Learning Computing - Assignments

Professor: Leah Buechley (buechley@cs.unm.edu)
Course: CS 491/CS 591 (OILS 493/OILS 593)
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30-1:45pm
Location, Tuesdays: Mechanical Engineering 208
Location, Thursdays: Farris 2065 (Farris computer lab)
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11am-12pm in Farris 2340A
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Final Project
Part 1 Presentations, due date: Tuesday December 3

Final project presentations will happen on Tuesday December 3 and Thursday December 5. Come to class ready to give a presentation on your project. Team projects should prepare to present for approximately 8 minutes. Single person projects should prepare to present for 5 minutes. If appropriate, your presentation should include a demo of your project. The schedule for these presentations is below.

Tuesday December 3
    12:30-12:40 Matthew and Charles
    12:40-12:47 Fred
    12:47-12:54 Rafael
    12:54-01:01 Katherine
    01:01-01:08 Tracy
    01:10-01:20 Khoi and Evan
    01:20-01:27 Zeke
    01:27-01:34 Jacob
Thursday December 5
    12:30-12:40 Paige, Anna, and Amy
    12:40-12:47 Jonathan
    12:47-12:54 Jessica
    12:54-01:01 Rana
    01:01-01:11 Amber, Arlin, and Reuben
    01:11-01:18 Gavin
    01:18-01:25 Joe
    01:25-01:32 Elena
Part 2 Papers, due date: Thursday December 12 by 12pm

For the final project paper, write a 3-6 page paper describing your project. The paper should be written according to the ACM SIGCHI Proceedings (paper) format. You can find a templates here (http://chi2019.acm.org/authors/chi-proceedings-format/). Use the correct format!

A paper for group projects should be more substantial than for individual projects. Similarly, if you built an elaborate physical or software project, your paper does not need to be as substantial as that for a literature review or curriculum development project. Approximate guidelines: Start at 4 pages. If you worked on a group project, add a page for each group member after the first. If you built an elaborate physical construction or piece of software, subtract a page. The paper should include the following elements:
  • An introduction that inlcudes: an introduction to the topic area, a summary of your project, and a discussion of why your proposed project is an important or interesting contribution.
  • A survey of related work that identifies and discusses at least seven related research papers, artworks, projects, or educational efforts. This section should also explain why your project is novel; why it is different from previous work.
  • A detailed description of your research process. If you are working in a team, this section should also include a description of how different team members contributed to the project.
  • A detailed description of what you accomplished. If appropriate, include research questions and outcomes.
  • A conclusion summarizing the outcome of your project, what you learned, and (if applicable) why your work was novel and significant.
  • References formatted according to the ACM SIGCHI Proceedings format.
Make sure to budget time to proof read your papers. Make use of the UNM writing center. You may build on your proposal for this paper. However, this paper should report on significant developments since the proposal. If your project direction has changed since the proposal, you should write your paper from scratch.

Final Project Check In
Due date: Thursday November 21

Email a short progress report to Leah by the end of the day on Wednesday November 20. This report can have as much information in it as you would like, but at the minimum should include:
    1. A one sentence description of the primary goal of your project.
    2. A short (1-2 sentence) description of how you are planning to meet your goal.
    3. A list of what you have accomplished so far.
    3. A list of what you still need to do.
    4. A plan for how you will complete the remaining tasks in your project.
Each project team should also sign up for a 10 minute meeting slot with Leah to discuss your progress. Sign up here.

Processing Interactive Artwork
Due date: Thursday November 14
Use the Processing programming environment to create an interactive artwork. Your project should:
    1. Be interactive. That is, inocrporate input from the mouse, keyboard, or other user actions
    2. Include at least three colors.
    3. Include some element of randomness.
    4. Be able to generate static image files from your sketch.
Email an image generated by your project and your project code along with a brief description of your artwork to Leah before class on Thursday. Come to class on Thursday ready to demo and talk about your project.

Microbit Projects
Due date: Thursday October 31st
With your team, create an interactive object using Microbit. Halloween themed projects are welcome! Your project should meet the following criteria:
    1. It should be interactive; that is, it should make use of both sensors and actuators.
    2. The microbit should be part of a larger object. It should be embedded into something (an item of clothing, a pumpkin, a painting, etc.)
    3. You should be able to tell a story about why your interactive artifact is useful, provocative, fun, etc.
Come to class on Thursday ready to demo and talk about your project.

Final Project Proposals
Due date: Wednesday October 16th
Final projects provide an opportunity to explore a topic in greater depth. You will do independent research, teaching, and/or engineering in the field. You may choose to work on this assignment on your own or in a team. Projects can take a variety of forms, for instance: writing a literature review, developing and teaching a short class, creating a prototype of a new technology, or creating an interactive artwork.

For the final project proposal, write a two to three page paper describing your project plan. The paper should be written according to the ACM SIGCHI Proceedings (paper) format. You can find a templates here. Note: a proposal for group projects should be more substantial than for individual projects. The paper should include the following elements:
  • An introduction to the topic area, a summary of your project, and a discussion of why your proposed project is an important or interesting contribution.
  • A survey of related work that identifies and discusses at least five related research papers, artworks, projects, or educational efforts. This section should also explain why your project is novel and what you expect to contribute to our general understanding of or appreciation for the topic.
  • A detailed description of what you propose to do. If appropriate, include research questions and anticipated outcomes. If you are working in a team, this section should also include a description of how different team members will contribute to the project.
  • The last section of your paper should be a detailed timeline that identifies project milestones and details when you will accomplish them. This timeline will be used over the rest of the semester to track your progress on the project.
  • References.
Also create a short (5 minute) power point or keynote presentation to present in class on Thursday that focuses on the description of what you plan to do. Email your presentation and paper to Leah by the end of the day, Wednesday October 16th. Come to class on Thursday ready to present your project proposal.

Code.org
Due date: Tuesday October 1st
Work through at least 3 exercises in each of the following sections: Sequencing, Loops, Conditionals, Functions, and Variables of Code.org's express programming course. As you work, think about the philosophies and motivations guiding the Code.org team. How is this experience different than working with Scratch? Come to class on Tuesday ready to discuss your experience.

Scratch Interactive Story
Due date: Thursday September 26th
Use the Scratch programming environment to create an interactive story, animation, or video game that tells the story of an adventure you've had or an adventure you would like to go on. Your project should:
    1. Be interactive.
    2. Include at least two sprites that are not the default scratch cat.
    3. Include at least one costume change.
    4. Include at least one personal element (ie: a photo or drawing you create).
    5. Include sound.
Email a link to your scratch project along with a brief description to Leah before class on Thursday. Come to class on Thursday ready to demo and talk about your project.

LOGO Drawing
Due date: Wednesday September 11th
Write a program that generates a beautiful LOGO drawing. The drawing should extend and build on some of the ideas that we explored in class, that is, it should go beyond what we explored in class in some way. You can write the program in the language of your choice, but it should be LOGO based. In addition to ArtLogo, links to libraries for Processing (Java) and Python are provided on the syllabus. Email your code along with an image of your drawing to Leah by the end of the day, Wednesday September 11th. I will put together a presentation of everyone's drawings and code before class. Come to class on Thursday ready to show your drawing and explain your code.

Paper Electronics Assignment
Due date: Thursday August 29th
Create an interactive paper electronics sketch. The sketch should include both decorative and functional (circuitry) elements. The sketch should include at least one switch (or sensor) that is different from the ones we went over in class. Email photos of your project and a brief (one to two sentence description) to Leah before class on Thursday. Make sure the photographs document all important elements of the project, both decorative and functional. Come ready to demo your sketches to the class on Thursday 8/29.