarized comments with themes.
Ruth: Don’t send students handwriting. Type comments out if sending them.
Is it helpful?
Yes, esp if they’re good and show trying to improve.
How do you negotiate with your advisor to go to a teaching school?
It’s hard.
Tammy: Find a mentor who will support your path.
Talk to people who are at small schools.
GO TO SIGCSE!!!!!!! (student volunteers are needed)
Cincinnatti in March
If you can convince your prof that you’re great!
Remind your advisor that you will be breeding grad students.
It’s possible to create environ in classroom where you will get more useful evaluations. Tell students 1 class or more ahead about evals and they should think about 3 things. How was the book? Did you like the projects? Finish this sentence (I really loved it because____. It would have been great if she had _____. Postpone evals if students who like you aren’t there. If bias is in attendance, you have control.
Do evals at beginning of class (investment in taking a long time)
Isn’t a complete dichotomy
there is a continuum. Stressing teaching doesn’t mean NO research. Tell your supervisor that you’re just hedging your bets.
What can I expect during phone and on-campus interviews?
Tammy: review all aps, then rank and call the reasonable fits. Phone interview. The school’s job is to do screening to ensure that the candidate is a good fit. Gives you a chance to see if you want to be there. “Please describe your teaching experience” “How do you plan to carry on your research?” Most schools require scholarship of some sort. Opposite of killing research career. Want to ensure that you have those plans. Talk to 1 or more people. You need to make sure you get your questions answered. TAKE NOTES. Always had website of curriculum up (knew course numbers). It helps if you know their lingo.
Ruth: If you made it to campus, YAY! You are being seriously considered. They are really evaluating you in the classroom. Generally they care how you carry yourself. Personality issues are HUGE!
Cheryl: Interviewed at teaching and research schools. Limit job talks to one per week. 1.5-2 days. Meet with every faculty member in the department. Talked to dean, dept head, etc. Be honest about the area. Because you have to go home and live in that area. You’ll be miserable if you don’t like the area.
What should I be doing now for a successful job search?
Tammy: See timeline on sheet. Maintain faculty relationships. Your UG days aren’t too far away.
Megan: It’s never too late.
Cheryl: Don’t lock your self away in a corner. NETWORK! Applied at places she knew would hire her. (Cause she knew in advance)
What was transition from research to teaching?
Megan: time to learn names. Students in multiple classes. short distance across classes. It’s fun. There’s more student interaction. intimidation factor is less.
Did you face gender issues at small schools?
Megan: Didn’t see any gender issues.
Janet: Gender worked in her favor “We went out looking for a great computer scientist and when she happened to be female, that was a great plus.”-her dean
Should you declare an interest in teaching in a grad school application?
NO.
Cheryl: What do you do in negotiating an offer? Come talk to us.
ghc2006
posted by Katie at 1:04 AM
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Riding the Technology Wave: Computer Scientists Building a Better Tomorrow
Nancy Amato, James P Early, Reetal Pai, Valerie Taylor
Overview: women students seem to have a tendency to gravitate towards research that connects technology to a larger context (fisher and Margolis, 02)
publicizing ways that cse and research projects that connect tech and the world may affect recruiting and retention rates
this panel is to share some of this and thinking about how to do this
example projects over a broad spectrum
grid computing Dr. Valerie Taylor
EPICS Dr. James Early
Individual Small Group Activities Reetal Pai
all panelists will address
personal motivations
project description
success rates
issues
Valerie Taylor:
Using Grids for Educational Applications
TAMU
Prajugo and Wu, TAMU
Gilbert,
IWAY Project (Supercomputing 1995)
Extended Teragrid (NCSA)
African American Distributed Multiple Learning Style System (AADMLSS)
Developed by Juan Gilbert (
people learn different ways. multiple learning styles for the same concept.
teach theory then examples or examples than theory
African American avatars as well
pick learning style too (on test, if do well, keep doing more advanced with same teaching style or if not do well, given same stuff with different learning style)
concepts distributed over multiple sites (web based)
TAMU looked at performance feedback
Site selection process
user logs in
have used before? get either last or default concepts
select best site and give user connection to best site (performance analysis)
random site vs. sorting by load
Integrating Engineering Education and Community Service
James Early
Asst. Prof at Purdue
Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)
motivation
engineering students need more than technical knowledge to succeed: teamwork, communication, customer-awareness, project management, leadership, ethics, professionalism
other people need technical help
context: educational reform
drivers for/reflectors of change
scholarship of engagement
Projects: Access & Abilities
complex play environ for young kids with physical disabilities
remote controlled locker opener for disabled students
multimedia system to stimulate speech in DD kids
Human Services
Habitat for Humanity
web based home selection guides
Building construction tutorials and management systems
Energy efficiency and analyses and home design
Environ-NZ
processing waste glass into sand for use in construction materials
conversion of waste cooking oil to bio diesel as an alternative fuel (U of Auckland)
Key features
long term projects
long term partnerships with community orgs
vertically integrated teams (fr, so, jr, sr)
extended design experience
large team exp (8-18 students)
Broadly multidisciplinary teams (EE, cmpE, CS, ME, CE, IUE, Soc, Edu, Bio, audiology, child devlop, nat resources
open ended design
planning, design, implementation, deploy, maintain, etc
lengthy projects (time and effort)
significant impact
EPICS and women
Anita Borg IWT virtual develop center
Purdue team developing products and software aimed at preteen and young teen girls
games and study software
collaborative story and art games
who will become a scientist/engineer
research in science education suggests that context is important to women students
image is increasingly begin cited as a deterrent to attracting women
25% of EPCIS students are women
20% if ECE & ME EPICS students
started in 1995
30 teams currently
20+ depts. involved
350-400 students/semester involved
completed 200 projects
2000+ students have completed
More about EPICS
William Oakes
765-494-3750
http://epicsnational.ecn.purdue.edu
What can I do?
Reetal Pai, Valerie Hadjik TAMU
Personal motivations
how can I best use my technical skills to make a difference?
As a volunteer for a
knowledge of technology either includes of separates
how to disseminate technical prowess
How much time does it take?
different levels of contribution and time commitment
volunteer computing: donate PC time to many computationally intensive projects
www.mersenne.org GIMPS
setiahome.berkeley.edu
folding.stanford.edu (protein folding at home)
predictor.scripps.edu (predicting 3D structure of protein from sequence)
contributions to nonprofit orgs
charity focus
volunteers
empower nonprofits with web-based technological solutions
ROBERT FULGHAM QUOTE sympathy muscle
recruit volunteers, advocates, etc
what else can we do?
women’s orgs can organize teach tech activities with local groups
identify local orgs that need help with web presence
play games (von Ahn)
captchas
espgame.org
peekaboom.org
peekaboom.org/phetch
issues and problems
most schools don’t let you donate computer resources
comp security
volunteer, so can fall through
Q&A session
Q re EPICS: What are some of the biggest obstacles school face when starting this program up? (i.e. what do I have to tell my dean?)
it varies, depending on administration
start small (i.e. single faculty member in
Q to Valerie: Any anecdotes about the actual implementation of the multiple intelligence methods?
being used to teach CS with undergrads and k-12 (more in HS) teaching algebra
very well received as a supplemental program
Students like having multiple avatars.
Could tailor to any population (women, hiphop, etc)
Q to EPICS: Rehabilitation business programs?
Usually with nonprofit groups (cause can’t afford prof services)
but sometimes projects developed and then commercialized
i2p (enterprenurial leadership @ purdue)
How work out IP rules?
Owned by Purdue (can or cannot license)
Q to Reetal: How do you find time to do all that?
no car. rape crisis center, hotline. Just need to be home in quiet place with a phone
No grad students in EPICS currently
CMU started VUnit
2 faculty members in CS
investigate non-trad aspect of research area
like ind. study
EPICS isn’t required. Why do students take this course?
want to apply skills in a positive way
they’re trying to quantify it now.
Do any affiliated schools have coop programs?
Yes. But they are totally different. EPICS can work with Coop program.
Closing thoughts:
Reetal: What interested in about this panel?
audience: Always done lots of Commun Service ->never thought about using tech skills in service
Valerie: important to incorporate technical skills into your passion
Early: all of these are headed in the right direction. try to realize that there’s a recipient of the solutions.
posted by Katie at 1:01 AM
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Priming the Pipeline: Girls Speak out about Pre-College Computer Science
Michelle Hutton (CSTA), Moderator
Amy Wu (
Sophie Keller (The
Brittany Reeve
Madeleine Minor
Brittany Reeve
Catholic High school
Sophie Keller
girls middle school
started in 4th &5th grade
sally ride science camp
Madeleine Minor
Henry M. Gunn HS
CS in MS at Girls MS
Amy Wu
Sr. at Stanford
computergirl website: http://www.computergirl.us/
Homestead HS
What CS at your school? & what does it mean?
B: semester long java, web design
S: girls MS mandatory
6&7, problem solving
web design
binary
M: is a cs class, not that many taking them
programming video games
A: had 2 cs classes offered
carol the robot and C++
now teach java
from the moderator, Michelle
teaches at Girls MS
6th intro application use, basic problem solving, some HTML
7th robotics, web design, stagecast creator
8th flash, perl
the use of computers starts very early here (CA) now
email, ppt, etc
How much are you required to use the computer?
B: MS Word for everything
lots of PPT
flowcharts
sometimes use geometry software
free time: html & java,
S: Word, PPT,
7th grade, excel for businesses
M: computer run since she was little
mom inspired
typed in 5th grade
PPT in 5th
some HTML
A: 5th did book reports using computers to type
MS did lots of typing (mandatory)
then got more important in school
What level of math have you guys taken? Do you like them? Does that tie in with you liking CS?
Amy: by end of HS, taken calc. Thinks helps. Problem solving and formulation
algorithms, analysis
Madeline:
AP stats
have to remember little things or lose pts
relates to java, flash, & html. IF you don't remember the small things, it won't work
Sophie:
Algebra
really connected
solving problems
helps you go through the process
binary
trig and precal
not that much connection, but problem solving is connected
Do boys use computers in a different way from you?
no clue...all girls school
all girls, but guys do more game & video game
more focused on games, not basics
she uses the internet
guys have helped connect to CS. they are ecstatic about it
she's more attracted to connections with people
her dad plays quake
boys use comp for gaming, although that's changing now
use for internet, reading news, online communities
How use computer at home? Influence of Parents?
Amy: Dad is engineer. Helped her by giving her an early introduction.
You can do it...you should try it.
M: Mom is a hardcore business woman. Presentations. Email. Laptop obsessed. Taught get on computer, keep up to date with technology. Ahead of classmates
S: Dad is CS. he gave a computer when she was <6. That helped her enjoy. Parents both Comp obsessed
B: parents are engineers. But didn't need encouragement. Now told to get off of comp
Do any go to public schools? M, A
What are core requirements?
not required. It's an elective. Not publicized. One of guy friends mentioned it and she didn't even know
counselor’s didn’t encourage. little guidance from above
lots of requirements, so little time for electives.
usually ½ electives is language
wants to do theatre , so other elective is theatre
Amy wasn’t required.
hard to fit in
How were teachers in public schools?
A: had great teacher. Encouraging. Knew lots about CS.
M: Hears things that the CS teacher is great.
Laptops? What is it to you?
B: family computer. Mac G5. Online & programming a lot. Occasionally Games.
S: own computer. Internet, word, ppt, text messaging
M: laptop Dell. very big part of her life. rarely goes over 1 hr from home without it. writes on it…papers, notes, myspace & facebook, entire music collection
A: dorm room on fire. only save laptop. on computer all the time. Work, email, playing with technology.
Admin for CMU Outreach program
Teach MS and HS girls
Where did you learn about safe computing, internet? etc
Concerned giving fire without management
S: one teacher gave lecture on myspace or internet
B: never give out last name, location, personal information. people told her & came naturally?
M: father is overprotective. 2 girls on internet. Comes into room randomly. “Make sure you know who these people are…”
A: Wish had something like that. When she first started. AOL & AIM (in MS) no one told her about it. Learned through watching TV shows (sister, sister) & news. Gave out address online to a stranger. Nothing happened, but should let students know about dangers.
What has been strongest influence in making you enjoy CS?
A: learning more about it. Taking a class. Very different from other stuff in school. Took Java in summer for fun. Realization was that it was fun
M: MS. When website looked perfect. Knew how it worked and why. She had accomplished something. “Wow. This is really cool.”
S: 4th & 5th made movies and fun things on CS> Fun experience with CS has brought her to do more. Results are intriguing and feel like an accomplishment.
B: Michelle. Great teacher. Had never considered PC as more than just a word processor
If you could make design changes to laptops, what would you do? If there was an application you could design, what would you do?
B: Hardware, doesn’t know. Software, word processor between word and notepad (NO AUTOCORRECT)
S: wouldn’t change anything about computers. reality tv show about people in computer science. it’s a way to get people into computer science audience comment:(discovery channel is starting & the coderoom)
A: depends on age group. for younger, application that’s less confusing: did you want to upload? More choices instead of menus. Tutorials to understand how to use computer to max advantage.
Talked about software. Any been exposed to sysadmin stuff?
S: Michelle gave them hardware to take apart and talk about.
B: loves adding hardware to computer i.e. RAM. Can TA for computer lab? Mostly drudge work. Robotics club. That’s where you go to take things apart. First chance was spring cleanup (dump things on curb). Since wander around streets, take all electronics and take things apart.
A: building own computers. mostly boys come into college having built PCs, seems like a huge feat. Not that hard. Wish more people had chance to build in MS or HS. Would make CS seem easier. “It’s really not that hard if you just try.”
There aren’t many people like you. What are the factors keeping people out, esp women.
A: lots of friends are scared. “I can’t do computer science, I don’t even know what it is…maybe I’ll just take a chem. class instead.” big commitment if you don’t know about it. Summer classes are lower pressure, not using school time
M: people don’t know about it that much. “I don’t know what computer science is.” Will fill a requirement
S: Making it mandatory is good. More people would feel successful.
B: girls aren’t encouraged to go into math. but encouraged for creative things and science. “It doesn’t have that connection in people’s heads.”
How use computers to change the world or make an impact what would you do?
B: Website. Anyone in the world can look at it. Makes widgets that are up for download. Statistics on website.
M: is a gamer. thinks video games are cool. dad came up to her while playing a game and told her she could make them herself. She wants to take classes in college and create games
A: if you can think of a problem, there’s probably a way to solve it with computer science. or at least a part of it. there are so many ways to use it. “CS is just so versatile.”
What out of school informal experiences have you had that have encouraged you?
A: took classes at local Community colleges or with computer companies. Did some certification programs. Ungraded, low pressure. That was very important. Fun without pressure. All coed
M: Very encouraged by both parents. Got her a book. teach yourself visually HTML book.
S: Sally Ride Science Camp for Girls at Stanford: Robotics, Astronomy, Microbiology. Move robots move forward. Robosoccer.
B: IDTechCamps. Lots more boys than girls. Most girls in web design. She was taking C++. Only girls her and her friend. Now takes Java at Foothill (online). Last semester was pretty even. Get more from different teachers.
What is web design?
B: dreamweaver and html
S: made websites. engineering and CS. html and dreamweaver
A: in HS worked on websites with html, js, and sql
Q for moderator: What happened at
Michelle: all girls & private. one of 5 mission points was STEM. school has become known for that. don’t do it to exclusion of other things. There are lots of teachers who are trying to do these things. Recruitment is REALLY hard. Some things are unique ie. perl. Lots of other stuff is available, but kids have to seek it out.
M’s principal: there’s a set of beliefs which is that it’s the adults obligation that the kids be exposed to everything i.e. ceramics and wood shop. The kids shouldn’t have to choose before being exposed.
Q for Amy: Is op to take CS class open to friends – do they think they can?
good introductory sequence. ops if you don’t have experience. no experience required. Lots of UG TAs. Still hard for people to take the first step. You do have more choices in college, but there’s a huge fear.
her prof: in the 90s, (running course as pump, not a filter), 75% of Stanford took intro cs class. Dropped to about 45%. There’s a change in attitude that they’re up against (moving to econ)
Have you ever thought about integration? CS goes with everything. Double majoring or minoring.
M: theatre major (acting/directing and stage tech) CS is almost required for tech side of things. You have to deal with the programs. Thinking of taking a few classes. Not sure about minoring, but definitely thinks will be a strong component to stage tech education
any other HSers in room
Michelle close:
poster in conference bag. goal of poster is to reach out to students who mightn’t have interest in IT.
how get more? Chris Stevenson (head of CSTA) She can get you more
number of csta membership brochures
csta: guide for policy makers
new educational imperative (a book)
brochure about computing degrees and careers, aimed at HSers. Not all going offshore. Not all boring.
ghc2006
posted by Katie at 1:00 AM
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Making Waves: Navigating the Transition from Graduate Student to Faculty Member
Cynthia Lester, Raquel Hill, and Melanie Eddins
All three are in their first two years of teaching
Introduction
strides have been made by women in STEM
among SE PhDs 4x as many men than women hold full time faculty positions
cool women
Maria Klawe
Shirley Tilghman
Valerie Taylor
Navigating the application process
as grad students we need to focus on our academic and scholarly work->most important for us right now
publish or perish (we have to adopt mindset prior to application process)
harder to get faculty positions at the moment. Very competitive
Choosing an institution
research institutions
lower load, can sometimes buy out of class with research dollars
higher expectations fro research
teaching institutions
higher teaching loads
lower expectations for research
push for more research lately
size
location
current job market (from CRA)
bs/ms tenure 9 tenured/associate 3 admin 1
bs/ms/phd tenure 12 tenured/associate 1 admin 2
give yourself choices
apply broadly
be open to alternate possibilities
do not pre-judge
application
CV limit to three pages
emphasize research, publications, teaching
list invited talks
community service (program committees, review panels)
teaching statement limit to 2 pages
most important document for teaching schools
explains your teaching philosophy
references
people who will write favorable recs
choose people who will submit materials in a timely manner
research statement
not just abstract, take a step back from your dissertation
most important document for research oriented institutions
state your research problem
why is the problem important?
what is your approach to the problem?
what is novel about this approach?
how can you extend this work? (what are the sub-problems?)
you will be excited about it for a long time...why?
don't start at last minute
get lots of people's opinions on it
Navigating the interview process
the job talk
remember oral communication is different from written communication
think about your audience
think about your rhetorical goals
remember that you want to get the job
want them to want you
practice
if using technology, be familiar with it
go ahead of time so that you can set up
people in area need to get it, people outside area need to get it
teaching demonstration: choosing topic vs. being assigned topic
know your audience
nature of class
size and nature of class
how class was chosen: regular class, randomly selected students, faculty, etc.
negotiation process
do your homework
find out the range of salaries for your area at the institution
benefits
retirement, health insurance, leave/vacation
course load
type, number, preparations
research opportunities
release time, funding
everything is negotiable, especially if you have another offer
Navigating responsibilities as faculty member
teaching and research expectations
what type of courses
creation of syllabi and course materials
selection and adoption of textbooks
development and implementation of new courses
lab management for new and existing courses
administrative duties
research and institutional involvement
research
publications
presentations
seminars and lectures
institutional involvement
meetings
committees
special projects (i.e. convocation)
community service
path to tenure
the process
the path starts the day you arrive
get an understanding of the process
resources
The Faculty Handbook; The Tenure Process Book
the application
evidentiary material (start collecting now)
external funding
evaluations (dept chair, dean, students)
community and university service
publications and research
professional development
the time line
3 years, 5 years, 7 years
things I wish I knew and concluding thoughts
consider offers of joint apts carefully
follow your intuition
how major life changes affect the tenure clock
it's ok to say no
a research budget is possible (even at small private institutions)
publish early and often (what publications)
start networking early
select a mentor
social climate of environment
start early
chronicle
cra
acm
be prepared
posted by Katie at 12:59 AM
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I went to:
Keynote: Shirley Tilghman, president of Princeton University (Sorry, no notes on this as my laptop doesn't work on battery and I couldn't find power...)ghc2006
posted by Katie at 12:56 AM
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I wasn't planning to blog for this event, but I felt like taking notes, so I'll post them as I go.
Just a quick note on me. I'm a graduate student at a Big 10 school studying for a Ph.D. in computer science. I'm very interested in education and so you'll notice that lots of the talks I'm going to pertain to education. My research interests lie in human robot interaction, so I'm also trying to go to the hci talks and I'll be at all the robotics stuff on Saturday.
This is my second GHC conference. The first (Chicago) helped me select my graduate institution and my field(s) of research. I think that it's a fantastic opportunity and am grateful for being able to attend.
I'll try to clean up these blogs after a few days and I might have .docs available as well. Keep in mind that I wrote the notes as the conference was going. I think I checked spelling, but that was it. Enjoy!
ghc2006
posted by Katie at 12:50 AM
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