Computer Science
for Everyone
Introduction to Computing via a Media Context for
Non-Majors
http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/mediaComp-plan
Mark Guzdial,
College of Computing/GVU,
Georgia Institute of Technology
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~mark.guzdial
Our Initiative:
A Contextualized Pathway
into Computing
•
Studies of computing education report students
find computing to be dull, lacking creativity, and
irrelevant.
•
Hypothesis: By teaching computing in a context
that is useful and creative, we can improve
success rates.
CS1315 Introduction to
Media Computation
• Started with 121 students in Spring 2003,
and averaging 300/term since then
•
2/3 female in Spring 2003 MediaComp
•
•
Overall, CS1315 has been 51% female
Required in Architecture, Management, Ivan Allen
College of Liberal Arts, and Biology
• Focus: Learning programming and CS concepts
within the context of media manipulation and
creation
•
Converting images to grayscale and negatives, splicing
and reversing sounds, writing programs to generate
HTML, creating movies out of Web-accessed content.
•
Computing for communications, not calculation
Example Student Work
Student Work from Media
Computation in Study Abroad Class
Rough Overview of
Syllabus
• Defining and executing functions
• Pictures
•
•
Psychophysics, data structures, defining functions, for
loops, if conditionals
Bitmap vs. vector notations
• Sounds
•
•
Psychophysics, data structures, defining functions, for
loops, if conditionals
Sampled sounds vs. synthesized, MP3 vs. MIDI
• Text
•
•
Converting between media, generating HTML, database,
and networking
Trees, hash tables
• Movies
• Then, Computer Science topics (last 1/3 class)
Computer science
Inter-mixed
•
•
We talk about algorithms
across media
•
Sampling a picture (to scale
it) is the same
algorithm as sampling a
sound (to shift frequency)
•
Blending two pictures (fading
one into the other) and two
sounds is the same algorithm.
We talk about representations
and mappings (Goedel)
•
From samples to numbers
(and into Excel), through a
mapping to pixel colors
•
Computer science topics
as solutions to their
problems
“Why is PhotoShop so much faster?”
•
•
•
Machine language and how the computer works
“Movie-manipulating programs take a long time to
execute. Why? How fast/slow can programs be?”
•
•
Compiling vs. interpreting
Algorithmic complexity
“Writing programs is hard! Are there ways to make it
easier? Or at least shorter?”
•
•
Object-oriented programming
Functional programming and recursion
Results:
Dramatic Improvement
in Success Rate
Enrollment
• Women and minorities
succeed in this class at
the same rate as men.
Georgia Tech’s CS 1
2000 - 2002
930
71.2%
Spring 2003
120
90.0%
Fall 2003
303
86.5%
Spring 2004
395
86.9%
Summer 2004
120
73.3%
Fall 2004
366
80.3%
(average)
• 10-25% each term say
that they’d like an
additional mediarelated computing
class.
Success
Rate
Media Computation
Results: Change in
Attitudes
• On course relevance: “I dreaded CS, but ALL of the topics
•
thus far have been applicable to my future career (and
personal) plans—there isn't anything I don't like about this
class!”
On creativity and social aspects in Computer Science: “I
just wish I had more time to play around with that and
make neat effects. But JES [course development
environment] will be on my computer forever, so… that’s
the nice thing about this class is that you could go as
deep into the homework as you wanted. So, I’d turn it in
and then me and my roommate would do more after to
see what we could do with it.”
Results: Follow-on Email
Survey
•
19% had written a Python program on their own
since the class had ended.
•
27% had edited media that they hadn’t
previously.
•
“Definitely makes me think of what is going on
behind the scenes of such programs like
Photoshop and Illustrator.”
•
“I feel more comfortable around computers and
like I could learn and understand other
computer programming languages more easily.”
Adoption Elsewhere
Enrollment
•
•
University of IllinoisChicago
Success Rate
Gainesville’s CSCI 1100
2000 - 2003
University of California,
Santa Barbara
Media Computation
(average)
28
70.2%
• Gainesville College
Summer 2003
9
77.8%
•
Fall 2003
39
84.6%
Spring 2004
22
77.3%
Summer 2004
11
90.9%
DePauw University
Next Steps
•
Python book published
by Prentice-Hall in
December.
•
•
Java-based book to
appear December
2005.
Teaching high school
teachers to program and
to teach programming
using this approach.
•
Summer workshops
running for second
year in 2005.
A Multimedia CS2 in Java
•
Follow-on course started
Spring 2005: Representing
Structure and Behavior.
• NOT required!
• 75% female
• A mix of African-American,
Hispanic, Native American
students.
•
Teaching linked lists, trees,
stacks, and queues in a media
context.
• Modeling, scene graphs,
linked lists of music
elements, etc.
Example Work from FollowOn Class
Butterflies are digitally modified
copies of the original, inserted into
drawing