When and Where:

Undergraduate Course 15-296
Spring
Tuesday and Thursday, 3:00 - 4:20 p.m.
Doherty Hall 1209

Instructor: Dr. Carol Frieze
Units: 6 (mini)

Course Description:

"“Computer science is driving an economic and cultural revolution across the globe at the same time that it is fading from the K-12 landscape in the U.S.,” said John White, ACM Executive Director and CEO. “We simply are not doing enough to help students get exposure to engaging and rigorous computer science.  This legislation is a watershed moment that will steer the movement toward strengthening U.S. K-12 computer science education.”" 
[ACM Press Release, July 30th, 2010]

In July 2010 a key legislative initiative --the Computer Science Education Act--was introduced to address the growing crisis in K-12 computer science education. [ACM Press Release, July 30th, 2010] Across the USA access to computer science courses is declining, while teacher training and certification in the field are in disarray. Meanwhile, in many parts of the world, interest in computing and computer science education are on the increase. At the same time US government projections between now and 2018 suggest that among all occupations in all fields of science and engineering, computer science occupations are projected to account for nearly 60% of all job growth [Computing Community Consortium, 2010].

In this research and action based course we will explore computing from a cultural perspective and look at the role played by images in what some have called a crisis in computer science education. We will be looking in particular at the images of computing, and examining how the field is represented in the popular culture of the USA and how such representations might affect public attitudes, access to resources and understanding of computer science. We will reflect on some issues often taken for granted e.g. are our attitudes to computing culturally specific or is computing and its workforce perceived and represented differently in cultures from around the world?

This course is aimed primarily at students who are interested in exploring some of the broad issues of computer science and who would like to direct their interests towards creative outreach activities, thus also gaining experience in teamwork, teaching and presenting. We will use academic papers, web sites, group discussion/debate and popular media. Findings from our investigations will inspire the action component in which student teams develop and implement a public outreach presentation aimed at re-presenting the exciting field of computer science with broad appeal in mind.

 

Grading:

Students will be graded primarily on the quality of their performance in 3 quizes and 1 final project. The assignments will constitute 80% of the final grade with grades assigned 20%, 20%, 20% and 20%, to each assignment respectively.

Class attendance and participation is critical to doing well in this course and will count for 20% of the final grade.

 

Syllabus

Introduction and Overview

• Readings, coursework, assignments, and grading
• In-class Questionnaire
• Teamwork vs groupwork
• Discussion of Final Outreach Project: Factors to consider:

  • What are your aims?
  • Who is your target audience? e.g. elementary students, middle school, high school, college level students, parents, teachers, people with disabilities?
  • How long should the presentation be?
  • How will you measure impact

Part 1: Culture, Images and Meaning

• What are the issues?
• What do we mean by Culture?
• Why are images important?
• What do we mean by Computing and/or Computer Science? Team Presentations
• Culture, Images and Meaning
  • QUIZ 1.

Readings:

• ACM Press Release: US Congressman Introduces Measure to Address Crisis in K-12 Computer Science Education, ACM, July 30th, 2010
• Cameron Wilson, et al, Running on Empty: The Failure to Teach K-12 Computer Science in the Digital Age, ACM, 2010 (Summary)
• Sanjeev Arora and Bernard Chazelle, “Is the Thrill Gone?” Communications ACM 48 (2005), 31-33.
• Raymond Williams, “Culture is Ordinary”, originally published in N. McKenzie (ed.), Convictions, 1958 Culture Definitions
• Roland Barthes, Selections from “Rhetoric of the Image”, Image, music, text, 1977
• Fred G. Harold, "The Two Cultures in Computing", ACM, 1988
• What is Computing/Computer Science? Selections from ACM: Computing Curricular Report 2005
  

Part 2: Images of the Field (USA): Participation, Myths, Stereotypes and Challenges

• Why “Images”? Why might we need to broaden images of Computing?
• Participation in Computer Science: Data from the USA
• Broadening Participation in Computer Science: Why does this Matter?
• Myths and Stereotypes Team Presentations
  • QUIZ 2.

Readings:

• The Data: CRA Taulbee Reports 2003-2009 (handouts)
• Orit Hazzan, “Diversity on Computing: A Means or a Target?”
• Richard Ladner, ACM Viewpoints "Broadening Participation", Communications of the ACM, Vol.52, No. 12, 2009
• Claude Steele “A Threat in the Air: How Stereotypes Shape Intellectual Identity and Performance”, American Psychologist. Volume: 52. Issue: 6. 1997. Page Number: 613. 2003 Dec Vol 95(4) 796-805
• Shih, M., Pettinsky, T. and Trahan, A. “Domain Specific Effects of Stereotypes on Performance”, Faculty Research Working Papers Series, Harvard School of Government, 2005
• Paloheimo, A. and Stenman, J. "Gender, Communication and Comfort Level in Higher Level Computer Science Education –– Case Study", 36th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 2006
• Time Magazine “Person the the Year 2010”, Mark Zuckerberg, video and Time article
• Claire Cain Miller, "Computer Studies Made Cool, on Film and Now on Campus" NYT, June 10, 2011

Part 3: A Global Perspective on Computing

• Case studies from other countries and cultures. Team Presentations
• Are there different levels of participation in computing and computer science in other countries?
• Why might this be?
• Is computing perceived differently in different countries and cultures?
  • QUIZ 3.

Readings:

• ** Joyojeet Pal, “Of mouse and men: Computers and geeks as cinematic icons in the age of ICTD” iConference 2010
• ** Paul Brand and Anke Schwittey, "The Missing Piece: Human-Driven Design and Research in ICT and Development", IEEE 2006
• ** Mazliza Othman and Rodziah Latih, “Women in Computer Science: NO SHORTAGE HERE!” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 49. Number 3, 2006
• Leonard Lynn and Harold Salzman, "The Real Global Technology Challenge”, Change, July/August 2007
• Ming Zhang and Virginia M. Lo “Undergraduate Computer Science Education in China”, SIGCSE 2010
• Hasmik Gharibyan and Stephan Gunsaulus "Gender Gap in Computer Science Does Not Exist in One Former Soviet Republic: Results of a Study", ITiCSE'06, ACM June 26–28, 2006
• Florence Chee, "Understanding Korean experiences of online game hype, identity, and the menace of the "Wang-tta", Proceedings of DiGRA Conference: Changing Views – Worlds in Play, 2005
• Jianwei Zhang, A cultural look at information and communication technologies in Eastern education, Association for Educational Communications and Technology, 2007
• Martin Bush, "Computer Science Education in Japan", Communications of the ACM, 2004
• Kenneth Kraemer, Jason Dedrick, and Prakul Sharma, One Laptop Per Child: Vision vs. Reality, Communications of the ACM, 2009

Part 4. Outreach and Broadening Understanding of Computer Science

"Computer science is nothing less than a new way of thinking; explaining it to the wider world is critical to the future of the field." [S. Arora, B. Chazelle, Communications ACM 48 (2005), 31-33]

• Presenting New Images of the Field and the People in it
• Final Outreach Projects: Public Presentations

Guidelines for Readings, Presentations and Discussion

Be prepared to discuss/present:

-- a brief summary of the paper
-- the main argument/points made by the author
-- the evidence given to support the argument
-- any key words/phrases
-- what questions are raised?
-- what did you learn?
-- what did you find particularly interesting?
-- do you agree/disgree with the argument made by the author?
-- in what way(s) does the paper relate to this class?
-- any other points ....