shapiro

Ben Shapiro named as 2019 Research and Innovation Office Faculty Fellow

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 21:45:06 +0000

Ben Shapiro named as 2019 Research and Innovation Office Faculty Fellow Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/17/2018 - 14:45

Ben Shapiro was named one of 15 of "CU ��«��Ƶ’s most promising rising faculty in disciplines spanning the campus" by the Research & Innovation Office (RIO). The RIO Faculty Fellows program is designed to help “collapse the campus” by cultivating a community of diverse, creative research leaders to help drive collaboration and innovation across the university.

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Laboratory for Playful Computation teen researcher wins CBS4 award

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 22:26:32 +0000

Laboratory for Playful Computation teen researcher wins CBS4 award Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/10/2018 - 15:26

Future Leaders winner, Makenna Turner, a junior at Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, is working with PhD student, Abigail Zimmermann-Niefeld, in the Laboratory for Playful Computation to develop a wearable device that teaches skills, like hitting a golf ball.

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Ben Shapiro: How Machine Learning Impacts the Undergraduate Computing Curriculum

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 19:05:25 +0000

Ben Shapiro: How Machine Learning Impacts the Undergraduate Computing Curriculum Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/12/2018 - 12:05

In this OP-ED piece for Communications of the ACM, Ben Shapiro and others argue that machine learning has moved from a peripheral topic within computer science to the core of what new computer scientists need to know.

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Award recognizes ATLAS professor for engaging teaching, making a difference

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 16:53:03 +0000

Award recognizes ATLAS professor for engaging teaching, making a difference Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/13/2018 - 10:53

His teaching methods are innovative, iterative and easy to understand, and he cares about his students. He facilitates meaningful discussions, fosters curiosity and supports students in building projects that are creative, differentiated, and hold meaning to them personally.

These are just a few of the comments nine ATLAS students used when nominating Ben Shapiro, assistant professor of computer science with the ATLAS Institute, for the 2018 Sullivan-Carlson Innovation in Education Award. The award, along with a $1,500 prize, is given annually to one College of Engineering & Applied Science teacher “who demonstrates initiative in developing and using hands-on curriculum, employs hands-on learning, actively engages students and makes an impact beyond the classroom.”

“It feels good to know that I'm making a difference in students' lives,” says Shapiro, who also directs ATLAS Institute’s Laboratory for Playful Computation. “I attended a large public university, UCSD, and it made a huge impact on me when a few professors went out of their way to treat the classroom as a place to do creative, interesting work together. I aspire to be like them.”

Amirah Counts, who took Shapiro’s “Code Sorcery for Novice Wizards” class, says Shapiro “is the definition of innovation in learning.”

“The way he approaches teaching and iteration is unlike any experience I've had in a higher ed class,” Counts says. “He makes everything he touches fun, exciting and impactful. I wish I had been able to take more classes from him!”

Robin Gibson, who also took Code Sorcery, says she nominated Shapiro for many reasons, but primarily because of how he took an interest in her learning.

“He helped instill and develop a confidence in me that no other instructor has throughout my college experience,” says Gibson, who now works as a product manager for Brighter Vision Web Solutions.

"He also made sure to be present for the ATLAS graduation ceremony, even though I was his only student there," says Robin Gibson, who received a TAM certificate in Spring 2017. "That meant a lot to me."

Gibson says by the time she started her TAM certificate through ATLAS, she had already completed undergraduate work in sociology and pre-law, but knew she wanted to shift her career trajectory.

“There was this lingering idea nestled in the recesses of my mind that I wasn't an engineer, a mathematician or a scientist, and that my work would only span as far as design was related to code," she continues. “Ben Shapiro came in and shook me—he began challenging our class from day one, and with such a small class size, there was no 'back row' to sink into.

"Ben took an active interest in each of his students, asking probing questions, and even when you'd deliver the assigned product/project, he would always push you to do more, but more importantly, he would help you do that. Taking his course improved my whole outlook on what I was able to accomplish and what I could learn. I began to open up to challenges I previously shied away from."

Another student who nominated Shapiro says, "Ben's Interactive Machine Learning for Customizable and Expressive Interfaces allowed me the opportunity to apply machine learning towards a meaningful, and impactful HCI-focused software project. Not only did the course structure inspire thoughtful discussion between students, but Ben made sure that students always had the end user in mind, and challenged students to think outside of just themselves and what they would want.”

The Sullivan-Carlson Innovation in Education Award was established in 1997 by engineering students in honor of Jackie Sullivan and Larry Carlson, co-directors of the Integrated Teaching & Learning Laboratory.

"His teaching methods are innovative, iterative and easy to understand, and he cares about his students." This is just one of the comments used to nominate Ben Shapiro for the 2018 Sullivan-Carlson Innovation in Education Award.

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Code snippets, tooltips and error detection

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 16:15:35 +0000

Code snippets, tooltips and error detection Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/21/2018 - 10:15

Tom Ball, software engineering research manager from Microsoft Research, led a one-day MakeCode workshop on March 2, at the ATLAS Laboratory for Playful Computation. The packed room included students and faculty from ATLAS, as well as from institutes, departments and schools across the CU ��«��Ƶ campus, including education, cognitive science, information science and computer science. Engineers from Sphero and SparkFun Electronics also participated.

Microsoft Research MakeCode’s free, open-source block and JavaScript learn-to-code editor is a joint project between Microsoft Research and its developer division. The project’s goal: to simplify programming microcontroller-based devices, such as the micro:bit, using a modern web application. The JavaScript editor includes code snippets, tooltips and error detection.

“MakeCode vastly simplifies the work necessary for developers to make their own programming editors,” says Ben Shapiro, an assistant professor in the ATLAS Institute and the Department of Computer Science.

“For example, say you have a robot wired to a microcontroller and you want to be able to easily program it in different ways; MakeCode is a great platform to create the user-interface,” says Shapiro.

Workshop participants used MakeCode’s editor to program a variety of environments. ATLAS doctoral student Annie Kelly is using MakeCode to create a new website that controls the ATLAS tower lights. When finished, it will allow users to write code for different conditions, such as turning the lights blue when it’s snowing. Kelly also used MakeCode to create ARcadia, a tangible interface prototyping toolkit — using vision-based AR technologies instead of custom electronics to track interaction with tangibles.

“It was a great visit,” says Shapiro. “In six months, we’re going to be able to point to several projects that grew out of it. We’re really lucky to be working with Tom and his team.”

ATLAS hosts advanced workshop for MakeCode, the JavaScript platform that vastly simplifies the creation of programming editors.

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Computer Science Education Week: Going Beyond Code

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 00:09:04 +0000

Computer Science Education Week: Going Beyond Code Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/06/2017 - 17:09

If you think computer science education is just learning to write code, think again.

At ��«��Ƶ’s ATLAS Institute, researchers in the Laboratory for Playful Computation (LPC) have developed technology that enables middle-school students to quickly create networks, connect devices, invent apps and design wearable technologies.

No previous programming or hardware experience required.

“We’ve developed the first tools specifically designed to empower youth to create and experiment with networked technologies,” says Ben Shapiro, LPC director and an assistant professor at ATLAS. “We’re reimagining the tools and skills learned in computer science education to match the computer science of today.”

To explain, Shapiro points to Alexa, Amazon’s intelligent personal assistant: In order to control lights, thermostats, garage doors and sprinklers with voice commands, Amazon’s data center communicates with the device’s online interface, and a message is transmitted to the device in your home.

“These types of interconnected devices are an integral part of young people’s lives,” Shapiro says. “We’re developing tools that help students understand how they work and to literally invent new technologies.”

The central component in the toolkit is BlockyTalky, a programming environment designed to make it easy for novice programmers to make interactive, networked physical computing devices and software systems. Kids as young as 10 have used it to rapidly build a wide range of projects, from medication dispensers for grandparents to computer music systems.

Originally focused on physical computing via the Raspberry PI, Shapiro and graduate student Kari Santos, have extended MIT’s App Inventor—a free, intuitive programming environment that allows the uninitiated to build smartphone apps—and the BBC micro:bit, a credit card-sized microprocessor laden with sensors to be part of the BlockyTalky ecosystem.

Connecting these technologies makes it possible for kids to create apps that connect to devices they can wear, bury inside toys, and even attach to their pets.

For Kari Santos, being part of the BlockyTalky team is helping her pursue her passion of teaching middle school girls electronics and coding and see them turn ideas into reality in a matter of hours. During her five-day Girls on Fire coding camp at ATLAS in July, Santos, an Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) graduate student with 25 years of software engineering experience, saw one team create a mobile app that controls LEDs on a dog collar via Bluetooth using voice commands. The system also tracks the dog’s steps, and the lights flash when the dog jumps.

The two girls who designed the app were ages 10 and 13.

Girls in a second camp created a “wedding party” out of colorful pipe cleaners, felt and styrofoam cups, and with the help of micro:bits and BlockyTalky, three girls wrote code so their cell phones could control LED wedding lights, a cat’s wagging tail and music for the ceremony.

“By designing technologies and programming different devices to talk to each other, these girls developed a sophisticated understanding of how networked technologies function,” says Santos. “People often talk about ‘the cloud’ without really understanding what it is. After building their own networks for Girls on Fire, students get it, and they'll always think differently about their interconnected digital environment.”

The Laboratory for Playful Computation has developed technology that enables middle-school students to quickly create networks, connect devices, invent apps and design wearable technology.

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Lightbulb moment leads to wearable technology for performance dance

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 20:46:44 +0000

Lightbulb moment leads to wearable technology for performance dance Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/30/2017 - 13:46

Emily Daub, a senior in ATLAS Institute's Technology, Arts and Media Program, combines her passions for dance and wearable technology by creating responsive costumes for performance dance.

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Computer music as gateway to learning contemporary computer science

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 15:19:46 +0000

Computer music as gateway to learning contemporary computer science Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/25/2017 - 09:19

Designing and programming networked technologies might seem like an advanced topic for computer science education, but researchers from ��«��Ƶ’s ATLAS Institute and Goldsmiths, University of London have demonstrated that even middle school students with limited prior programming experience can develop interactive, creative, networked technologies using specialized technology.

Principal investigator Ben Shapiro, an assistant professor of computer science at the ATLAS Institute, ��«��Ƶ, worked with his students, and his Goldsmiths colleague Rebecca Fiebrink to construct BlockyTalky WeJam, an interactive computer music toolkit for youth to create computer music systems for collaborative performances. BlockyTalky allows young people to create networks of sensing devices and musical synthesizers, and to program the musical and interactive behaviors of these devices. It also enables users to build a variety of other kinds of physical, sensor-rich interfaces, which students can combine in distributed systems of their own design.

The study found that exposure to BlockyTalky supported learning about computer science concepts, and changed students' perceptions of computing. “Many American students and adults have negative stereotypes of science and scientists, believing that they are socially distant, dangerous, workaholic, peculiar, irreligious and missing fun in their lives,” said Shapiro. “Creative computing, like in computer music, provides an opportunity to combat pervasive and insidious misperceptions of computer science and computer scientists.”

The work was reported in the article, “Tangible Distributed Computer Music for Youth,” published in the Summer 2017 issue of Computer Music Journal. The work was supported by the US National Science Foundation (CNS-1418463), the National Center for Women and Information Technology, and LEGO Education.

Middle school students with limited prior programming experience develop interactive, creative, networked technologies.

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ATLAS professor to keynote IEEE Symposium

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 21:12:06 +0000

ATLAS professor to keynote IEEE Symposium Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/26/2017 - 15:12

Assistant Professor Ben Shapiro will be the keynote speaker for the IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC), Oct. 11-14, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In his keynote, “Emerging Paradigms for Computer Science Education and Their Implications for Visual Languages,” Shapiro will describe how changes in the methodologies of computer science necessitate changes in computing education, and how new programming tools for beginners could embrace those changes.

The VL/HCC symposium supports research that makes computation easier to express, manipulate and understand.

Assistant Professor Ben Shapiro will be the keynote speaker for the IEEE Symposium in October.

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Outreach awards connect public schools to research and creative work

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 16:23:50 +0000

Outreach awards connect public schools to research and creative work Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/21/2017 - 10:23

ATLAS Assistant Professor Ben Shapiro is a collaborator on two CU ��«��Ƶ Outreach Awards for the 2017-18 school year, enabling work to move ahead on a pair of initiatives that connect research, teaching and creative work with education in Colorado public schools.

Building Capacity for Youth Organizing Through Data Use is a collaboration between ATLAS, the Research Hub (PI Ben Kirshner, School of Education) and Padres y Jóvenes Unidos (PJU), an organization led by people of color who work for educational equity, racial justice, immigrant rights and quality healthcare. The project includes building a mobile-friendly, web-based data collection and analysis platform that helps PJU teen youth activists conduct research in their schools and communities. A group of CU ��«��Ƶ computer science students will collaborate with PJU youth on the design and development of the tools.

Learning and Teaching Computer Science at EPIC adds a new component to the highly successful EPIC program, established by the School of Education in 2010 and now headed by Associate Professor Susan Jurow. The new component teaches computer science skills to the two groups EPIC brings together: Latino 3rd, 4th and 5th grade elementary school students and undergraduates in CU ��«��Ƶ’s teacher education program. Neither group is expected to have much prior experience working with computational technology, the age discrepancy creates an interesting dynamic as pairs of students, elementary and college, tackle creative computing projects together. In addition to Shapiro and Jurow, two PhD students are collaborating on the project: Kelsey Tayne (School of Education) and Max Hollingsworth (Computer Science).

Each award is for $24,000. CU ��«��Ƶ funded 40 projects for the 2017-2018 academic year, totalling $460,000.

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