Faculty ProjectsIntegrating Hardware into GEN_ENG 151
Faculty
Connor Bain, CS
Amount Requested
$5,000
Summary
Computer science classrooms ask students to become singularly focused on their computer screens. Spending long hours staring at a screen, changing small bits of syntax and struggling with their logic; all to see...a few interesting things pop up on their screen. But CS these days is so much more than just software – we use it to interact with all sorts of physical objects in the world. This project aims to move the result of students' programming efforts off of their computers to real hardware capable of sensing and changing in the real world. Using the funds from the Murphy Grant, we will purchase at least two different kinds of hardware to use in the course: MicroBits (a programmable sensing and controlling platform) and LiteWings (a programmable drone platform) – both of these platforms use Python, which GEN_ENG 151 will teach. Students will then use these in later parts of the course after gaining foundational programming skills as a demonstration of the power of computation and programming beyond their computers. In addition to enabling a substantial amount of curricular innovation, we also expect to be able to study students' interactions with the hardware in a research setting to better understand its impact on both their CS learning and their process of building an identity as computer scientists and engineers.
Planned Activities/Investments
Funding will be used to purchase MicroBits first for a group assignment in GEN_ENG 151 (so fewer MicroBits than students enrolled). Bain will then collaborate with GEN_ENG 151 Peer Mentors to develop assignments and activities surrounding the MicroBits for the latter half of the course. The LiteWing drones will be more of a pilot given the complexity of that hardware stack. The first quarter will be a trial/prototype run, with future runs of the program meant to iterate on the curricular unit. Research on the implementation will be conducted (Bain is also an affiliate member of the CS + Learning Sciences program) on both the design and implementation phases.
Impact
This project will have a significant impact on all students who take GEN_ENG 151 by greatly expanding the horizons of "what programming can enable." We will plan to measure this through pre- and post-course surveys that specifically attend to students' impressions of Computer Science being "locked to the computer." Additionally, the project will have additional synergy with the existing curriculum of GEN_ENG 151 because real-world sensing platforms introduce noise and uncertainty that is hard to model in pure software assignments. Combining this with the fact that LLMs are still not super great at producing code for hardware, we anticipate these curricular materials challenging students in this course in new ways.
Deliverables
Three major deliverables:
- New curricular elements for GEN_ENG 151 which could also then be re-used for GEN_ENG 150 in future quarters.
- Educational research published in a venue like SIGCSE
- New library of things available to other CS (and GEN_ENG) courses (like GEN_ENG 150 and CS 150).
Sustainability
We anticipate having to replace a finite number of MicroBits each year. Bain will dedicate discretionary funds to this for now with the expectation that the CS department would be able to "refresh" supplies from year to year if necessary.
Budget Overview
- MicroBit Hardware Initial Platform Purchase: $1,500 — 75 units at $20 each.
- LiteWing Pilot Purchase: $375 — 5 units at $75 each.
- Miscellaneous Supplies: $125 — Batteries, cables, etc.
Total Budget Amount: $2,000
Matching Funds
I recently was awarded the university's undergraduate teaching award, which comes with funds for undergraduate education. I will plan to use those funds towards overages for this project. The CS department has also been quite supportive of curricular development in this area, and I anticipate asking for "renewal" funds after each year.