A lot of people assume that computer scientists are dangerously logical, to the point of not being at all creative. I beg to differ. Among my classmates, I've seen many talented musicians, artists, creative writers, and so on.
Of course, we aren't all that artistic. That's why I take pride in my own creative abilities. I've always been able to write well, winning short story contests as a kid. I am also a little better than the average person at graphics and design. I can't draw or paint, but I have a good eye for layout. That's probably why I'm also really getting into photography (check out my Flickr photostream if you want) and scrapbooking. I used to play saxophone in high school, and am itching to get back into it.
Another misconception is that art and computer science can't mix. This is probably related to the first assumption. But, again, I have to disagree! Because you can connect so many different things to computer science, you can be as creative as you like!
For example, if you love music, you could work on audio processing software, study how to tell if music is pleasing algorithmically, or figure out how to generate good music automatically.
Adore photography? I've always marveled at the level of processing happening right inside today's cameras. Although digital SLRs are generally the standard even for professional photographers, there's always room to improve image quality. Then there's software like Photoshop. There are so many opportunities for not only new and interesting effects, but for automating or helping with common tasks that are still mostly confusing, manual and sometimes tedious.
These are just a couple of examples of the creative side of computing. I didn't even get into the many ways to get creative when it comes to game development, but I'm sure you can imagine a few. The main point is that you don't have to replace your creative brain cells with logical ones to study in this field.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thesis Writing: Week One
I started writing my thesis this week. The code I've been working on for ages is finally giving me some reasonable results. I think I will need to code a few more things in order to demonstrate certain results more clearly, but I'm feeling ok about everything.
My goal was to write 5 pages per day. While some suggest aiming for something more like 2 per day, I knew I was on a tight schedule for finishing things up and graduating in time to start a PhD in September (fortunately, at the same school). Considering that I lost about a day in total fiddling with my LaTeX templates and getting my preferred editor LyX up running on my Vista laptop, I managed to actually reach my goal by writing just over 20 pages (including appendices) in the four days I had remaining. Will things get harder later? It's hard to tell. I will have more results images and graphs for a couple of the chapters, but as mentioned, I may need to write some more code, too.
One technique that I have found useful is using a simple little kitchen timer to force myself to work for one hour, then force myself to take a break for ten or fifteen minutes. An hour seems to be just long enough to get something accomplished, so when the timer goes off, I don't just ignore it to finish some little thing. (I used to do this a lot when my timer was set to something shorter, and that some little thing often took enough time to cut into the next break.) During breaks I get food, go outside, tidy up the bedroom, read a leisure book... whatever. Anything that isn't thesis writing helps clear the mind.
When everything is completely finished, approved, defended, etc, I will post more about the actual results.
My goal was to write 5 pages per day. While some suggest aiming for something more like 2 per day, I knew I was on a tight schedule for finishing things up and graduating in time to start a PhD in September (fortunately, at the same school). Considering that I lost about a day in total fiddling with my LaTeX templates and getting my preferred editor LyX up running on my Vista laptop, I managed to actually reach my goal by writing just over 20 pages (including appendices) in the four days I had remaining. Will things get harder later? It's hard to tell. I will have more results images and graphs for a couple of the chapters, but as mentioned, I may need to write some more code, too.
One technique that I have found useful is using a simple little kitchen timer to force myself to work for one hour, then force myself to take a break for ten or fifteen minutes. An hour seems to be just long enough to get something accomplished, so when the timer goes off, I don't just ignore it to finish some little thing. (I used to do this a lot when my timer was set to something shorter, and that some little thing often took enough time to cut into the next break.) During breaks I get food, go outside, tidy up the bedroom, read a leisure book... whatever. Anything that isn't thesis writing helps clear the mind.
When everything is completely finished, approved, defended, etc, I will post more about the actual results.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
TA Mentor Program
I found out yesterday that I got an interesting new job for September! Instead of being a TA for specific courses, as I have done in the past, I will be what they call a TA Mentor:
This year, the program is expanding to include computer science, and that's where I come in. To give an idea of what I hope to do with this position, let me share a couple of the mini-essay responses I gave for my application.
As a mentor, what kinds of activities and support do you think might help TAs in your department? Be as specific as you can.
Many TA's in our department just hold office hours and grade assignments/tests. As a result, they may start to feel somewhat disconnected from the course. The most useful TA's I ever had were the ones who took the time to add somewhat detailed comments on tests and assignments. Some encouragement to do this, and some suggestions on how to mark quickly even with this extra work, would probably go a long way.
For the TA's that do lead tutorials, workshops with ideas for different activities and teaching styles would likely improve the variety of the course for students. TA's can be shown specific methods that appeal to various learning styles in terms of teaching computer science topics.
All TA's would benefit from workshops about getting feedback from students, communication skills (how to relate ideas that you know well to students who are lost and confused), and technology suggestions (course blogs, online office hours, etc). These are all topics covered more or less by EDC training for all TA's, but most computer science TA's assume these workshops aren't useful to them and don't attend.
Lastly, to touch upon the low number of women in computer science: I just finished reading the book "Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing", which details how Carnegie Mellon University managed to raise its female enrolment from 7% to over 42% (as of the year 2000). One of the suggestions made was to hold specific workshops for TA's regarding gender equity. Most people don't even realize that they can be gender biased (for example, always calling on the guys in tutorials). Beyond that, though, there are ways of behaving and teaching that appeal to women and help them succeed (as well as certain types of male students). It may be tricky to promote this as a topic on its own, though, given that it might make some people uncomfortable. More research into this is needed.
Write about what you would hope to learn as TA Mentor.
I am very interested in computer science education, and have a career goal of becoming an instructor in the field. I believe that being a TA Mentor would provide me with the opportunity to research more deeply into this topic, including effective teaching techniques and methods that work well to reach the TA's themselves.
**
Suggestions? Concerns? Ideas? Please feel free to write them down in comments!
The TA Mentorship Program, now in its second year, was designed by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) to provide department specific information for incoming TAs. The program employs experienced TAs from eleven participating departments [...] who act as mentors passing on their knowledge, skills and sense of professionalism to new TAs.
This year, the program is expanding to include computer science, and that's where I come in. To give an idea of what I hope to do with this position, let me share a couple of the mini-essay responses I gave for my application.
As a mentor, what kinds of activities and support do you think might help TAs in your department? Be as specific as you can.
Many TA's in our department just hold office hours and grade assignments/tests. As a result, they may start to feel somewhat disconnected from the course. The most useful TA's I ever had were the ones who took the time to add somewhat detailed comments on tests and assignments. Some encouragement to do this, and some suggestions on how to mark quickly even with this extra work, would probably go a long way.
For the TA's that do lead tutorials, workshops with ideas for different activities and teaching styles would likely improve the variety of the course for students. TA's can be shown specific methods that appeal to various learning styles in terms of teaching computer science topics.
All TA's would benefit from workshops about getting feedback from students, communication skills (how to relate ideas that you know well to students who are lost and confused), and technology suggestions (course blogs, online office hours, etc). These are all topics covered more or less by EDC training for all TA's, but most computer science TA's assume these workshops aren't useful to them and don't attend.
Lastly, to touch upon the low number of women in computer science: I just finished reading the book "Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing", which details how Carnegie Mellon University managed to raise its female enrolment from 7% to over 42% (as of the year 2000). One of the suggestions made was to hold specific workshops for TA's regarding gender equity. Most people don't even realize that they can be gender biased (for example, always calling on the guys in tutorials). Beyond that, though, there are ways of behaving and teaching that appeal to women and help them succeed (as well as certain types of male students). It may be tricky to promote this as a topic on its own, though, given that it might make some people uncomfortable. More research into this is needed.
Write about what you would hope to learn as TA Mentor.
I am very interested in computer science education, and have a career goal of becoming an instructor in the field. I believe that being a TA Mentor would provide me with the opportunity to research more deeply into this topic, including effective teaching techniques and methods that work well to reach the TA's themselves.
**
Suggestions? Concerns? Ideas? Please feel free to write them down in comments!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Long Term Mentoring Program Idea
The image of computer science is something I have been thinking about for some time now. Through observation and experience, I have come to believe that the main problem is the lack of enthusiasm that young women often experience when the focus of the computer is as a machine. We need to show the appealing things that can be accomplished with the tool, and not focus on the tool itself. In addition to this, the social side of the field should be showcased. With this in mind, I propose an initiative that would combine a focus on social impact with mentoring and long-term follow up.
Inspired by the late Randy Pausch, I think that showing young women what they can do with computers first, and then showing the connections to computer science afterward, might be just the kind of 'head fake' required. This is a technique I have used in the past while teaching a week long mini-course for grade eight girls. The course's main topic was video games, but in reality, my students learned about computer graphics, usability design, artificial intelligence, and what the field of computer science really is.
The initiative is similar to a club, where a meeting would be held once a month for a year. These meetings would bring the participating girls together to learn about a new area of computer science each time. Videos, interactive activities, workshops, and other such teaching techniques provide unique and fun ways to show projects and products brought to the us via computer science. For example, a look into Facebook might provide motivation for learning about web programming, networking, and media storage. The last part of the meeting should more formally describe the computer science behind the examples the girls saw earlier. CSUnplugged.org (and similar) activities might be used to demonstrate the more difficult concepts.
Because it's been widely accepted that girls in particular require positive role models, I would also like to see computer science students, teachers, and professionals paired up with the girls as mentors. These women must be wiling to make a long-term commitment that has them check up on their mentees on a regular basis. They would spend time one-on-one with the girls during the monthly meetings, helping them with the activities. They could also be available via email to answer any questions the girls might have outside of the meetings. Fun social activities during the meetings would help the mentor/mentee pairs become more comfortable with their counterparts, forming a lasting bond.
This program should be targeted to girls in grades eight and nine, as they would be old enough to discover an interest in computer science, yet young enough to be able to take the appropriate courses during their high school careers. The tricky aspect of this age is that it leaves several years before college, during which time the girls can easily change their minds about the image of computer science. To help alleviate this, a yearly reunion would be held to gather the girls and their mentors to be reminded of their experience and potential love of the field. This would also help solve the problem of virtual-only mentoring fizzling out over time.
The outcome of this program would not necessarily have to be that each girl chooses a career in computer science, or even science in general. While increasing the numbers of women enrolling in post-secondary programs in the field is a good thing, even gaining a positive outlook could be very beneficial. Even if it's not for them, the girls will speak positively about computer science, showing their friends that it can be a good field for women. How much this perception of computer science changes can be tracked via carefully designed surveys answered by participants before and after the program, as well as during the yearly reunions.
This was one of my essay responses for this year's Google Anita Borg Scholarship competition, of which I am again a finalist.
Inspired by the late Randy Pausch, I think that showing young women what they can do with computers first, and then showing the connections to computer science afterward, might be just the kind of 'head fake' required. This is a technique I have used in the past while teaching a week long mini-course for grade eight girls. The course's main topic was video games, but in reality, my students learned about computer graphics, usability design, artificial intelligence, and what the field of computer science really is.
The initiative is similar to a club, where a meeting would be held once a month for a year. These meetings would bring the participating girls together to learn about a new area of computer science each time. Videos, interactive activities, workshops, and other such teaching techniques provide unique and fun ways to show projects and products brought to the us via computer science. For example, a look into Facebook might provide motivation for learning about web programming, networking, and media storage. The last part of the meeting should more formally describe the computer science behind the examples the girls saw earlier. CSUnplugged.org (and similar) activities might be used to demonstrate the more difficult concepts.
Because it's been widely accepted that girls in particular require positive role models, I would also like to see computer science students, teachers, and professionals paired up with the girls as mentors. These women must be wiling to make a long-term commitment that has them check up on their mentees on a regular basis. They would spend time one-on-one with the girls during the monthly meetings, helping them with the activities. They could also be available via email to answer any questions the girls might have outside of the meetings. Fun social activities during the meetings would help the mentor/mentee pairs become more comfortable with their counterparts, forming a lasting bond.
This program should be targeted to girls in grades eight and nine, as they would be old enough to discover an interest in computer science, yet young enough to be able to take the appropriate courses during their high school careers. The tricky aspect of this age is that it leaves several years before college, during which time the girls can easily change their minds about the image of computer science. To help alleviate this, a yearly reunion would be held to gather the girls and their mentors to be reminded of their experience and potential love of the field. This would also help solve the problem of virtual-only mentoring fizzling out over time.
The outcome of this program would not necessarily have to be that each girl chooses a career in computer science, or even science in general. While increasing the numbers of women enrolling in post-secondary programs in the field is a good thing, even gaining a positive outlook could be very beneficial. Even if it's not for them, the girls will speak positively about computer science, showing their friends that it can be a good field for women. How much this perception of computer science changes can be tracked via carefully designed surveys answered by participants before and after the program, as well as during the yearly reunions.
This was one of my essay responses for this year's Google Anita Borg Scholarship competition, of which I am again a finalist.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Accepted Talks at Grace Hopper 2009
I received very exciting news Sunday night: both of my submissions to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing have been accepted!
The first talk will be about my mini-course, and I will be sharing a one hour slot with another speaker (giving me half an hour). This is a good time frame, because it's much easier to avoid droning on if you have less time to talk. I also got some really great ideas from my reviewers, including giving suggestions on how to get funding to give such a course.
The other submission was for a group CU-WISE effort, where this year's execs would talk about how we built up our group from scratch. The plan was to expand on our very successful talk at NCWIE. We'd also like to get into some more in depth discussion, get more contributions to our Canadian WISE Groups wiki, and encourage non-Canadians to collaborate in similar ways (though we still want non-Canadian ideas shared on our wiki, the main idea is to connect WISE groups across this country).
Our CU-WISE talk was accepted for a Birds of a Feather session, and will be shared with another submission that wanted to ask the question of whether these kinds of peer groups are working. This is especially cool because, as it turns out, the other submitter knows or is good friends with some of the awesome west-coast women that I've met at various other gatherings, including last year's Anita Borg Scholar's Retreat and the CRA-W Grad Cohort! After chatting a bit over email, I think we'll get along really well and have one killer BoF.
If you are going to be at GHC this year, be sure to check us out!
The first talk will be about my mini-course, and I will be sharing a one hour slot with another speaker (giving me half an hour). This is a good time frame, because it's much easier to avoid droning on if you have less time to talk. I also got some really great ideas from my reviewers, including giving suggestions on how to get funding to give such a course.
The other submission was for a group CU-WISE effort, where this year's execs would talk about how we built up our group from scratch. The plan was to expand on our very successful talk at NCWIE. We'd also like to get into some more in depth discussion, get more contributions to our Canadian WISE Groups wiki, and encourage non-Canadians to collaborate in similar ways (though we still want non-Canadian ideas shared on our wiki, the main idea is to connect WISE groups across this country).
Our CU-WISE talk was accepted for a Birds of a Feather session, and will be shared with another submission that wanted to ask the question of whether these kinds of peer groups are working. This is especially cool because, as it turns out, the other submitter knows or is good friends with some of the awesome west-coast women that I've met at various other gatherings, including last year's Anita Borg Scholar's Retreat and the CRA-W Grad Cohort! After chatting a bit over email, I think we'll get along really well and have one killer BoF.
If you are going to be at GHC this year, be sure to check us out!
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