For Attendees

Site Search

Search with Bing

SIGCSE 2010 Video Program

Channel SIGCSE is the Video Exhibition of the SIGCSE Symposium.

The following videos were selected for exhibition at the 2010 Symposium. These videos are available here and are presented in the conference center during the Symposium.

Image Compression - Making Contact
Tim Bell (University of Canterbury), Richard Bell (Shuriken)		 The video ponders how someone from outer space might make contact with us, and picks up Carl Sagan's idea of sending coded images. This moves into a demonstration of students using run-length coding to draw a giant image on the side of a school building. The idea is from the Computer Science Unplugged material, which communicates what Computer Science is without using computers. We find that once teachers have seen the demonstration, they are more motivated to do the activity (available from csunplugged.org) and understand the point a lot better.
Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf & Hard of Hearing in Computing
Richard Ladner, Kay Beck-Benton, Anna Cavender, Pamela Lowell, Robert Roth
University of Washington		 The Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf & Hard of Hearing in Computing video showcases a program at the University of Washington where deaf and hard of hearing students are encouraged to consider a career in computing. Accepted students are awarded free tuition, transportation, and room and board. Students take a computer programming course for college credit and a certificated class in animation. They also visit companies such as Microsoft and Google where they meet successful deaf and hard of hearing role models already working in computing, as well as others brought in from around the country to speak to students.
Sorting Algorithms (Unplugged)
Tim Bell (University of Canterbury), Richard Bell (Shuriken)		 The video shows teachers how they can give their students an idea of the varying performance of sorting algorithms by using balance scales to simulate the comparisons performed by the algorithms. The idea is from the Computer Science Unplugged material, which communicates what Computer Science is without using computers. We find that once teachers have seen the demonstration, they are more motivated to do the activity (available from csunplugged.org) and understand the point a lot better.
Industry Fellows
Josh Tenenberg
University of Washington, Tacoma		 Describes and illustrates the "Industry Fellows" program at the University of Washington, Tacoma, which pairs a practicing professional with a college professor to teach a course together. Includes footage from the classroom, and interviews with the practitioner, the professor, and the students.
When all the Photoshops have turned to dust: Join the Top of the Software Food Chain
Beth Simon
UC San Diego		 This is an undergraduate student-created video featuring introductory programming students. Join the top of the software food chain. In a post-apoco-something world, we still have technology, but software... well it's not what it was. This video makes rogue heroes of programmers (having studied media computation) who are still capable of manipulating and fixing your digital photos.
Computing as a Career: Deaf & Hard of Hearing Perspectives
Richard Ladner, Kay Beck-Benton, Anna Cavender, Pamela Lowell, Robert Roth
Universtiy of Washington		 Computing as a Career: Deaf & Hard of Hearing Perspectives highlights deaf and hard of hearing professionals in a variety of computing careers within industry and academia reaching out to the intended audience of deaf and hard of hearing students and encouraging them to enter computing. These professionals visited the University of Washington's Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing, from such companies as Cray, Google, IBM Microsoft, and Oracle, to speak with deaf and hard of hearing students about their careers, the obstacles they faced, and barriers that were non-existent or removed.
Visit Virt-U: We Have Problems
Madalene Spezialetti
Trinity College		 Come and visit the Virtual Video World of Virt-U, a fictitious university where everyone, including the residents of the near-by city, are having problems. These problems have been captured on video and collected on the Virt-U web site. The videos are designed to encourage computational thinking and creative problem solving, as well as to aid in the development of critical listening and observation skills. The videos are a resource to be used in the classroom and beyond to add a new dimension to the computing education experience.
Undercover Computer Guys
Madalene Spezialetti
Trinity College		 At a school with an ineffective IT department, a Professor having a printer crisis is aided by students who want to start an undercover enterprise to help people with computer problems. This scenario, which is followed by discussion/design questions, touches on diverse issues including scheduling protocol design and analysis, web design, encoding/decoding and ethics.
Relational Graphs: What Are They?
Sarah Carruthers
University of Victoria		 What are graphs and how are they used in the world around us? How are they relevant to young students today? Graph theory, like many other theoretical computer science topics, is not taught in elementary classes in much of North America. This video was made as a motiva-tor for the first in a series of Grade Six Graph Theory lessons, developed as part of a larger research study to evaluate graph theory instruction as part of a grade six math class.
Computer Science Buskers? (Error Correction)
Tim Bell (University of Canterbury), Michael Bell (Orange Studio), Kristin Finnerty (Orange Studio)		 Science Busking is a challenging form of outreach, taking one's teaching into the marketplace to make contact with people in the street - literally! The video takes a humorous approach to the serious question: can we communicate Computer Science concepts to the general public, especially in a situation where we must catch their attention first? The card trick here is from the "Error detection" activity from csunplugged.org, and is deliberately left unexplained, to encourage the viewer to read up about it afterwards. Note: the YouTube version is uncaptioned, but a captioned version will be provided if accepted for SIGCSE.
Issues in Algotrithm Visualization
Dr. Clifford A. Shaffer, Michael Stewart, Alexander Joel Alon, Monika Akbar
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University		 While algorithm visualizations (AVs) are viewed as having potential for improving computer science education, the rate of AV use has progressed little from the mid 1990s. CS faculty indicate that impediments to successful use of AVs include: difficulties in finding quality AVs on desired topics; difficulties in adapting AVs to the classroom; and lack of knowledge on their deployment. Many existing AVs are of little pedagogical value, and there is poor distribution of topical coverage. This video illustrates some of these impediments faced by instructors and developers, and introduces the AlgoViz Portal.