Assignment: Digging Into a New Question

DUE: There are three separate due dates:

• Clear your topic with Kathi (via email) by Tuesday April 4
• Clear your list of proposed papers with Kathi (via email) by Thursday, April 13
• Final paper due Thursday, April 27 by the start of class. Upload to Canvas (Word or PDF file) and bring a hard copy to class.

For this final assignment, you will dig into a new topic (of your choosing) around the themes of the course. Your task is to identify 4-5 papers on your chosen topic, then to write up a synthesis of what you learned about your topic, framed against the themes of the course.

I'm happy to consult with you about your topic and paper choices before the respective deadlines (please allow me at least a day to reply to messages). Drop me mail or set up a time to talk of you want help picking or refining a topic.

Papers should be actual articles with some research and evaluation, not lightweight opinion pieces like blog posts. If you think a specific blog-post or other lightweight document makes sense, just ask.

Final Deliverable: A paper on the order of 5-7 pages with your research synthesis. Your description should include:

• a brief summary of each paper you read: state the problem each paper tried to solve, its results, and any limitations you identified to how the paper approached its problem. I'd expect these to take roughly one page per paper.

• a synthesis of what you took away from the papers collectively. Discuss what you learned overall, what you see as the current status of knowledge about your topic (i.e., what do we know, what do we not know), and what questions you think are worth exploring further. I'd expect this to take roughly 2 pages.

Consider the various topics we've discussed this term as you write up each of these parts.

Grading Expectations

This assignment is where you get to show me what you've taken away from the course. I'll be looking for what issues you considered, whether you are describing problems, research, and questions precisely, whether you seem to have read your papers carefully (which would reflect in the level at which you describe problems, results, and limitations), and whether you are showing an understanding of issues in computing education. As with all assignments, writing is expected to be professional quality, with proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, full sentences, etc.