“Auburn University STARS Activities

1. “Auburn University STARS Activities Cheryl Seals, Ph.D., Juan Gilbert, Ph.D., Richard Chapman, Ph.D. {sealscd, gilbert, chapmro}@auburn.edu CHIL • Introduction During the 2006-2007 year, AU STARS were very active in the community and members were active facilitating Programs at Auburn and doing student research. AU STARS Activities • Venture Expanded Horizons Class • After School Alice Computer Program • World Usability Day - Fall2006 • AU STARS Student Research Presentations - Spring 2007 • KEMET Academy • Camp ROC (Reaching Our Children) • World Usability Day 2006 • Event was proposed as a full day world usability event by Dr. Daniella Marghitu at Auburn University • Emphasis of WUD was accessibility • Activities of STARS Students • Program Planning • Website Creation • Three Presentations (STARS members) World Usability was a Big Success 225 events in 175 cities in 40 countries.More than 40,000 attendees.Over 10,000 volunteers. • KEMET Academy Computer Lab • Two Week summer intervention • Utilized Culturally Situated Design Tools • Learning Math & Computing through Culture • PowerPoint • Word • Keyboarding Skills • Presentation Skills • Increasing Computer Efficacy of students from at risk populations. • Impact • Community helped and excited by STARS work in the local schools • Students actually excited about learning • Opportunity to improve creative ability of young students to get them excited about computing, One student was so motivated that worked with the software that we introduced all summer. • All students were retained in computer science major, with many continuing on to graduate school • Future Work • Expand Computer Club to six schools beginning Fall 2007 • Expand to high schools Spring 2008 • Expand the Mentoring Program provide more support for students • Continuing support of student research • Provide support for students so that they will have a greater appreciation for computer science to help them to continue working and studying the field • STARS Research • All students were encouraged to perform research • Three students completed Thesis • A dozen of the students all presented at end of year research presentation • For some of the undergraduate students this was their first exposure to research • Students were required to attend a series of departmental, guest research presentations and student defenses • After School Computer Program • Computer Club with Alice • Piloted it at Cary Woods • Students were introduced to ALICE 3D with interactive tutorials • Students created animated worlds of their own design