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 Please join SIS for a colloquium by Dr. Glenn Blank,
Associate Professor of Computer Science at Lehigh University,
on Thursday, April 26, 2007. Dr. Blank will discuss “A
Tutoring System for Novices Learning Object-Oriented
Design" from 3:00 to 4:00 pm in Room 501 of the
Information Sciences building, 135 North Bellefield
Avenue. Guests are invited to come meet the speaker
at 2:45 on the same day.
The colloquium will focus on how learning object-oriented
design and programming is a challenging task for many
beginning students. The DesignFirst-ITS (intelligent
tutoring system) supports a novel curriculum for introductory
courses, introducing an "objects first" approach
to lessons that also incorporate object-oriented analysis
and design, using elements of UML before implementing
any code.
The ITS will coordinate student learning in two different
client programs: web-based multimedia courseware and
a UML plug-in for the Eclipse IDE, each of which post
student interactions to a server-based databases. The
Expert Evaluator analyzes student work in the IDE,
comparing novice with expert solutions. The Student
Model combines knowledge from the expert evaluator
and the multimedia in "Atomic" Bayesian networks
that guarantee real time analysis of students' current
and developing understanding of object-oriented concepts
as well as problem-solving strategies. Finally, the
Pedagogical Advisor, guided by updates from the student
model as well as a learning styles inventory, interacts
with the learner by selecting from several possible
tutorial strategies. Experimental evidence with simulated
and real students demonstrates the effectiveness of
components and the overall tutoring system.
Glenn D. Blank, Associate Professor of Computer Science
at Lehigh University, develops curricula and tools
designed to increase accessibility into computer science.
The CIMEL (Constructive Inquiry-Based Multimedia E-Learning)
project created interactive multimedia courseware,
including an introductory course covering the breadth
of computer science and an "objects first" approach
to Java. Dr. Blank is also the Principal Investigator
of two NSF-sponsored outreach projects in the K-12
STEM program. |
