AIC Seminar Series

Do you remember your first computer science class? Recent declines in enrollment and diversity in college CS programs and the second-class status of computing in high school call for a rethinking of computer science education. In this talk I will review some non-traditional approaches to learning about computing being led by SRI International. I will also present some provocative alternatives to the historical definition of the science of computing and discuss how these might impact educational reform. This talk will draw from our work on integrating design into the college computing curriculum, supporting scientist-developer collaborations with computational wikis, and "code-free" experiences of computing through participatory simulations.

Chris DiGiano is a senior research computer scientist in SRI’s Center for Technology in Learning. Chris focuses on design processes for the creation of learning tools and has extensive experience in the design of pedagogical programming environments and mobile learning devices. His current research focuses on training university students in the design of educational software, and on the affordances of wireless handheld devices in collaborative classrooms. Dr. DiGiano is the PI of a new project aimed at rethinking how computer scientists can work with domain scientists in the age of the Cyberinfrastructure. A central theme in his work is the development of abstractions, such as design patterns, to capture invariants in learning technology design, e.g., in the context of component technology or collaborative learning tools. Dr. DiGiano received a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an M.S. in computer science from the University of Toronto.