Wanda Dann, Ithaca College
Stephen Cooper, Saint Joseph's University
Don Slater, Carnegie Mellon University

Instructors experienced in teaching with Alice will be invited to share teaching strategies with those interested in teaching with Alice. The session will provide an arena in which to ask questions regarding how to adapt Alice instructional materials to specific kinds of courses. Attendees will be able to share pointers to web sites where others may find materials, such as syllabi, student projects, exams, and other assessment resources. In addition, a short presentation will be made regarding recent efforts of the discussion leaders in developing curriculum resources for transitioning from Alice to Java.

Gloria Childress Townsend, DePauw University
Paula Gabbert, Furman University

In January of 2004, we organized the second SIGCSE Committee (Expanding the Women-in-Computing Community). We sponsor a Town Meeting, during each SIGCSE, to disseminate information concerning successful gender issues projects (e.g. Lecia Barker from NCWIT spoke for a few minutes last year). We also foster discussion and brainstorming for the coming year. We invite all SIGCSE members who are interested in gender issues to attend and to join our listserv: To subscribe, send e-mail to LISTSERV@acm.org. The complete body of your message should be: subscribe SIGCSE-WOMEN-COMM <your_name> where <your_name> designates the name you want listed in listserv records.

Alison Young, Unitec New Zealand
Barbara Boucher Owens, Southwestern University
Vicki Almstrum, University of Texas at Austin

This BOF is designed for those who wish to find out more about the project and ways to get involved with it. The project is an extension of a Working Group at ITiCSE 2005. At the end of the session, audience members should understand the goals of the oral history project; have a basic grasp of the fundamentals of conducting and preserving interviews. The session is intended to provide the information needed for someone to decide whether they would attend a training workshop to become an interviewer. The session should also result in refinement of selection criteria and names of individuals who are candidate interviewees.

Katherine Deibel, University of Washington-Seattle
Brian Rosmaita, Hamilton College
Mary Anne Egan, Sienna College
Robert Cohen, University of Massachusetts Boston
Robert Siegfried, Adelphi University

This BOF is aimed at bringing together the members of the SIGCSE community who share an interest in accessibility and disability issues. By forging such connections, we can begin to share resources and knowledge. This session will include discussions of current accessibility issues, including how to support students with disabilities in our courses and how to incorporate accessibility into the curriculum. We will also discuss the creation of a centralized resource for information on disability issues in computer science education.

Arkady Retik, Microsoft Corporation
Dave Probert, Microsoft Corporation

The Windows Academic Program provides universities with Windows kernel source code, curriculum materials, and a project environment for teaching and research operating system principles. The program components include the Windows Research Kernel (WRK), the Windows Operating System Internals Curriculum Resource Kit (CRK) and ProjectOZ. This BoF intends to gather educators who are in a position to share their experience of using the program material; it's also an opportunity to provide input to the participants.

Mark Guzdial, Georgia Institute of Technology
Barbara Ericson, Georgia Institute of Technology

Media Computation is an approach to computing education that engages students through projects focusing on the creation and manipulation of digital media. This BOF has two parts. In part one, the art gallery part, media created by students from around the country in their computer science classes will be on display (with coffee, tea, and cookies provided). In the second half, the discussion part, participants will get a chance to talk to the teachers of these students about the assignments that led to the media art work and about the techniques that the students used.

Donald J. Slater, Carnegie Mellon University
Daniel D. Garcia, University of California at Berkeley

A panel at SIGCSE 2004 illustrated the trend in computer science departments to hire faculty to teach in a teaching-track position that parallels the standard tenure-track position, providing the possibility of promotion, longer-term contracts, and higher pay for excellence in teaching and service. This birds-of-a-feather is designed to gather educators who are currently in such a position to share their experiences as members of the faculty of their departments and schools, and to provide opportunities for schools considering such positions to gather information.

Mindy Hart, Purdue University
James Early, Purdue University
Dennis Brylow, Marquette University

Many courses are being offered in K-12 education under the "Computer Science" umbrella. Several factors influence the content and design of each of these courses. This session will pose the question of what factors influence the status and resources allotted to high school computer science courses. K-12 educators are encouraged to share ideas about how higher education institutions have helped them promote computer science, as well as ways they would like additional support. Additionally, higher education personnel are encouraged to share what is currently being done on their campus to provide support and services for the K-12 environment.

Amruth Kumar, Ramapo College of New Jersey
Patricia A. Joseph, Slippery Rock University of PA
Paul Wagner, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
Michael Goldweber, Xavier University

Double-blind peer review process has long been used in SIGCSE. There is growing sentiment that both the review process and the resulting reviews deserve re-examination. This session will provide a forum for stakeholders in Computer Science education to share their thoughts on possible improvements/alternatives to the peer review process; and identify characteristics of constructive reviews. It is hoped that this discussion will lead to a constructive review of the double-blind peer review system.

Lynn Lambert, Christopher Newport University
Michael Fellows, The University of Newcastle, Australia
Leigh Ann Sudol, Fox Lane High School

Computer Science Unplugged is a set of kinesthetic, fun activities that cover many core areas of computer science including searching, networks and routing, modularization, and object-oriented thinking. Recommended in ACM's A Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science, the Unplugged book describes error correction via the magic trick of parity bits; demonstrates pixels and image representation using spray paint; shows how binary number work, and examines user interfaces. We will discuss these and others ideas that demonstrate the value and relevance of computer science to students and to the public as part of outreach and precollege and college classes.

Daniel Cliburn, University of the Pacific

This BOF session will focus on how faculty members use games in their teaching, and whether it is possible to evaluate the effectiveness of computer games as instructional tools in the undergraduate computer science curriculum. Games are thought to increase student motivation, but is the empirical evidence definite? Are we turning some students off with overuse of games? Can we assess the actual improvement in a student's scores because of game assignments? What steps can we take to measure the effectiveness of various games approaches to teaching and learning, and should we be doing this?

Donald B. Sanderson, East Tennessee State University
Andrea Lobo, Rowan University

ABET-CAC's newly revised criteria for program accreditation make student outcomes assessment even more central to the accreditation process. The purpose of this BOF is to share experiences on what methods have worked and which have not worked in integrating assessment into all of the other day to day duties of faculty. The moderators of this BOF have recently finished their respective ABET accreditation visits and will share the learned lessons in conducting student outcomes assessment.

Ed Gehringer, North Carolina State University

Teaching is not just about presenting material and assessing students' knowledge. It is also about relating to students-the care we show about them as individuals, the way we address them in class, and how we react when they are having trouble. In this BoF, participants will share tips on how to show students we care. Here are some examples: Learning students' names (perhaps by taking pictures of them early in the semester), contacting students who seem to be struggling, appointing class "representatives" whose job it is to get feedback from the class and share it with the instructor.

Frances P. Trees, Drew University
Don Allen, Troy High School
David L. Burkhart, West Muskingum Middle School

Representatives from middle school, high school, and university computer science departments will lead a discussion on designing and implementing a K-12 computer science curriculum. The discussion may include the following:
* curriculum priorities and concerns in middle school and high school
* designing and implementing a K-12 curriculum (Where do I start?)
* impediments to curriculum implementation in the middle school and high school
* strategies to deal with these impediments (Can the university computer science departments help?)
* issues and ideas for a national computer science curriculum

Steven Wolfman, University of British Columbia
Heidi Ellis, Trinity College
Charles Kelemen, Swarthmore College
Curt White, DePaul University

Your intro course works great? for those who take it and ace it. What about the people that don't take or don't thrive in our introductory courses? How can we introduce diverse students to CS in new, effective, and attractive ways? As computer science increasingly impacts everyone's lives, it is critical that we find ways to attract and educate diverse students. This BOF will provide a forum for practitioners to share best practices, bright ideas, and wild fancies for teaching computer science to novice students from many different backgrounds. Notes from this BOF will be shared in a suitable forum.

Peter B. Henderson, Butler University
Jeannette Wing, Carnegie Mellon University
Judith Gal-Ezer, Open University of Israel

Jeannette Wing's March 2006 CACM Viewpoint article Computational Thinking presents a compelling general view of the discipline of computing. It provides a powerful framework for understanding and teaching the fundamental principles of computing. Teaching students at all levels to think computationally is an important life skill. Accordingly, these ideas can help to define new ways of exciting future generations about relevance of computing and the value of careers in computing. Tangible ways for achieving this and for initiating curriculum reform founded on Computational Thinking will be discussed, along with ideas for challenging the traditional "computing career implies programming" viewpoint.

Paul Leidig, Grand Valley State University
David Feinstein, University of South Alabama

During a BOF session at SIGCSE 2006, a group of interested Information Systems faculty met to discuss the formation of an ACM SIG focused on Information Systems curriculum, accreditation, and related IS Education issues. The discussion generated an extremely favorable response, and was followed by a similar meeting at SIGITE 2006 in Minneapolis, MN. In preparation for submitting the SIG petition to the ACM SIG Board, a group of petitioners (see below) offers this BOF.

Ian Utting, University of Kent, UK
Michael Kölling, University of Kent, UK
John Rosenberg, Deakin University, Australia

A forum for teachers using the BlueJ IDE to share their experiences, and to discuss recent and future developments with members of the BlueJ team.