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Wed 15 Mar 2023 19:00 - 22:00 at 714 - Workshop 104

The SIGCSE-MEMBERS mailing list of the ACM Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education is the main forum for educators worldwide to discuss computing education research, pedagogy, and curriculum. In early 2022 it was abuzz with several connected movements: growth mindset, mastery learning, grading for equity and specifications grading. Each of these is an important step toward the Holy Grail: “A’s for All” (as time and interest allow); the “A” line doesn’t move, but every student should be given an opportunity to achieve proficiency and earn it, as long as they are willing to put in the time and effort it might take. The mantra is not “fixed time, variable learning”, but “fixed learning, variable time”.

From a practical standpoint, this means writing autograders for all course projects, adopting technology that affords dynamic, randomized problem generation (for practice, exams, and multiple-chance exams), and changing policies and messaging so that students know they will be fully supported, even if it takes them a little more time to learn the material and do the work. The most important takeaway is that this is not an all-or-nothing affair; there are many things instructors can do with their policies to make their grading and class experience fair and equitable so that all students can succeed. The goal of this 3-hour workshop is to provide educators and administrators with tools to achieve this Holy Grail in their courses and institutions. This workshop is open to any CS educator from all disciplines who are interested in offering a more equitable learning experience to students based on a mastery learning approach. By the end of the workshop, participants will know how to create autograded randomized questions that can be easily scaled for practice and second-chance exams, and they will have a draft plan on how to implement the “A’s for All” approach in their context (including policies and pedagogies). Participants will be required to bring a laptop since the workshop includes hands-on activities.

Wed 15 Mar

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19:00 - 22:00
Workshop 104Workshops at 714
19:00
3h
Tutorial
Actually Achieving "A's for All" (As Time and Interest Allow)In-Person
Workshops
Dan Garcia UC Berkeley, Connor McMahon University of California Berkeley, Yuan Garcia Mills High School, Craig Zilles University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Matthew West University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Mariana Silva University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Solomon Russell El Camino College, Edwin Ambrosio El Camino College, Neal Terrell CSU Long Beach
DOI