InfoTech as Gateway to Undergrad Computational Science building assessment into the curriculum

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InfoTech as Gateway to Undergrad Computational
Sciencebuilding assessment into the curriculum

• Kris Stewart
• San Diego State University
• NPACI/CSU Ed Center on CSE
• stewart_at_sdsu.edu
• www.edcenter.sdsu.edu

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Outline

• What is InfoTech (to me and to others)?
• What is Computational Science?
• Assessment
• - formative can be simple
• - summative can build on formative and be simple

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What is Information Technology?

• To me
• Using web-enabled tools to assess student
  attitudes
• Writing code to solve problems from science

• To others (peers outside CS, taxpayers supporting
  CSU, students)
• Using MS Word, Excel, Access
• Email
• Creating Web Page
• Performing Google Search

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What is Computational Science?

Teamwork and Collaboration
Science Discipline Biology, Physics, Chemistry,
etc.
Computer Science Hardware/Software
Applied Mathematics Numerical Analysis, Modeling,
Simulation
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Who is Doing Computational Science?

• NPACI is The National Partnership for Advanced
  Computational Infrastructure
• http//www.npaci.edu/
• NPACI is a partnership of over 40 institutions in
  the US and more worldwide
• http//www.npaci.edu/Partners/

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The PACI Partnerships
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NPACI-NCSA/Alliance Partnerships are NSF Programs
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California Networking the State all 3 college
tiers and schools
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EOT PACI
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• The mission of EOT-PACI is to develop human
  resources through the innovative use of emerging
  information technologies in order to understand
  and solve problems in education, science,
  business, government, and society.
  http//www.eot.org/

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Education
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Goal Support a national level systemic impact
on CSE education (k-12, undergrad,
grad/training, informal science)
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Access Inclusion
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Goal Increase participation and success of
women, minorities and people with disabilities
in CSE and in PACI
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Education Center on Computational Science
Engineering
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Mission

• Foster the incorporation of high performance
  research
• tools for scientific investigation into the
  undergraduate
• curriculum to better prepare learners for
  post-Baccalaureate
• activities where
• Collaborative, interdisciplinary teams,
• Sophisticated computer tools and
• Effective communication among the team members
  and with others
• are used in research and problem solving.

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NSF/EHRNational Science Foundation/Education and
Human Resources Directoratewww.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/
RED/EVAL/handbook/handbook.htm
LEADAssessment and Evaluation1998 Formative for
the EC/CSEhttp//www.cae.wisc.edu/lead/pages/pr
oduts/eot-paci.pdf
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Evaluation and Assessment of Classroom Practice

• Student Surveys - Resources for proven
  instruments from College Level 1
  http//www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/cl1/
• National Institute for Science Education (NISE)
• Online sample survey you can easily adapt
• Field Tested Assessment Guide (FLAG)
• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CAT)
• Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG)
• Excellent collection of case studies
• Learning Through Technology

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UCES Paradigm(thanks Tom Marchioro and the DOE
crew, 1994)
My previous exposure to assessment
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1998/99 Assessment by LEAD
Assessment as a Collaboration

• Background
• Workshop in Wisconsin April 1997 to learn
  about assessment and make it real
• NPACI starts 1 October97
• EC/CSE requested assessment for 1998

• Preparation for SDSU Campus Visit by Baine
  Julie
• Discussions at SC98
• Email to SDSU faculty gather attitudes

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Grand Challenges for HPC (Stewart Zaslavsky,
SC98)

• Faculty system of rewards does not encourage
  teaching innovations
• Lack of awareness of HPC technologies already
  used in research or teaching for different
  fields
• Faculty students unaware of benefits and
  accomplishments of HPC
• HPC technologies considered too
  complex/inaccessible for undergraduate
  instruction
• Sequential HPC-related curricula is absent
• Curricula using very large data sets not widely
  available
• Adjust to different learning styles when material
  is complex
• Variety of platforms/software leads to fragmented
  curricula
• School administration/support staff not ready for
  HPC
• Specs of computers and networks below user
  expectations
• We had been thinking about this (based on April
  97 LEAD Workshop in WI)

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Assessment not just requirement

• Rather, found to be
• vital tool to assist in clarifying student and
  faculty needs
• improve prioritization skills
• validation of focus on human factors to integrate
  HPC (modeling visualization) into undergrad
  curriculum

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Student Assessment of Learning Gains(SALG)

• Four Main Questions
• How much each aspect of the class helped your
  students learn
• How much students gained in understanding,
  ability, subject appreciation and confidence
• How much the course added to particular skills
• How well student think they will retain material
  learned
• http//www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/cl1

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Sociology Workbench (SWB)http//www.edcenter.sdsu
.edu/swb/

• Online analysis tool for categorical data.

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Sociology Workbench

• Student Surveys - Need additional tools for
  instructor to examine results and DISCOVER
  RULES
• Given an outcome, B, what factors, A, contribute
  to explaining it.
• If A Then B or If A -gt B

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SWB Functions

• Analyzing existing surveys user-defined or built
  in
• Distribution tables
• Tables of rules
• Secondary variables
• Creating new surveys
• Convert survey data from other formats, or
  capture form input, place on a public FTP,
  register to SWB

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SWB Convenient Tool to Learn from Student Survey
Data

• Online tool for standard public data sets or
  your own data set http//www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/sw
  b/
• Small Sample, therefore only useful as feedback
  for the instructor
• Has been used with forms interface directly
  into SWB format, as in July 00 Bioinformatics in
  the Biology Curriculum with Biology Workbench
• Can now be used with Automatic Survey Creation
  Process (ASCP)

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SWB as Analysis ToolView Student Comments (text)

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SWB as Analysis ToolIsolate on Specific Survey
Response

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What do I want to Explain with SWB?

Course had an initial, individual computational
experimentand a group computational experiment
later in the semester. More than half the
students indicated they learned more in the
laterproject. I wanted to explore the
characteristics (If A) of thosewho recognized
they learned more in a group.
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SWB as Analysis ToolExplain learning with
active participation
Not surprising
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Evaluation and Assessment of Classroom Practice

• Automatic Survey Creation Process (ASCP)
• Survey Student Attitudes (pre and post)
  
• - Need a compatible tool for instructor to create
  survey instruments
• - Need a convenient mechanism to administer
  surveys and gather data
• Sociology WorkBench (SWB)
• Online categorical data analysis tool - developed
  by team of undergraduate computer science majors
  employed by the ECCSE

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Whats Next?

• Keck Undergrad Computational Science Education
  Consortium (KUCSEC)
• Capital University, Wofford College, San Diego
  State University, San Diego Supercomputer Center,
  Pomona College, Cal Poly Pomona, and more each
  developing an undergrad computational science
  module
• Mine is performance of MPI with assessment of
  student learning goals and accomplishments

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SDSC Refines Focus 5 Strategic Program Areas

• Integrative BiosciencesPhil Bourne, lead
• Data and Knowledge SystemsChaitan Baru and Phil
  Andrews, lead
• Grid and Cluster Computing (TeraGrid more)Phil
  Papadopoulos, lead
• High-End ComputingMike Vildibill, lead
• Computational SciencePeter Taylor, lead

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Updates for CS 575 SupercomputingSpring 2003
Based on IBM SP2 Blue Horizon and Sun E10K
Workshops, will incorporate MPI
http//www.npaci.edu/enVision/v16.1/
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Subscribe to the Online Magazine and Envision
Quarterly
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Your thoughts?Your suggestions?