Co-opting Games and Social Media for Education *

1. Co-opting Games and Social Media for Education* StephanieE.August, Ph.D. AllisonNeyer MatthewJ.Shields JamesVales Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science saugust@lmu.edu Michele Hammers, Ph.D. Department of Communication Studies Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles *This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 093510 and 0942454. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). 1

2. 2 The Challenges • The NSF Cyberlearning initiative calls for engineering educators to respond to the compelling need for improved competitiveness in engineering-related fields • The challenge: to attract • multi-talented individuals • who are interested in the study and practice of engineering • in socially-aware and collaborative contexts

3. 3 Fun and Games • The Virtual Engineering Sciences Learning Lab (VESLL) and the Teaching Artificial Intelligence as a Lab Science (TAILS) project • introduce a social element to the learning experience • incorporate activities that provide the satisfaction of accomplishment we often associate with game playing • provide structured labs with exercises that can be completed before students leave the classroom to build a sense of accomplishment and confidence

4. VESLL

5. 5 VESLL Overview • Interactive learning environment • Located on an “island” in Second Life • Built around a functional laboratory designed to introduce students to engineering concepts through visualization and collaborative problem solving • Assessment activities integrated into the in-world experience • Imagine: a virtual version of a science museum • e.g., Exploratorium (San Francisco) or Pacific Science Center (Seattle) • the opportunity to delve into engineering concepts and maintain a sense of excitement about the experience 5

6. Toggles carry for tile increments/decrements Returns current displayed value in base 10 in chat Standard HexWindow Base of displayed number 6

7. Displays current base in floating text When clicked, brings up dialog to offer choice of bases to switch between Standard HexWindow 7

8. Welcome to the Crossword Puzzle Tutorial Guide! 8

9. Crossword puzzle clues: Across Across 1) FAF5B9698 - 2789BCA = ? (hex) 2) FACAEC - E = ? (hex) 3) D7B - CCC = ? (hex with a leading zero) 4) 10C24 - FF77 = ? (hex) 5) ACE + 7 + F418 = ? (hex) 6) C0D0 + E = ? (hex) 7) BAAC + 32 = ? (hex) 9

10. Crossword puzzle clues: Down Down 1) FB2 - 5 = ? (hex) 2) FAEE - 20 = ? (hex) 3) AD + 52 = ? (hex with a leading zero) 4) BC + E = ? (hex) 5) FA31 + AD = ? (hex) 6) 5F7 + 8009 + ED = ? (hex) 7) 1F - 10 = ? (hex with a leading zero) 8) C14 - 7 = ? (hex) 9) 90E0 + 1C0D = ? (hex) 10

11. Crossword Puzzle Solution 11

12. AND, OR, XOR Logic Gates

13. 13 Inverter and Circuit Components

14. 14 Flip Flop Display

15. 15 S/HE Café

16. 16 Avatars Famous Scientists and Engineers Scientist/EngineerEngineer 1. Grace Hopper Gracehopper Jules 2. Elijah McCoy Elijahmccoy Bizet 3. Alexander Graham Bell Alexanderbell Button 4. Henry Bessemer Henrybessemer Artful 5. Barbara McClintock Barbaramcclintock Adagio • Marie Curie Mariecurie Curteau • Jack Kilby Jackkilby Ixtar • Yuan Cheng Fung Yuanfung Bakerly • Hertha Ayrton Ayrtonherth Aubin • Martin Cooper Martincooper Copperfield 16

17. 17 Preliminary Workshop Results • 12 students, Intro to Computer Science (for non-majors) • Characteristics: • Use email, PowerPoint, Blackboard • but not voice/video chat, teleconferencing, photosharing sites, immersive platforms; don’t do web page development • Feedback: • Related to course content • Helped student understand course content • Made course material more interesting

18. TAILS TAILS Teaching Artificial Intelligence as a Lab Science

19. 19 Tell a story about each AI Algorithm • To be fully literate, students must be able to view software systems at many levels of abstraction (Rasala, 1997; Crews, 1998; Lethbridge, 2000; Pour, 2000) • Present algorithms in the context of • software engineering best practices • other computer science coursework • guided exercises that can be completing during class period • the software “store” • For CS undergrads and Systems Engineering MS students

20. 20 Components of TAILS Lab Experiments • The Idea: Explain what the program segment does without describing how it is implemented. • Applications: Real world applications • Sample Input/Process/Output: annotated trace of the program in execution (con-ops, black-box testing) • Implementation-independent Design Description: functional perspective, top-down manner

21. 21 Components of TAILS Lab Experiments • Implementation-specific “HINT” File(s): Partial implementation with HINTs that guide the user in implementing the remainder of the code • Test Suite and Driver(s): One driver for each implementation-specific HINT file with relevant data in the test suite • Experiments: Implementation-independent set of test data and expected results, plus ideas for enhancements and extensions

22. 22 Components of TAILS Lab Experiments • Source Code: The ending of the tale -- solutions to the exercise in the HINT files, more extensive implementations readily available from other sources. • Complexity Analysis: Complements the work done in a data structures or algorithms class; reveals the different ways to measure complexity

23. 23 9-Men’s Morris: Minimax Search

24. TAILS Learning Outcomes: Skills

25. TAILS Learning Outcomes: Concepts

26. TAILS Learning Outcomes: Communication

27. TAILS Learning Outcomes: Application and Research

28. 28 Future Work • VESLL • Augment environment (e.g. activities, biographies, salary info) • Add adventure-based collaborative problem-solving • Develop automated docents to guide visitors • Provide a more reactive/reflexive environment • TAILS • Plans to complete two “modules” for each of the next 3 years • Merge with VESLL?

29. 29 Coming back to AI and Fun... • VESLL and TAILS • Provide socially oriented activities (games requiring teamwork and collaboration) • Facilitate the transformation between the macro- and micro-level views of algorithms • Practical issue - platform migration • Understand problem well enough to design at domain level, then migrate to specific platforms • Provide a sustainable and sustained development environment

30. 30 Seeking VESLL Workshop Participants • Student workshop (10 students) • 10 August 2010 • Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles • Stipend $ paid! • Student and faculty workshop (10 students + 3 faculty) • Summer 2011 • Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles • Stipends for students $ and faculty $$$$!

31. 31 References Angelo, Thomas A. and Cross, K. Patricia. Classroom Assessment Techniques; A Handbook for College Teachers. 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993. August, Stephanie E. CCLI: Enhancing Expertise, Sociability and Literacy through Teaching Artificial Intelligence as a Lab Science. NSF Grant no.0942454, 2010 August, Stephanie E. and Hammers, Michele L. IEECI: Encouraging Diversity in Engineering through a Virtual Engineering Sciences Learning Lab. NSF Proposal no.0935100, 2009 Crews, Thad R. Emphasizing design in the computer science curriculum. Proceedings, 1998 Conference Frontiers in Education Conference, Tempe AZ, 1998. http://fie- conference.org/fie98/papers/crews.pdf (last accessed 21 May 2009). Lethbridge, Timothy C. What knowledge is important to a software professional? Computer, May 2000, 44-50. Pour, Gilda; Griss, Martin L.; and Lutz, Michael. The push to make software engineering respectable. Computer, May 2000, 35-43. Rasala, R. Design issues in computer science education. SIGCSE Bulletin, 25:4, December 1997, 4-7.

32. 32 Thank you! Stephanie E. August saugust@lmu.edu 32

33. 33 Number System Exercises • To complete the conversion, try using the panels to count up/down in binary or hexadecimal • Exercises (complete what you can in the allotted time) • convert decimal 10 to binary • convert decimal 10 to hexadecimal • convert binary 1011 to decimal • convert binary 1011 to hexadecimal • convert hexadecimal C to decimal • add 5 (binary 101) to 7 (binary 111) • subtract 4 (hex 4) from hexadecimal 1E21 • Jot your answers down on the “Problems” workshop before looking up/retrieving the answers.