Special Projects 2011

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Since 2003 SIGCSE has awarded a limited number of Special Projects Grants each year. These grants help SIGCSE members investigate and introduce new ideas in the learning and teaching of computing. Projects must provide some clear benefit to the wider disciplinary community in the form of new knowledge, developing or sharing of a resource, or good practice in learning, teaching, or assessment.

Here is a list of the awards given in 2011.

Learning About Network Security Threats in a Safe, Easy Sandbox

Michael Jipping <jipping@hope.edu>
Award: $5,000
Award date: November 2011

Description: This proposal describes a project to create exercises that allow demonstration of network security threats. The exercises will be easy to set up and demonstrate and will be usable to experimentation. Virtual machines will be preconstructed for scripted setup and execution.

Robotics Training for Rural and Urban Middle School Teachers

Jeff Gray <gray@cs.ua.edu>
Award: $2,500
Award date: August 2011

Description: We have 30 existing robots that we plan to loan to rural and inner-city schools throughout the state of Alabama. This Special Project would provide the travel to support the weekend training of 15 teachers. Additionally, the project would supply the plaques and awards for our state-wide K-12 robotics contest.

Teaching HS Computer Science as if the Rest of the World Existed

Scott Portnoff <srp4379@lausd.net>
Award: $2,500
Award date: August 2011

Description: Design, Implementation and Rationale for a HS CS Curriculum of Interdisciplinary Central-Problem-Based (ICPB) Units that Model Real-World Applications. Units address the complexities of solving central problems in the fields of Astronomy, Molecular Modeling, Political Science (Voting), Environmental Science, Bioinformatics/Evolution, Music, and Ethics/Holocaust Studies.

Managing Student Deliverables in a Collaborative Online Game Design Course

Ursula Wolz <wolzu@montclair.edu>
Award: $2,500
Award date: August 2011

Description: Game design is a means to motivate students to pursue coursework in computer science. Since teacher expertise is sparse, a solution is to create online courses. This project pilots effective transfer of a highly collaborative pedagogy with a paper-based student deliverables procedure to a fully online experience.

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