To introduce ourselves and provide a model for filling in the information, our answers to the questions are shown. You should delete our responses and fill in your own.
1. NAME, DEPARTMENT, INSTITUTION, POSTAL ADDRESS, PHONE, FAX, E-MAIL ADDRESS, WEB ADDRESS Craig Wills Computer Science Department Worcester Polytechnic Institute 100 Institute Road Worcester, MA 01609 office (508)831-5622 fax (508)831-5776 cew@cs.wpi.edu http://cs.wpi.edu/~cew 2. INSTITUTION INFORMATION: PRIVATE/PUBLIC, TYPE (COMPREHENSIVE/LIBERAL ARTS/SCIENCE/ENGINEERING), 2-YEAR/4-YEAR, HIGHEST DEGREE OFFERED IN CS, UNDERGRAD ENROLLMENT IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INSTITUTION, NUMBER OF FACULTY IN DEPARTMENT. Private, primarily engineering and science, 4-year, PhD, 280 majors, 2700 undergrads, 13 Computer Science faculty. 3. HAVE YOU USED PEER LEARNING TECHNIQUES IN ANY OF YOUR INTRODUCTORY COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSES? IF SO, GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE COURSE ITSELF, ITS TYPICAL ENROLLMENT, THE TYPES OF STUDENTS (E.G. MAJOR/NON-MAJOR), THE TECHNIQUES YOU USED AND THE RESULTS. I have used peer learning in CS2005, which corresponds roughly to the traditional CS2 course primarily covering basic data structures. Each offering of the course typically has 120-180 students with more than half computer science students, but also many non-majors, particularly Electrical Engineering majors. The course is currently taught in C. The use of peer learning consists of having students work on programming projects in teams of 4 or 5. Such projects typically can be decomposed by the students into individual pieces which each student is responsible to code. After coding, the students integrate the various pieces of code into a working project and electronically submit it for grading. Projects are graded as a group, but students submit individual evaluation forms for group members, which allows adjustment of the group grade for individual members. Associated with each project group is a peer learning assistant (PLA) to facilitate group activity (but not serve as the group leader). PLAs are upper-level undergraduate students trained in concepts of team learning. We also use some in-class group activities. Overall, we have found peer learning to be beneficial for both the students and faculty involved. It has allowed more realistic programming projects to be assigned and the overall satisfaction of the students is high. Some group problems do arise, but they can generally be handled by the PLA. 4. IF YOU HAVE NOT USED PEER LEARNING TECHNIQUES IN AN INTRODUCTORY COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSE, WHICH COURSE(S) WOULD YOU LIKE TO APPLY THESE TECHNIQUES? GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE COURSE ITSELF, ITS TYPICAL ENROLLMENT AND THE TYPES OF STUDENTS (E.G. MAJOR/NON-MAJOR). WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THESE CHANGES? n/a 5. WHAT CURRENT MEASURES DO YOU, YOUR DEPARTMENT OR YOUR INSTITUTE HAVE IN PLACE TO EVALUATE THE SUCCESS OF A COURSE (REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE USING PEER LEARNING)? WPI uses a standard course/instructor evaluation that is distributed near the end of each course. The front of the form has responses of Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree for various statements. The results of this part of the form are publically available to everyone on campus. The back of the form contains written comments, which are only available to the instructor of the course. 6. WHAT ADDITIONAL MEASURES HAVE YOU, YOUR DEPARTMENT OR YOUR INSTITUTE PUT IN PLACE TO EVALUATE THE SUCCESS OF A COURSE THAT EMPLOYS PEER LEARNING TECHNIQUES? WERE THESE MEASURES USED IN VERSIONS OF THE COURSE NOT USING PEER LEARNING? We have instituted additional surveys at the beginning and end of the course to solicit information from the students. These surveys have been online where students execute a survey program, which records their results. The surveys ask questions about feelings on group projects and other aspects of the course. On a more limited basis we also have feedback from students who took the same course without the use of group projects. 7. DO YOU HAVE ANY PUBLICATIONS OR PRESENTATIONS RESULTING FROM YOUR WORK ON THE USE OF PEER LEARNING? IF SO, PLEASE CITE THEM. C.E. Wills, D. Cordes, D. Deremer, B.J. Klein, R.A. McCauley and L. Null, ``Application of Peer Learning to the Introductory Computer Science Curriculum.'' 1997 ACM SIGCSE Conference. San Jose, CA. February, 1997. David Finkel and Craig E. Wills, ``Computer Supported Peer Learning in an Introductory Computer Science Course,'' ACM SIGCSE/SIGCUE Conference on Integrating Technology into Computer Science Education. Barcelona, Spain. June, 1996. pp. 55-56. Craig E. Wills and David Finkel, ``Experience with Peer Learning in an Introductory Computer Science Course,'' Computer Science Education, Volume 5, Number 2, 1994. pp. 165--187. Lynn Ziegler, Craig E. Wills, Adrienne Bloss and Dorothy Deremer. ``Cooperative Learning in Computer Science.'' Workshop presented at the ACM SIGCSE Conference. Nashville, TN. March 4, 1995. Judith E. Miller, William Farr and Craig E. Wills, ``Task Design for Cooperative Learning in Math and Science Courses: Covering the Material and Learning It Better.'' Workshop presented at the 14th Annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching. Oxford, OH. October 19, 1994. Craig E. Wills, David Finkel, Michael Gennert and Matthew Ward, ``Peer Learning in an Introductory Computer Science Course,'' 1994 ACM SIGCSE Conference, March, 1994. pp. 309--313. 8. STATE BRIEFLY WHY YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE WORKSHOP. I have found this an effective method to teach one of our rather large introductory courses. I have also worked with others in the field who have used peer learning in other ways. The workshop should be valuable to draw experienced people together and to disseminate techniques of this approach to others who are interested. 9. IF SELECTED FOR THIS WORKSHOP CAN YOU COMMIT TO INCORPORATE PEER LEARNING INTO AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN THE 1996-97 ACADEMIC YEAR AND PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOW-UP WORKSHOP IN THE SUMMER OF 1997? yes. 10. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE PUT ON THE PROJECT MAILING LIST WHETHER OR NOT YOU ATTEND THIS WORKSHOP? yes.Craig E. Wills Computer Science Department Worcester Polytechnic Institute 100 Institute Road Worcester, MA 01609, USA. Email: cew@cs.wpi.edu Phone: (508) 831-5622 FAX: (508) 831-5776