IC Colloquium : “Programming is Hard & Boring” Addressing Cognitive and Affective Challenges in Computer Science Education
Event details
| Date | 14.12.2015 |
| Hour | 16:15 › 17:30 |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
By : Alexander Repenning - University of Colorado
Video of his talk
Abstract :
Computational thinking has been identified as an essential 21st century skill relevant not only to computer scientists. Unfortunately, many computer users, particularly children, consider programming to be hard and boring. There are two fundamental barriers to making programming more appealing: cognitive challenges to overcoming the “hard” part, and affective challenges to overcoming the “boring” part. Over the last 20 years we have systematically explored these cognitive and affective challenges, and with AgentSheets/AgentCubes, we have created computational thinking tools to transform “hard and boring” into “accessible and exciting” by pioneering concepts such as drag and drop programming. The presentation will introduce computational thinking, demonstrate computational thinking tools, and outline the Scalable Game Design curriculum used in the USA, Mexico and Switzerland. Additionally, the presentation will discuss the notion of Cyberlearning as means to evaluate and support computer science activities through the analysis of real time design information. In 2013, as part of the Hour of Code, the AgentCubes 3D Game design activity was used by nearly a quarter million participants in just one week. New kinds of evaluation instruments, relevant to computer science education research, emerge from these large data collections.
Bio :
Dr. Alexander Repenning is the Hasler Professor and Chair of Computer Science Education at the PH FHNW (School of Teacher Education at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland), is a computer science professor at the University of Colorado, and a founder of AgentSheets Inc. He is directing the Scalable Game Design Initiative at the University of Colorado. Repenning’s research interests include education, end-user programmable agents, and artificial intelligence. He has worked in research and development at Asea Brown Boveri, Xerox PARC, Apple Computer, and Hewlett Packard. Repenning is the creator of the AgentSheets/AgentCubes simulation and game computational thinking tools. He has offered game design workshops in the USA, Mexico, South America, Europe and Japan. His work has received numerous awards including the Gold Medal from the mayor of Paris for “most innovative application in education of the World Wide Web”, as well as “best of the best innovators” by ACM and has been featured in WIRED Magazine. Repenning has been a Telluride Tech Festival honoree for contributions to computer science. Repenning is an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences, the European Commission, the National Science Foundation, The Japanese Ministry of Education and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
More information
Video of his talk
Abstract :
Computational thinking has been identified as an essential 21st century skill relevant not only to computer scientists. Unfortunately, many computer users, particularly children, consider programming to be hard and boring. There are two fundamental barriers to making programming more appealing: cognitive challenges to overcoming the “hard” part, and affective challenges to overcoming the “boring” part. Over the last 20 years we have systematically explored these cognitive and affective challenges, and with AgentSheets/AgentCubes, we have created computational thinking tools to transform “hard and boring” into “accessible and exciting” by pioneering concepts such as drag and drop programming. The presentation will introduce computational thinking, demonstrate computational thinking tools, and outline the Scalable Game Design curriculum used in the USA, Mexico and Switzerland. Additionally, the presentation will discuss the notion of Cyberlearning as means to evaluate and support computer science activities through the analysis of real time design information. In 2013, as part of the Hour of Code, the AgentCubes 3D Game design activity was used by nearly a quarter million participants in just one week. New kinds of evaluation instruments, relevant to computer science education research, emerge from these large data collections.
Bio :
Dr. Alexander Repenning is the Hasler Professor and Chair of Computer Science Education at the PH FHNW (School of Teacher Education at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland), is a computer science professor at the University of Colorado, and a founder of AgentSheets Inc. He is directing the Scalable Game Design Initiative at the University of Colorado. Repenning’s research interests include education, end-user programmable agents, and artificial intelligence. He has worked in research and development at Asea Brown Boveri, Xerox PARC, Apple Computer, and Hewlett Packard. Repenning is the creator of the AgentSheets/AgentCubes simulation and game computational thinking tools. He has offered game design workshops in the USA, Mexico, South America, Europe and Japan. His work has received numerous awards including the Gold Medal from the mayor of Paris for “most innovative application in education of the World Wide Web”, as well as “best of the best innovators” by ACM and has been featured in WIRED Magazine. Repenning has been a Telluride Tech Festival honoree for contributions to computer science. Repenning is an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences, the European Commission, the National Science Foundation, The Japanese Ministry of Education and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
More information
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Contact
- Host : Jim Larus