[SIGCIS-Members] Homework assignment types for computer history survey course?

[Christine Finn]

Hi Evan,

For a decade, I taught Silicon Valley as a type of contemporary archaeology
fieldwork at the University of Bristol, UK.

My first assignment each year was in the classroom, asking students to
recall their personal tech history, ie what they used, what they discarded.
It might sound a bit light, but it brought up some deep discussion, and you
could set it as an essay.

That question is the basis of the long duree sequel to "Artifacts".

cheers,

Christine

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
Author: Artifacts: an archaeologist's year in Silicon Valley (MIT Press)




On Thu, 30 Jun 2022 at 20:14, Koblentz, Evan A <evan.koblentz at njit.edu>
wrote:

> This week I received my course evaluations from our spring semester. It
> was my first time working as an adjunct instructor. The student evaluations
> of my knowledge and teaching were great, the only exception being that
> everyone ranked the assignments as average, easy, or very easy.
>
> The assignments were:
> - multiple choice quiz at the start of each class, to ensure the students
> read the homework chapters
> - midterm with 10 open-ended questions
> - final paper
>
> For those who teach similar courses (survey of the history of computing),
> what kind of assignments do you give? Also what sort of in-class group
> projects do you assign? I'm looking for new ideas. There is some concern
> that CS students might take my course with the expectation of it being an
> easy A. (It's not, but still I think it needs to be more challenging for
> them.)
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