SIGCSE 2018 Talk: Design and evaluation of an undergraduate course on software development practices

For many years I have been saying to myself, "I should write a paper about CS222." Well, I did, and I just finished giving the oral presentation at SIGCSE 2018. Check it out, standing room only!

(The empty seat in the front row is my own.)

I was the third speaker in a post-lunch session, and I enjoyed the other two talks. Nicole Herbert from Tanzania was especially interesting, as she was describing a capstone structure very much like where I think we could take ours at Ball State with a bit of curricular and potentially administrative revision.

My paper can be found on the ACM Digital Library. I think the talk was well received, and a few attendees asked for a copy of my slides. I prepared all the slides using Google Slides—which I've never done before—andthat makes it very easy to generate a public link. You can find all the slides here.

Thanks to all the attendees, especially to those who came up to ask questions and share stories afterward. I'm truly heartened to hear how much this message resonates with you. If you are new to the blog and want to read more about the Advanced Programming course, search for the "cs222" label. My most recent post on the topic is in my "What we learned" series, in which I share the outcome of the somewhat unconventional final exam format that I use.

You can find the most recent course site, with assignments and evaluation schemes, at https://www.cs.bsu.edu/homepages/pvg/courses/cs222Fa17. I actually have a break from teaching the course this semester—the first such break in many years!

My CS222 YouTube channel is publicly available. It is a collection of tips and tutorials. Some videos are extensions of in-class activities, particularly the earlier ones; I've tried to transition to more encapsulated presentations for improved modularity.

This is a quick after-presentation post. I will try to share some more about the talk later, but I wanted to get this up for any visitors who come looking for the slides and links. I am happy to share my course materials, instructional videos, and reflections. If you do end up using them in your courses and designs, I'd love to know about it. Consider the material something like CC BY-NC-SA.

If you came for the miniature painting, search for the "painting" label instead :) Cheers!