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Ownership & creativity

SIGCSE 2008 : Portland, OR Rediscovering the Passion, Beauty, Joy and Awe : Making Computing Fun Again 2008-03-14 @ 10:30am – 11:45am. Lecturer SOE Dan Garcia UC Berkeley. Ownership & creativity. Thought Exercise #1. Close your eyes In your mind’s eye…

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Ownership & creativity

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  1. SIGCSE 2008 : Portland, ORRediscovering the Passion, Beauty, Joy and Awe : Making Computing Fun Again2008-03-14 @ 10:30am – 11:45am Lecturer SOE Dan Garcia UC Berkeley Ownership & creativity

  2. Thought Exercise #1 • Close your eyes • In your mind’s eye… • Think of the last time you felt real physical pain • Questions • What time of day was it? • What was the weather? • Where were you?

  3. Thought Exercise #2 Which did you prefer, #1 or #2?…and why? • Close your eyes • In your mind’s eye • Think of any significant experience you wish • Be it pleasurable or not, recent or not, etc. • Questions • What time of day was it? • What was the weather? • Where were you?

  4. Why do we do this to our students? We don't need no thought control… Teachers leave those kids alone…– Pink Floyd, The Wall

  5. Ownership and Creativity! • Traditional projects • YOU give them the spec • YOU tell them what to do • YOU give them the interesting dataset • Rethinking projects! • THEY come up with the project • YOU help them keep their project reasonable • This “calibration” step is critical. Difficulty multiplier? • THEY tell you what their check-ins will be • THEY find the interesting dataset

  6. This is not Novel! Wil Justis, Milton HS • Montessori method… • Many Jr/Sr-level courses have student-chosen projects • Why not in CS1/CS2? • Extra “calibration” effort is worth it… • Georgia Tech • Computational Media CS1 • One reason of success (imho) is it’s THEIR data

  7. It goes to 11…

  8. Where have all the flowers gone? Why do top students have to go away when the class is over? Why can’t we have incubators to nuture THEIR multi-semester projects?

  9. GamesCrafters : Game Theory GamesCrafters.berkeley.edu • Undergraduate computational game theory research and development group • ~40 students per semester • They choose their own projects!

  10. 2007Sp GamesCrafters

  11. MS-DOS X : Mac Programming MSDOSX.berkeley.edu • Macintosh Software Developers for OS X • Said: “MS-DOS … not!” • Small & enthusiastic community of budding Mac OS X programmers • Tutorials, UI standards • Design, code reviews • Software pipeline • ~15 students / sem

  12. 2006Fa MS-DOS X students

  13. UCBUGG : Pixar “light” UCBUGG.berkeley.edu • UCBerkeley Undergrad Graphics Group • Goal: bring together the best undergraduate computer graphics & animation talent on campus in one place • CS students and artists! • ~25 students / semester • They work individually & in teams on projects • 2D/3D fractals, designs • Procedural geometry • CG Images & animations • Compilation DVD

  14. 2006Fa UCBUGGers

  15. Conclusion If you build it… they will come • Ownership and Creativity • Tap their passion • Allow THEM to specify their projects • Watch the beauty • Support THEIR interesting multi-semester projects • Share the joy you have • Coding as recreation! • Watch results with awe

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