Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2011
Class size: TBD

We will learn how HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript can be used to create Web (i.e., non-native) applications for smart phones. We will build several applications that demonstrate the potential to address mobile computing needs.

Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2011
Class size: 5

For students with some programming experience, we will explore the structure, syntax, and philosophy of seven different programming languages in an effort to understand the reasoning underlying each model of problem solving and the types of problems to which each is well-suited.

Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2011
Class size: ~ 20 students/term

Students will rediscover the foundational ideas that gave rise to modern computing including Boolean logic, binary arithmatic, algorithms, Turing machines, transistor logic, stored program computing, and modern computer hardware and software architectures. Students will learn to program in at least one computer language and will explore the problem solving idioms unique to computational thinking.

Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Spring 2011
Class size: ~ 20 students/term

Educators are beginning to attend to the challenges of developing meaningful computer science education: identifying a common core of intended learning outcomes, instructional designs, and assessments. Computer scientists are beginning to attend to the challenges of making computing relevant to communities and society and educating the next generation of computing professionals.

However, existing approaches to teaching computing tend to focus on small projects, solely for the consumption of the teacher and students in the class (“toy projects”); formal methods (the “traditional” approach); game development (“projects about toys”); or examples intended to be meaningful to the digital generation (“relevant” projects, but with a lower-case “r”).

We will review existing computing curricula such as the Association for Computing Machinery’s model K-12 computing curriculum and Cisco Academy; frameworks such as the media computation, robotics, and game approaches to introductory computing; and trends such as recent calls for computational thinking across disciplines to understand efforts to make computing accessible to a wide audience.

We’ll learn the underlying computing topics (programming, networking, etc.) at a level of detail that will allow us to address issues in curriculum development and instruction, assessment, and evaluation planning. Students will develop learning modules that are Socially Relevant (with a capital “R”), meaningful in the sense that they contribute to our understanding of and ability to improve society at large. This course will be of interest to education and computing students and those interested in computing education in service to public action. No prior programming experience is required.

Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2010
Class size: ~ 7 students/term

Students will engage in group critiques of both individual project program code and free & open source program code to explore idioms and best practices in several programming languages: JavaScript, Ruby/Rails, and Processing, for example.

Students will be expected to present on at least one technology and one project as well as to actively engage in providing feedback on others projects.

Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2010
Class size: ~ 7 students/term

How does information influence individuals, groups, organizations, communities, governments, and society? Why do we share information? Is information a scarce resource? Understanding what information is and how it can be created, shared, manipulated, or destroyed is increasingly critical in understanding public policy and civic engagement. This course will explore how access to or lack of access to information changes how we behave individually and collectively. We will consider policy areas such as education, health care, the environment, science research, intellectual property, and governance and analyze how information supports and detracts from these discussions.

I’ll be offering I offered an introduction to computer programming workshop for 12-17 year olds during summer 2010 in Saratoga Springs, NY. We will used Processing and Web technologies, such as HTML/HTML5, Cascading Style Sheets, and JavaScript to introduce and experiment with foundational programming topics.

The one-week workshop will incorporated students’ prior skills and interests with possible topics to include

• Can computers think?
• What is the simplest possible computer?
• Counting: from zero to one and back again
• Representing your intentions so that a computer can act on them
• Thinking computationally
• Graphics programming
• Website design
• Website development
• Programming for the Web
• Developing websites for mobile devices

Students will interacted through whole-group discussions, hands-on activities, and small group exercises. Using their own portable computers, students will learned how to configure their computers for programming and web development and will leave left the workshop with all the tools needed to continue working on their own.

The cost of the workshop is was $350 per student. Dates are still to be decided. Possible weeks include

• June 21 – 25 Public schools are still in session
  
• June 28 – July 2 <- currently preferred date
• July 5 – 9
• July 19-23
• August 2 – 6

If you’re interested in participating in the workshop, please complete our workshop interest form and indicate your preferred workshop dates.

The workshop is being sponsored by the Association for the Cooperative Advancement of Science and Education, a Saratoga Springs-based educational research organization.

Location: Kaplan University, Online
Terms: Summer 2009, Spring 2010
Class size: ~ 15 students/term

IT476 is a course designed to encourage students to prepare a business plan for an ecommerce venture. Students also create a website to support the business. Attention is given to the legal, advertising, financial, and operational aspects of the business with an eye toward preparation of a workable business proposal.

Reading Materials

• CIW (2009). eCommerce Strategies and Practices. Tempe, AZ.

Location: University at Albany, State University of New York
Terms: Spring 2010
Class size: ~ 15 students/term

IST673 is a capstone course in which graduate students collaborate with undergraduate students and in-service educators from local K12 school districts to design, develop, deploy, and assess Web sites developed for use in participating schools.

Reading Materials

• DiGiano, C., Goldman, S. V., & Chorost, M. (2008). Educating Learning Technology Designers: guiding and inspiring creators of innovative educational tools. New York, NY: Routledge.

Location: University at Albany, State University of New York
Terms: Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010
Class size: ~ 80 students/term

IST 301x is an introduction to information studies including definitions and properties of information: creation, transfer, classification, encoding, evaluation, storage, retrieval, and use. The Role of information organizations including libraries, print and electronic publishing industries, and archives is discussed.

Reading Materials

• Lester, J., & Koehler, W. C. (2007). Fundamentals of information studies: Understanding information and its environment (2nd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers.