- Teaching
positions
- Teaching-related
service
- Education-related
positions
Teaching
positions:
- Teaching Fellow,
University of
Pittsburgh, 1997-1999, 2001 - present.
- Instructor, University of
Pittsburgh, summer 2001.
- Instructor, Duff's
Business Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999-2000.
- Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Madison, WI, 1995-1997.
- Student Instructor, Truman State University,
Kirksville, MO, 1994-1995.
Courses taught during these appointments:
- CS0401 - Intermediate Programming in C++,
University of Pittsburgh
- this is the rigorous introductory course for cs
majors at Pitt,
roughly 40 students per section
- taught two sections of 401 in the summer of 2001
- responsible for creating syllabus, exams, quizzes,
lectures,
and assignments
- supervised 4 TAs and guided their recitations and
grading
- graded and issued final grades for the course
- CS302 - Introduction to Algebraic Language
Programming (in C++), University of Wisconsin-Madison
- introductory course for majors (and engineers),
roughly 20
students per section
- taught this course a total of 8 times while a
graduate
student at UW-Madison
- same responsibilities as above
- CS0007 - Introduction to Computer
Programming (Java), University of Pittsburgh
- a gentle introduction to cs for non-majors and
prospective
majors, enrollment ranges between 25 to 45.
- taught a total of 9 times and use it in conjuction
with
my dissertation research.
- same responsibilities as above
- helped redesign this course when it transitioned
from Pascal
to Java by evaluating textbooks, redesigning the syllabus, and
producing documentation for beginning Java programmers
- Remedial College
Algebra,
Truman State University
- as part of an undergraduate teaching program, I
taught a
pass/fail Algebra class for incoming students with deficiencies in
math
- the experience profoundly affected me and confirmed
my desire
to pursue a career in teaching
- Basic Spreadsheets,
Database,
and Presentation Classes, Duff's Business Institute
- During a research-only phase of my graduate career,
I found I
myself missing the classroom and accepted this job teaching evening
classes to part-time students at Duff's
- This exposed me to a side of teaching that I never
had seen
before - a very real-world and practical side with people who struggled
with the most basic of tasks. When these students succeeded, I
felt a tremendous sense of happiness for them.
Teaching-related
service:
- Invited Speaker - TA
Orientation,
Dept. of Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh, 1998 & 2003.
- I gave talks on the importance of teaching for
graduate
students and presented examples of my own teaching that encourage
creativity and fun in the classroom. I also broke the audience
into groups and asked them to react to various situations (derived from
my experiences) and brainstorm for creative solutions. [Slides from talk]
- Undergraduate
Programs Committee,
Dept. of Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh, 1998-2000.
- As part of this committee, I represented graduate
students and
participated in discussions of the undergraduate curriculum, student
advising, and other issues relating to undergraduate education.
- I produced documentation defining the precise roles
and
responsibilities of TAs in certain undergraduate courses.
- Java Seminar
Instructor,
Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh,
fall 1999.
- At the request of several psychology graduate
students, I
voluntarily taught a semester-long, hands-on Java seminar open to
anyone. We generally studied examples, wrote programs, and
problem solved together each week.
- Guest Lecturer,
Dept of
Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh, 2000-2001.
- I filled in on several occasions in the
undergraduate AI course
by giving lectures on Prolog and Lisp.
Education-related Experience:
- Graduate Research
Assistant,
University of Pittsburgh, 1999 - current.
- I am a member of CIRCLE,
the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Constructive Learning
Environments. The aim of the group is to study human tutoring and build intelligent tutoring systems that
are highly interactive and cause deep learning in students.
- My dissertation work was motivated directly from my
experiences
with students. I have built a dialogue-based intelligent tutoring
system that helps students in the earliest phases of programming:
problem understanding and planning. Students who participate in
my research give me a rare glimpse into the inner-workings of the minds
of novice programmers. This has, I believe, helped me to improve
tremendously as a teacher because it has helped reveal their
frustrations and difficulties with programming.
- Relevant links: Research Summary
| Publications
- Director, Joseph
Baldwin Academy, Truman State University, summers of
1992-1998.
- JBA is a summer academic camp for students ages 12
through
14. Students live on campus with staff and take a college-level
course (about 7 hours/day). Each summer there are two, three-week
sessions, with about 300 students from across the U.S. attending across
both sessions.
- During my seven years with JBA, I was involved in
the following
ways:
- Director, 1996 - 1998: I
oversaw
the day-to-day operation of the academy, including interaction with
parents, student discipline, staff interviewing and hiring, training,
and support, as
well as communication with JBA faculty and general university
staff.
- Activities Director,
1995: coordinated all out-of-class activities for students.
- Preceptor,
1992-1994: involved teaching, tutoring, grading, and other in-
and out-of- classroom activities.
- Grader/Tutor, Division of
Math & Computer Science, Truman
State University, Kirksville, MO, 1992-1995.
- I was an undergraduate TA for several different
computer
science courses.
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