Director: Ken Baldauf
2008/2009 Reflections
Posted: April 14, 2009
As the 2008/2009 school year races to conclusion, I take a moment to consider PICs progress since its opening in August 2008. Over the past nine months PIC has established roots as a program. We have built two very successful courses in Web Development and Programming and have proven that it IS possible to engage students in deeper levels of computing education even when they have an anti-computing bias. The experiences we've shared with our students serves to confirm the underlying philosophy of PIC: that students of all majors can enjoy and benefit from computing skills at levels previously reserved for technophiles. The secret is in focusing on the goals and benefits in terms that students can relate to, encouraging students to work together and collaborate, and in providing robust support when problems arise in order to head-off frustration.
PIC has also established a strong steering committee of professors that believe in the PIC vision - they should since they wrote it! The steering committee has worked hard to establish the program's vision, mission, and bylaws. The committee has been working on procedures for evaluating and proposing new courses and is finishing off this year with five new course proposals. There are literally dozens of courses ready to consider when the committee reconvenes in September. This committee has inspired me by demonstrating the benefits made possible through interdisciplinary collaboration, and the tremendous possibilities that arise from selfless ambition for bettering the academic environment at FSU. Over the next two years we hope to double or even triple the size of the PIC Steering Committee (PSC) in order that PIC can explore the needs and ideas of every academic unit.
Another big accomplishment for PIC this year was in establishing Interdisciplinary Computing as a statewide discipline, and IDC as a prefix in the State of Florida's common course numbering system. By approving IDC, educators across the state have confirmed the need for an interdisciplinary approach to computing education. As I type, the paperwork is being processed to create the first IDC courses in the State of Florida which will be taught by PIC in Spring 2010.
Over the past several months, PIC has had plenty of opportunity to evangelize and serve students and colleagues. Besides the 250 students that we have taught, Kyle and I have addressed many different groups. Kyle did an excellent job providing lectures and videos on blogging to Susan Hellstrom's Article and Essay Workshop Class (ENC3310). Students really enjoyed collaborating on Webazines, and gained valuable technology lessons in the process. Kyle and I both presented at FSU's Teaching with Technology Showcase. We covered topics on utilizing social networking to create community in the classroom, and on utilizing podcasting as a method of engaging students in course material. I was also provided opportunities to present on the work that we are doing in PIC to several influential groups on campus and at an educator's conference in Las Vegas.
This past school year has served to build a solid foundation for PIC and a new approach to computing education for the general student population. I look forward to the next academic year where I expect the momentum behind PIC to build as we launch new classes, create new bridges between disciplines, and extend our reach into many more academic areas. PIC has established strong roots, now it is time to blossom!
