Social discussion of CS in K-12

["Wolske, Martin B" <mwolske AT illinois.edu>]

I just emailed Jon with this slightly more developed draft. He said for now this gives him something to keep on the list as a placeholder as we talk further about ideas/interest. I've just copied and pasted the few blurbs to make it easier for everyone to glance
 over it. I also give it a working title but welcome further input on that, also!

*** Description:
Gigabit Peer Learning And Collaboration Environment (GigPLACE) is a collaboration and educational support tool for K12 STEM education that capitalizes on the innovation that happens at the boundaries between physical and virtual communities.

*** Problem or Issue Being Addressed:

MacArthur Foundation-funded “Learning Labs” such as the YouMedia spaces in Chicago provide unique opportunities to bring together youth in exciting, peer-based experiential learning environments. But not all youth are able to travel to such facilities, nor are these facilities able to provide directly all the resources available in the broader community. We have been building a federation of learning labs throughout our local community that foster peer-based experiential learning within participating schools, public libraries, and after school programs. This work is part of an initiative to bring STEM and computational thinking to all, and especially those most at risk of academic failure because of low socio-economic status or disability. By building a federation, we are able to extend collaborative learning to others in the community including parents, neighbors, and the broader community. Still, peer-based support occurs primarily within each facility supplemented with support from other facilities using asynchronous online tools. The federation of learning labs are now interconnected through the Urbana Champaign Big Broadband fiber-optics to the premise network. We seek to build a platform to support peer-based learning that integrates the best features found within synchronous video conferencing software such as Blackboard Collaborate or Google Hangouts and course management software such as Moodle. While these off-the-shelf products meet many of our needs, they do not provide an integrated interface across packages, nor do they incorporate critical pedagogical foundations found in the learning labs, such as “Hang out, Try out, Geek out”. Further, it is important to include important security features if the software is to meet the CIPA and FERPA requirements for such software to be used within K12 school programming. Finally and most significantly, we can incorporate features such as high-resolution video and real-time audio only possible on an ultra high-speed, low-latency network.

*** Scientific and Engineering Approach:

The approach will bring together researchers exploring digital inclusion, socio-technical systems, design thinking, and educational curricula to advance computational thinking for all students, and especially those most at risk of academic failure because of disability or low socio-economic status.

*** Novelty and Benefits of Solution:

GigPLACE provides a peer-based learning and collaboration support tool at the boundary between physical and virtual STEM learning communities. By providing both physical and virtual learning spaces where students can hang out, try out, and geek out, participants will extend learning about computational thinking and peer-based learning support and collaboration that occurs in schools and after-school programming to the virtual world, working across a federation of learning communities. In going beyond a mashup of existing tools to develop specialized software interfaces that take advantage of the very high speeds and low latencies possible on the fiber/GENI network, students will not only receive a better user experience but will be able to creatively apply computational thinking within a very unique computational environment.

On Apr 10, 2014, at 2:57 PM, "Wolske, Martin B" <mwolske AT illinois.edu> wrote:

I checked with Jon and we can still get him something by tomorrow if we are interested in participating in the pre-proposal process. I'm traveling and will be offline for the rest of the day shortly. I'll try to flesh more out tomorrow but welcome any input and feedback others might be able to provide. So far I've only really tried to do a quick sketch of the problem or issue. Please take a quick glance and send along anything that comes to mind.

Thanks!

-- Martin

On Apr 4, 2014, at 5:58 PM, "Wolske, Martin B" <mwolske AT illinois.edu> wrote:

> I had a chance to mention to some of you last night, but Jon is trying to pull together a proposal of some applications that we might develop through grant funds that would only be possible because of the gigabit connections available through the new UC2B network. The one we discussed last night was some sort of peer-based learning application. The questionnaire is what we'd need to complete for Jon so that he could submit. Let me know if you'd be interested in working with me to fill it out to propose an application.
>
> -- Martin
>
> <ECCA_one-pager_2.19.14.pdf><US-Ignite-ApplicationSummit2014.pdf><Enabling-Cross-Community-Apps_2.20.14.pdf><Enabling Cross-Community Apps - Questionnaire.docx>_______________________________________________
> Cspiggers mailing list
> Cspiggers AT lists.mste.illinois.edu
> https://lists.mste.illinois.edu/listinfo/cspiggers

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