SIGCSE 2007 Teaching Tips We Wish Covington KY

SIGCSE 2007 Teaching Tips We Wish Covington, KY They’d Told Us Before 2007 -03 -08 @ 10: 30 EST We Started Dan Garcia Owen Astrachan Nick Parlante Stuart Reges UC Berkeley Duke Univ U Washington Computer Science. Stanford can be RAD! Univ www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/

Overview What teaching tips did our mentors forget to tell us? l We each have 10 great tips l n l 2 in our abstract, 8 today There are 9 basic categories n n n n n Lecture (on-stage time) Office (hours) Staff (mentoring) Exams (authoring, giving) Labs (authoring, running) Section (TA-led discussion) Projects (and homework) Grading (policies) Meta (advice spanning topics) SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 2

Lecture (On-stage time) DDDOONNN Computer Science can be RAD!

Share Your CS Passion (Lecture) l I show SIGGRAPH animations before every lecture n n www. siggraph. org/publications/video-review/ ucbugg. berkeley. edu/ I talk about opportunities for students to join my undergraduate graphics group (UCBUGG) The videos are available for $40/video to ACM members SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 4

Clickers & Peer Instruction (Lecture) mazur-www. harvard. edu/research/detailspage. php? ed=1&rowid=8 www. interwritelearning. com/products/prs/ l We instituted them in www. einstruction. com our lower-div classes n Cost: ~$40/clicker n n Two pricing models, subscription or purchase Midway through lecture, ask “concept test” n n Students vote w/clicker 2 min peer instruction time with neighbor ? A: 1 B: 4 C: 42 – Must reach consensus n n “Team” votes again We discuss answers Real-time feedback! Can ask real-time Q! SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 5

Consider Podcasting (Lecture) itunes. berkeley. edu Computer Science CS 61 C : Machine Structures Ask for it if your university offers it l You can also do it yourself (lots of work) l Can’t use generic terms anymore assuming everyone can see what you are describing l n l “Data flows here to here” useless in audio podcast ALWAYS repeat question SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 6

Show Student Code in Class (Lecture) l Scan it, print it, save it, show it Ownership generates interest n Different every semester n Similar every semester n l Labeled or un-labeled, each has a purpose n Group labeling can work SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 7

Code on-the-fly In Class (Lecture) l Write code while students are watching Model behavior: good, bad, ugly n Discuss why you’re doing what you’re doing n Put your code online after writing it n l Sometimes give away house secrets It won’t matter in the long run n Short-term benefits n SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 8

No Eye Rolling (Lecture) Lecture vs. The Book -- Attitude Transfer l They see you engaged, interested. . transfers l They pick up on bad attitude l n Language, curriculum choice No: This manual allocation is so stupid l No: This manual allocation is fantastic! l Yes: Doing the allocation manually buys us. . . l n n Realistic, positive, forward looking Each part of the curriculum serves some goal SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 9

Lulled By Your Own Outline (Lecture) l The mystery of the lecture with a great outline, that somehow went poorly l Having it in outline. doc is not the same as having it in your brain n The beautiful outline lulls you l I re-copy my outline to paper (just <h 1> points) in the hour before lecture Big print, Rehearse n Aside: Powerpoint? Personal style n SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 10

Lecture Diagram/Edit Cycle (Lecture) Owen: make time for live coding in lecture l Diagram preliminary ideas on the board l n l Then do some coding n l Craft those ideas into syntax Switch back and forth -- Board/Editor n l Data structure, solution plan ideas Iterate out the ideas Show the Process n n Students may think code springs out fully formed Show them it is actually an iterative, visual process to work out a solution (visualization) SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 11

Staff (Mentoring) DS Computer Science can be RAD!

Empower TAs (Staff) Ask TAs teach a lecture l Have TAs and readers help write, beta-test, grade exams l Let TAs participate in syllabus discussions l Open your life to your staff l n n n inst. eecs. berkeley. edu/~cs 61 c/ www. chezpanisse. com Share cell numbers (great for emergencies) Grade exam at your home Take your admins out to a fancy lunch every term SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 13

Partner with talented undergrads (Staff) Undergrads are an underutilized resource l Ownership is key: a partner with significant responsibility, not a worker who takes orders l Undergrad-TA program at Stanford, Arizona, Washington: l n n n TAs teach section, grade, serve as on-duty helper in the lab Undergrads coordinate the program, including selection and training of new TAs emphasis on community, teaching SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 14

Exams (Authoring, Giving) DOOSSS Computer Science can be RAD!

Bring Laptops to Exams (Exams) developer. apple. com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/Man. Pages/man 1/say. 1. html hogbaysoftware. com/product/clockwork l Visible timer n l Show exam bug corrections on screen n l Interrupt vs polling! …and can fix right there Auto-announce time left n n n echo 'say "You may begin. "' | /usr/bin/osascript sleep 1800 # 1/2 hour echo 'say "Sorry for the interruption. . . You have two hours left!"' | /usr/bin/osascript n … etc … n plaympeg. /epilogue. mp 3 SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 16

Rubrics first, Design first, Test … (Exams) l Don’t give a midterm or final question without n n Doing it yourself Designing/drafting a grading rubric n n n l Formally Informally Assessing (e. g. , Bloom’s taxonomy) the question How many concepts should a question test? n Is your question a good instrument? SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 17

Open-book & Open-note (Exams) l Creating cheat-sheets can be worthwhile In the long run they’re bad differentiators n Arguably this is a good skill to learn n l History proves this worthwhile API issues n Examples from class n SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 18

Range of questions on exams (Exams) l Have a range of difficulty in your exam questions: n n n l Some simple, mechanical, confidence building questions Some medium questions that require nontrivial problem solving at least one challenging question to distinguish at the high end My cs 1 midterm: n n n 60 points mechanical 30 points problem solving 10 points "super hard" SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 19

“Program Mystery” questions (Exams) l Computer scientists are good at simulating the execution of arbitrary bits of code (algorithmic thinking) l We should encourage this in all of our students by asking “What does the following code do? ” n Effect of b = (b == false) for boolean b? l Use it for: expressions, parameters, loops, arrays, recursion, inheritance SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 20

Distribute sample exams (Exams) l l l l Best way to prepare your students for exams Use old exams as your source Show them exactly what structure you have planned Reduces test anxiety while allowing you to still ask hard questions Leads to extra learning because you've told them exactly what to study Pass it out a week before the test, distribute a key in the lecture before the test Second sample exam/key in section SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 21

Section (TA-led discussion) SS Computer Science can be RAD!

Section participation score (Section) l As an incentive to attend section, have a participation score equal in weight to a weekly programming assignment l Make it fairly easy to get 100%, even if you miss some sections l I give 3 points per section up to 20 (full credit for attending 7 of 10) l Especially helpful in cs 1 for nervous students SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 23

Problem/Key handouts (Section) l Give your TAs two handouts to copy each week: problems and a key l Recycle old exam questions into section handouts l Overload the handout so students have lots of practice problems to do on their own (do only a few in section) l Don't post section handouts on the web (encourage them to go to section) SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 24

Projects (and homework) OONNN Computer Science can be RAD!

Don’t Belittle Student Work (Projects) l Your work doesn’t measure up You don’t measure up n Think twice before doing this in public n l Provide constructive feedback n How to improve, not just “that is terrible” SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 26

Use Real-world Examples (Projects) l Highly motivational l The real-world intrudes when you least expect it to Count occurrences of words in a file n http: //www. tagcrowd. com n l Programs should process data SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 27

11: 59 pm Due Time (Projects) l Avoid undignified 5: 00 pm begging l Eve can be a good time for them to work l With deadline missed, they're still on regular sleep schedule SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 28

Omit Backstory (Projects) l Motivated, realistic problems are great l Not always though. . . Exams, practice l Exams want short, unambiguous I'm looking at you AP CS exam n Tension with good homework design n l Open to low backstory e. g. Given a collection of ints, return true if it contains as many 8's as 9's. n e. g. Move the Nth elem to the front of a list n SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 29

Not Too Many Math Probs (Projects) l Math appeals to a certain tribe n You are probably in the tribe, so you don't "hear the accent" Are you trying to appeal outside that tribe? l No: compute digits of pi, primes l n A habit Yes: convert text where you keep the first and last letter of each word and jumble the others l Graphics are a partial finesse l SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 30

Grading (policies) DS Computer Science can be RAD!

Enlightened Grading (Grading) Absolute grading, bump up at the end but never down l Allow later exams to replace earlier exam grade(s) l Give EPA! sprinkle points l n Effort n n n Participation n n Does the person ask Qs in lecture or discussion? Altruism n n How much student tried Office hours? Does all hw? Helping others in lab / newsgroup / office hours EPA grades are hidden, and can boost up ~ 1/2 +- grade SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 32

Adjust exam scores (Grading) l l l Even experienced instructors badly misjudge exam difficulty and give “killer” exams This can be devastating to some students (especially women) and can poison the classroom atmosphere If your exam is too hard, add points to everyone's score right away Students will forgive anything if you're honest and willing to admit a mistake To adjust I aim for a midterm median of 80, a final median of 75, at least 20% A's SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 33

Meta (advice spanning topics) DDOOOOONNS Computer Science can be RAD!

Team-teach (Meta) gsi. berkeley. edu/resources/discussion/fiveways. html “Classroom Observation: l Rather than having a single The Observer as Collaborator” lecturer / TA cover every –Lu. Ann Wilkerson lecture / section, if two can attend each other's sections, pair up & alternate weeks. n n ON week they do everything (TAs would cover both secs) OFF week they sit in the ON’s first section, as an observer, taking notes of how well the ON TA did, and debrief after TAs Buddy TA in weeks 2 through n-1 (not first and last) l Learn tips from each other! l Can avoid stuff you hate doing (that co-inst may enjoy) l SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 35

Cheaters? Think Movies! (Meta) theory. stanford. edu/~aiken/moss/ l “Bring in the cavalry” n n l Only confront if you have really strong evidence (using MOSS) Have several TAs in the room at once. No he-said, he-said. “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way” n n n Allow for plea bargaining if they confess, keep it internal, write the letter to conduct office (CO) saying it's resolved, and minimize the effect (perhaps just neg pts for that project). If they don't confess and the CO determines they're guilty, throw the book at them (fail the class) Remind them that if it goes to CO, they often call parents in. For many, this is the fact that breaks a case open. SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 36

Coverage (Meta) l mutable, finally, explicit, volatile, synchronized l We cover material in a course Shouldn’t we uncover it? n What do you remember from college? n What faculty do you remember? n SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 37

Know Students by Name (Meta) l Seating charts l Give back quizzes and tests in class l Pick a student n Note: this is not pick on a student l Invite every student to your office l What happens over time? The older we are the wiser we are? n The more we forget? n SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 38

Eat Where Students Eat (Meta) l Do not eat in your office every day n l Do not eat in the faculty commons every day n l What if there is no faculty commons? Take a faculty to lunch n l What does this convey? From another department Take student to lunch n Make the deans pay! SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 39

Non-CS Faculty Exist (Meta) l Cultivate friendships and acquaintances n Other faculty know things too l Create groups, go to the gym, eat with faculty n Say hello, especially to junior faculty when you’re senior SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 40

Learn Something New (Meta) l Every year Computational genomics n Regular expressions n Suffix arrays n Intellectual Property (and Internet Protocol) n Ajax n Ruby on Rails n… n SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 41

Shared Email Address (Meta) Useful for large enrollment l Have one shared email question account l Question in inbox = not yet answered l Any TA can log in and answer l n n CC others if interesting No duplicated effort, noise Script looks at sent mbox, counts how many answers per TA-- automatic! l Pride/guilt motivates TAs l n Transparency motivates the right behavior SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 42

Record Diary / Notes (Meta) l Get many small, random bits of data while course is going on n n l 1. After Recursion lecture, type thoughts right into top of "Recursion. doc" handout n l Save them for next term seamlessly Keep a per-lecture diary Next term, you will stumble upon them 2. Keep an FAQ web page for students for each HW n Next quarter, incorporate those into the HW handout (vs. email grep) SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 43

Offer an Honors Section (Meta) l l l Meet weekly with honors students (and others with high grades) Most important thing is interaction with you (seeing a real computer scientist up close) Second most important is interaction with each other (they're your smartest students) Read a book with them (e. g. , Battelle's The Search) Discuss whatever you find fun: Rubik's cube, Qubic, meta, memes, infinity, liar's paradox, RSA encryption, halting problem SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 44

Conclusion l We each presented 8 great “hidden” tips n n n n n l Teaching tips 1. … Lecturing Office (hrs) Staff Exams Labs Section Projects Grading Meta As the Borg say n Contribute your uniqueness to the collective (our Wiki) SIGCSE Teaching Tips We Wish They’d Told Us Before We Started www. cs. berkeley. edu/~ddgarcia/teaching/tips/ 2007 45