Towards Collaborative Dynabooks
• In Alan Kay’s vision,
the computer’s
greatest purpose is to
facilitate learning
through creation and
exploration of
multimedia.
– In pursuit of the
Dynabook, personal
computers were
created.
Our take is that Dynabooks are more
successful in a collaborative setting:
• To provide an audience,
• To support creation of media
Some Current Projects
• CoWebs/Swikis
– Facilitating collaborative multimedia in the
classroom.
• “Introduction to Media Computation”
– Students learning programming as a medium
and to learn about media.
• Digital Storybooks
– Making digital multimedia composition easier.
CoWeb:
Collaborative Websites
• Based on Ward
Cunningham’s WikiWiki Web
– Hence it’s “other” name:
Squeak Wiki -> Swiki
• Simple system:
– It’s a website
– Where any user can edit any
page (caveat “locks”)
– And any user can create new
pages
Using the CoWeb
Does the CoWeb help with
learning?
• Compared two composition classes (each taught
by Lissa Holloway-Attaway)
– One used the CoWeb (n=24)
– Other used existing tools (n=25)
• Benefits in learning (statistically significant)
– CoWeb students wrote better final essays
– CoWeb students had better attitudes toward
collaboration
• Next question: Does it help with retention?
Computer Science Classes
Today
• CS1 is despised among many non-majors.
• CS retention rates lower in CS than other fields.
– 65% for 1995 cohort, vs. 73% for Engineering
• Drop-out rates near 50% at many institutions.
• Enrollment and completion rates are particularly
low among certain minority groups and women.
Why?
• “Tedious,” “boring,” “lacking
creativity,” “asocial”
• CS culture seems to be
most attractive to white
males.
Should We Care?
• In 1961, Alan Perlis argued
that:
computer science is more
important in a liberal
education than calculus.
• Calculus is about rates, and
that’s important to many.
• Computer science is about
process, which is important
to everyone
Particular Focus: Introduction to
Media Computation
• 121 students in Spring 2003,
with 309 in Fall 03 and 400 planned
for Spring 04
– 2/3 female in Spring 2003 MediaComp
• Focus: Learning programming and CS
concepts within the context of media
manipulation and creation
– Converting images to greyscale and negatives,
splicing and reversing sounds, writing programs to
generate HTML, creating movies out of Webaccessed content.
Motivating the Computing
• As professionals, these students will
often the use the computer as a
communications medium.
• All media are going digital,
and digital media are manipulated
with software.
• Knowing how to program, then, is a
communications skill.
Use a loop!
Our first picture recipe
def decreaseRed(picture):
for p in getPixels(picture):
value=getRed(p)
setRed(p,value*0.5)
original
Used like this:
>>> file="/Users/guzdial/mediasources/barbara.jpg"
>>> picture=makePicture(file)
>>> show(picture)
>>> decreaseRed(picture)
>>> repaint(picture)
def clearRed(picture):
for pixel in getPixels(picture):
setRed(pixel,0)
def greyscale(picture):
for p in getPixels(picture):
redness=getRed(p)
greenness=getGreen(p)
blueness=getBlue(p)
luminance=(redness+blueness+greenness)/3
setColor(p,
makeColor(luminance,luminance,luminance))
def negative(picture):
for px in getPixels(picture):
red=getRed(px)
green=getGreen(px)
blue=getBlue(px)
negColor=makeColor(255-red,255-green,255-blue)
setColor(px,negColor)
Using your personal pictures
And messin’ with them
Relevance through Data-first
Computing
• Real users come to a user with data that they
care about, then they (unwillingly) learn the
computer to manipulate their data as they need.
• MediaComp works the same.
– We use pictures of students in class demonstrations.
– Students do use their own pictures as starting points for
manipulations.
• Some students reversed sounds looking for hidden messages.
– They started doing this in the second week
• How often do students use their second week of CS1 on their own
data?
• How does that change the students’ relationship to the material?
Evaluating the Course
• Led by Andrea Forte
• Comparing CS1321, COE1361, and CS1315 in terms of
learning and motivation.
– Withdrawal, F and D grade (WFD) rates
– Surveys (initial, midterm, and final)
– Common exam problems
• Observational study of student performance to
understand problems and strategies.
– Conducted by Rachel Fithian
• Interview study of impact on women.
– Conducted by Lauren Rich
Were Students Motivated and
Engaged?
WFD Rate
• WFD rates suggest
they were.
• 121 students, 3
drops.
– This semester, 309
students, 6 drops
Average
CS1
27.8%
(2000-2002)
CS 1321
42.9%
COE 1361
18.7%
Media
Computation
11.5%
Were Students Motivated and
Engaged?
• Homework
assignments suggest
they were.
• Some students
reported writing
programs outside of
class for fun.
Were Students Motivated and
Engaged?
Were Students Motivated and
Engaged?
Q. What do you like best about this
course?
Survey responses
suggest that
students responded
well to the context
of media
manipulation and
creation.
Course
Don't like
it/Nothing
Enjoy
Content
Content
is
Useful
CS
1321
18.2%
12.1%
0.0%
COE
1361
12.9%
16.1%
25.8%
Media
Comp
0.0%
21.3%
12.4%
Unexpected Results...
• Only 6% of Media Computation students
reported that they planned to take more
CS...
Unexpected Results...
• Only 6% of Media Computation students
reported that they planned to take more
CS...
• On the same survey Over 60% indicated
an interest in taking an advanced media
computation course if it were offered.
Digital Storytelling with Digital
Cameras
• Digital cameras are amazing devices for
capturing media today.
– Video with sound, 360 degree panoramic shots
• And what do you do with them? How do you tell
stories with them?
– HTML just doesn’t cut it.
• How do you write a letter to your grandmother
with these media?
• Hypothesis: We will not have “Hamlet on the
Holodeck” until creating digital media is as easy
as using a quill was for Shakespeare.