Carl K. Chang, Hen-I Yang, Igors Svecs, and Johnny WongDepartment of Computer ScienceIowa State Universityhiyang@iastate.edu

“Hello World” doesn’t really say hello to the real world

Programming Kits such as PicoCricket and Mindstorms feel like toys

Hands-on experience Generate observable, physical effects in a

familiar environment Real outcome with real use Underscore the critical computational thinking (CT)

Smart home is a sensor-rich, service-rich, context-aware intelligent environment

SHL @ ISU was established in 2006 Research Lab Computer Networking, Sensor Network Service Oriented Architecture Software Product Line Engineering Human Centered Computing Collaboration with Gerontology

Teaching Lab ComS 486 Fundamentals of Computer Networking ComS 309 Software Development Practices

Computer Laboratory for new and cross-disciplinary students (ComS Lab 101)

Support asynchronous distance education Enable usability and user studies Enable interdisciplinary group work Promote interests in computer science in

female/minority students by Putting computer system in a real-world context (e.g.

senior care and )

Align lab activities with students’ majors and prior interest, experience and knowledge

Virtualization Packed lab kits (middleware, software tools, libraries, collaboration

tools, manuals and useful links to references) Individually customized environment and suspend-resume Encourage trial and error disposable images (sandboxes)

Distance observation facility Web cam Sensor logs

Improved scalability Encourage self-exploration via well defined API and well-structured

programmers’ manual with step-by-step lab instruction Separated development and experimental environments Maximize utilization of the smart home lab facility Minimize interference between different projects

Improved flexibility and reduced complexity Use of SOA that allows students to focus on logical composition using

existing services rather than detailed implementation

students

in

group m

remote

desktop

remotedesktop

students

in

group 1

remotedesktop

remote

desktop

development

mode

experimentation

mode

log data

SHADE im

age

SHADE

image

SHADEimage

Sensor 1

. . .

SH-DEV 1(vmware server)

Sensor n Sensor 1

. . .

Sensor n

Sensor 1

. . .

Sensor n

SH-AUX

sensor logs

remote observers

Utilities:

▪ file server for images

▪ hardware registry

▪ gateway

▪ shared database

▪ project management

software

▪ SVN server

▪ course websites

SH-DEV m(vmware server)

SH-EXP(vmware server)

Control

Panel

Host OS: Windows Server 2008

Virtualization: VMware Server 2.0

Guest OS: Windows Server 2008

OSGi Framework: Knopflerfish

Fundamental bundles Database:

MySQL

IDE:

Eclipse +

plug-ins

Version

control:

SVN

SHADE images Binding and

switching

REACH can be easily reconfigure to support a wide-range of learning activities:

Basics of Computer Programming and Service Computing

Smart Environment Service Development Experimentation, Evaluation and User

Studies

ComS/Geron 415x Gerontechnology in Smart Home Environments

A new interdisciplinary course (LAS, Human Sciences, Design) for the new interdisciplinary gerontechnology certificate

1st offering: 10 + 1 students 6 female, 5 male

6 Caucasian, 3 Asian, 1 Hispanic, 1 African REACH is designed to support a variety of

courses in CS, but the initial design aims to be the enablers of the course activities in 415x

Course objectives: Introduction of gerontechnology Dissemination/reinforce of important CT concepts Familiar students with basic execution environment and

programming tools First offering (fall 2010) is for on-campus students We hope to get distance students from other colleges in Iowa (2011)

Includes a heavy medium-size interdisciplinary term project component

Pedagogy: Concepts of CT and introduction to aging is taught via more

traditional direct instruction; Basic programming, term project, introduction to software

engineering and design principles is taught via guided explorationthrough in-class group discussion + programmers’ manual and guidance of mentors

Enables exploration-based pedagogies in computer science education

Generates observable effects of the software artifact in a familiar, real-world setting

Aligns the learning activities directly with students’ career goals and prior accumulated knowledge

With regarding to the effect on student learning of CT and Gerontechnology using REACH platform without distance usage (as demonstrated by ComS 415x) : Successful dissemination of CT to diverse group of students

▪ non CS majors (from 4 colleges, 81% outside of CS)

▪ female students (6 students, 54% of the class)

Successful instruction using guided exploration on familiarizing with programming environments and basic program concepts: ▪ Average: 92/100

▪ 60% of students perform on the top half in the module are non-CS majors

Coherent interdisciplinary groups for term projects With regarding to 415x, Pre-test data collected, wait for post-test in November 2010

Qualitative data (focus group) is planned to be collected in January 2011

415X

REACH

Programming and computational thinking are inherently complex, guided exploration works only after considerable build-up of basic knowledge Personal tutoring plays an important role in

students’ understanding

Online technical instruction video is considered to be added

Psychological factor remains a critical factor in determining students’ success

REACH satisfies all the technical capability requirements REACH enables three pedagogical innovations, in addition, it Enables effective design of Computer Science Lab 101 to students

from other disciplines

Promotes interest in computer science in non-CS, under-represented students

Facilitates interdisciplinary projects

Future work REACH is effective in user studies in research settings, we’ll have

results on its effectiveness in course settings by this December

Aforementioned learning activities for REACH works well for on-site students, effectiveness when used in distance education needs to be further studied

Part of the post-test data and focus group findings will provide further insights into the effectiveness of the REACH platform and class activities

Questions?