LIKES: Educating the Next Generation of Knowledge Society Builders

Authors: Wingyan Chung, Edward A. Fox, Steven D. Sheetz, Seungwon Yang

Presenter: Wingyan Chung

August 7, 2009

Work supported by the NSF under Grant Nos. CCF 0722259, 0722276, 0722289 and 0752865. Findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect NSF’s views.

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Computing and IT education

Facing tremendous challenges despite intensive use of computing and IT in human lives Student enrollment Lack of representation from women and minorities Bias in perception (study, career prospect, etc.) Lack of interdisciplinary collaboration

Strengthening the connection between computing and other fields could help Living in the KnowlEdge Society (LIKES) project

Computing Curricula Computing: CS, CE, IS, IT (by ACM)

Address various problems and issues From pure theoretical development to application

deployment ACM and the IEEE-CS published “Computing

Curricula 2001” Information management part not enough

“Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Systems” (2002, 2006) The focus lies solely on filling industry requirements Need to equip college graduates with the knowledge and

skills to build the Knowledge Society

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Use of Computing Concepts in Other Fields

Core curricula in typical colleges Most are not up-to-date to provide adequate

exposure and training The notion of “IT as a tool” is not capable of

leveraging the intellectual capabilities of today’s students

Providing them with the knowledge of computing and IT concepts has the potential to transform their thinking about what they are capable of doing

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Examples Using quantitative analysis (enabled by software packages)

to support qualitative judgment in the study of history Computer-aided design in the study of architecture Analysis and visualization of spatial data in the field of

geographic information systems Roles of program design and programming language in

digital music composition (music technology curriculum at the University of Northern Colorado, http://www.arts.unco.edu/musictech/)

Understanding of data structures and information visualization in biology

Analyzing demographic and poll data in political science

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These examples illustrate the potential for integrating computing concepts in different fields

The LIKES Project Led by 4 sites: VT, Villanova, NC

A&T, SCU Goals

To collaborate with a broad range of disciplines to identify key problem areas and applicable computing concepts

To define the problem-centered pedagogy most appropriate for teaching the computing concepts

To transforming computing education by developing and testing course modules and tools

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Knowledge Society

HCI

Visualization

Knowledge Management

Systems Analysis & Design

Programming

Database

Algorithms

Architecture

Net-Centricity

Intelligent Systems

Social & Ethical

Library Information Science

Economics

Simulation

Chemistry

Biology

Communi-

cations

Healthcare

Art

Music

Marketing

Finance

Modeling

Engineering

Sociology

Psychology

Physics

Architecture

History

Political Science

Geography

Knowledge Society

HCI

Visualization

Knowledge

Systems Analysis & Design

Database

Algorithms

Intelligent Systems

Social & Ethical

Library & Information Science

Economics

Simulation

Chemistry

Biology

Healthcare

Art

Music

Marketing

Finance

Engineering

Sociology

Psychology

Physics

Architecture

History

Political Science

Geography

English

Meeting the needs of the Knowledge Society of

today and the future are at the center of our needs as a nation and global society

Project Outcomes

Four workshops held (as of today) SCU – Defining problems and applications (Dec.

2007), 34 participants NC A&T – Identifying concepts and paradigms

(Apr. 2008) VT – Learning in Knowledge Society (Nov. 2008) Villanova – Building the Knowledge Society (Mar.

2009)

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Perceptions of Computing Concepts in UG Studies

Curriculum Step 1 Curriculum Step 2 Curriculum Step 3 Curriculum Step 4Social Theme (required)

Networking IP,Privacy,Civil Lib Social ContextProblem Solving Theme

Basic logic Programming Algorithms/Prob. Computer LiteracyData/Knowledge Theme

HCI Database Knowledge Rep Modeling/Sim.

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LIKES Presences

Home page: http://www.livingknowledgesociety.org/

Facebook LinkedIn Second Life

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Facebook Group: LIKES, LIKESVT

LIKES Main Homepage

http://www.livingknowledgesociety.org/

Sakai: LIKES Team, Students

LinkedIn: LIKES Educators

Second Life: LIKES (Living In KnowlEdge Society)

Integrating Computing and IT into Other Curricula GIS

System development methodology Process modeling Social Computing, Privacy, IP, Ethics

Physics, Statistics, Biology Algorithm development skills Computational models, animation and visualization, error analysis and correction

Music Using a tool (such as a programming language or a software) to produce and

record music Creating electronic music devices Machine learning in advanced signal processing

History Assessing information obtained from the Internet Incorporating computational thinking into historical analysis Increasing collaboration Teach students to develop customized tools for data analysis

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New Courses and Programs

VT “Intro to LIKES” LIKES themed core courses in VT’s Curriculum for

Liberal Education (CLE) NC A&T

New program: “Web Engineering” SCU

“Science, IT, Business, and Society” Villanova

“The Laptop Instrument”

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Additional Work

Joint work with Rebooting Summit, Jan. 2009 VT Workshop, to be held in Nov. 2009 NSF Proposal on Curricular Guideline

development (Pending)

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Summary

The LIKES Community Building Project aims to build a community to define the way to make systemic changes in how computing and IT concepts are taught and applied in both computing and other fields New communities are built New courses and programs are introduced or being

developed at participating sites Paving the way toward a revitalized

undergraduate computing education18

Acknowledgments

NSF AMCIS VT, NC A&T, Villanova, SCU All collaborators and contributors

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