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Undergraduate Consultation: Opportunities and Challenges

Undergraduate Consultation: Opportunities and Challenges. John Paxton Montana State University – Bozeman October 15, 2005 Seventh Annual CCSC-NW Conference. Outline. Course Overview Course Evaluation Questions and Comments. Course Overview. Undergraduate Consultation, CS 474 1 Credit

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Undergraduate Consultation: Opportunities and Challenges

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  1. Undergraduate Consultation: Opportunities and Challenges John Paxton Montana State University – Bozeman October 15, 2005 Seventh Annual CCSC-NW Conference

  2. Outline • Course Overview • Course Evaluation • Questions and Comments

  3. Course Overview • Undergraduate Consultation, CS 474 • 1 Credit • Prerequisite: Junior Standing • Required for students who began prior to Fall 2005 • An elective for students who began in Fall 2005 or later

  4. Course Duties • Assist with a weekly two hour laboratory • CS 160 (Introduction to Programming) • CS 221 (Beginning Data Structures) • CS 222 (Discrete Mathematics) • CS 223 (Advanced Data Structures) • CS 150 (Computer Literacy) – Open Lab • Send a weekly report that describes the consulting experience • Write a three page paper

  5. Consulting in Action

  6. Universal Outcomes • Improve ability to apply one’s knowledge of computer science • Better understand professional responsibilities • Improve ability to communicate • Better understand the need for lifelong learning

  7. Secondary Outcomes • Improve one’s ability to design, implement and debug programs • Improve one’s ability to utilize mathematics in the context of CS • Improve one’s ability to design and conduct experiments

  8. Similar Experiences • Teaching Computer Science, 4 credits, Stanford University. Elective. • Teaching Techniques for Computer Science, 1 credit, University of California – Berkeley. Required for all students who teach. An elective for all others. • Paid experience, University of Arizona (Stuart Reges). Optional experience for undergraduates.

  9. Course Evaluation • Consultants • Students • Instructors and TAs • Outsiders

  10. Consultant Evaluation • 1 = strongly disagree • 2 = disagree • 3 = neutral • 4 = agree • 5 = strongly agree

  11. Consultant Evaluation

  12. Consultant Evaluation

  13. Consultant Evaluation – General Comments • The course should be 2 credits • A mandatory preparation period should be added • Open labs are more difficult to prepare for • Sometimes not many students come to the open lab

  14. Consultant Evaluation - Benefits • Learning about different thought processes • Becoming a better problem solver • Seeing how much one has learned • Learning to help more effectively • Learning patience • Recapturing the joy of learning a topic for the first time

  15. Consultant Evaluation - Challenges • Being prepared • Helping, but not helping too much • Feeling uncomfortable when viewed as an expert

  16. Student Evaluation

  17. Student Evaluation - Benefits • The consultants could spend longer helping • The consultants were enthusiastic • The consultants were more approachable

  18. Student Evaluation - Challenges • The consultants should be better prepared • The consultants should listen more carefully • The consultants need to be more confident • The consultants need to circulate through the lab regularly • The consultants need to provide the reasoning behind their answers, not just the answer

  19. Instructor Evaluation

  20. Instructor Evaluation

  21. TA Evaluation

  22. Outside Evaluation – SIGCSE Listserv Questionnaire on 10/23/04 • Should this course be required? • Yes – ACM CC2001 encourages cooperative learning • No • No • Should this course be an elective? • Yes • Yes • Yes

  23. Outside Evaluation - Listserv • What are the strengths? • One of the most effective ways to learn is to teach • Lower division students get extra assistance • Helps identify undergraduates for paid teaching positions

  24. Outside Evaluation – Listserv • What are the weaknesses? • Some consultants might not be very good at helping others. This could disadvantage the helped students. • The course might be perceived as free labor for the department. • The course does not appear to be terribly demanding. Students are not learning upper division CS content.

  25. Outside Evaluation – ABET (Fall 2004) • The course is non-standard compared to other CS programs • The course should be an elective and not count towards the upper division credits requirement of ABET

  26. Significant Changes • Starting in Spring 2005, consultants are only placed in closed labs • Starting in Fall 2005, the course is an elective

  27. Thank you! • Are there any questions or comments?

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