<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Dear Evan, <div class=""><br class=""><div class="">In the spring I sent a description (copied below) of the online history graduate seminar I taught in the Computational Media department at UC Santa Cruz in 2020, within the School of Engineering. I may have sent it from the wrong email address in June, not sure it got through. The department there has rotated a number of historical seminars, including one by Ted Nelson. I can connect you with the founder of the department who might have some practiced arguments you can use for why history matters in CS. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Starting fall of 2020, Andy van Dam at Brown and his former student and hypertext pioneer Norm Meyrowitz taught a course within CS that combined a very deep history of hypertext with practical hypertext programming; students created their own system as a final project. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I personally tend to use other sciences as an example. Biology, physics, and chemistry all weave in the names and very brief accomplishments of scientists as part of <i class="">normal</i> courses. Lavoisier, Boyle, Krebs, Avogadro, Bunsen, why do I remember these names and sometimes a bit about them? Not from reading the history of science, but from high school and undergraduate science courses. CS curricula don’t do the equivalent, though apparently some used to decades ago (I recall Len Shustek saying Stanford did when he was a student). </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best, Marc</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px;" class=""><font face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 12px;" class=""><a href="https://computerhistory.org/profile/marc-weber/" style="font-weight: bold;" class="">Marc Weber</a> (he/him)</span></font></div><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px;" class=""><font face="Arial" class=""><b style="font-size: 12px;" class="">Curatorial Director, <span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" class="">Internet History Program</span></b></font></div><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px;" class=""><font face="Arial" style="font-size: 12px;" class=""><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" class="">Computer History Museum, </span><font class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View CA 94043</font></font></div><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px;" class=""><font face="Arial" style="font-size: 12px;" class=""><a href="mailto:marc@webhistory.org" class="">marc@webhistory.org</a> </font><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;" class="">|</span><span style="font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial;" class=""> +1 415 282 6868</span></div><div style="font-family: Geneva; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial;" class=""><a href="http://computerhistory.org/nethistory" class="">computerhistory.org/nethistory</a></span><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> | </font><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: -webkit-auto;" class="">Co-founder, Web History Center and Project</span></span></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""></div></div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Marc Weber <<a href="mailto:marcweber@att.net" class="">marcweber@att.net</a>><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Homework assignment types for computer history survey course?</b><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">June 30, 2022 at 15:45:26 PDT<br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">"Koblentz, Evan A" <<a href="mailto:evan.koblentz@njit.edu" class="">evan.koblentz@njit.edu</a>><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Cc: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">"<a href="mailto:members@SIGCIS.org" class="">members@SIGCIS.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a>><br class=""></span></div><br class=""><div class=""><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Hi Evan, <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Class sounds great, congratulations! </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For a seminar I taught at UC Santa Cruz on the history of the online world the main assignments were biweekly readings, which we then discussed in class, and a final project. The “midterm” was a description of the proposed final project. The finals consisted of both a live presentation and the project itself, which could either be a paper or, for the technically or artistically minded, software or other digital content. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The seminar was in the Computational Media department, so students had a range of skills from modeling autonomous vehicles to game design. I don’t know if you can reasonably ask your CS students to do something different and potentially more technical than the others for a final project, but if so that might be something to consider. </div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Because Covid switched the seminar to Zoom, I could easily bring in more guest speakers than originally planned including Ted Nelson, Andy van Dam, and Paul Lindner of Gopher. I asked students to prepare questions for the speakers, whom they had also read some background on. If you have a decent screen in your classroom you might try bringing in a couple of remote guest speakers that way. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best, Marc<br class=""><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jun 30, 2022, at 14:04, Nabeel Siddiqui <<a href="mailto:nasiddiqui@email.wm.edu" class="">nasiddiqui@email.wm.edu</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;">Hi Evan,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Congratulations on your first time working as an adjunct instructor. Seems like you taught a wonderful class! </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In terms of the assignment, I don’t have any specific suggestions, but I would ask you to think about what you are hoping to accomplish in changing your assignments first before doing so. When advising faculty in our Center for Teaching and Learning, I usually ask faculty to go through a three prong process roughly based on backward-design:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">1. What are the learning objectives of the course?</div><div class="">2. What assessments/assignments would allow a student to demonstrate that they are meeting those objectives?</div><div class="">3. What are the readings/skills you need to impart on the student to allow them to complete the assessment/assignment?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Without the learning objective, it isn’t really clear why you are changing your assignments. Why does a student viewing a class as an easy A matter? Ideally, a student should be able to easily demonstrate the learning objectives if proper pedagogical practices are followed. I would caution against viewing harsher grading as a way to motivate your students. Have you reached out to NJIT's Institute for Teaching Excellence? I am also happy to talk to you about syllabus design and assignments through email privately if you would prefer.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Sincerely,</div><div class="">Nabeel</div><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jun 30, 2022, at 2:41 PM, Christine Finn <<a href="mailto:christine.finn@gmail.com" class="">christine.finn@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class="">Hi Evan, <br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class="">For a decade, I taught Silicon Valley as a type of contemporary archaeology fieldwork at the University of Bristol, UK.<br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class="">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. <br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class="">That question is the basis of the long duree sequel to "Artifacts".<br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class="">cheers, <br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class="">Christine</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class="">Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class="">Author: Artifacts: an archaeologist's year in Silicon Valley (MIT Press)<br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="2" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br class=""></div></div><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, 30 Jun 2022 at 20:14, Koblentz, Evan A <<a href="mailto:evan.koblentz@njit.edu" class="">evan.koblentz@njit.edu</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr" class="">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.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The assignments were:</div><div class="">- multiple choice quiz at the start of each class, to ensure the students read the homework chapters</div><div class="">- midterm with 10 open-ended questions</div><div class="">- final paper</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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.)</div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">This email is relayed from members at <a href="http://sigcis.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org</a></blockquote></div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">This email is relayed from members at <a href="http://sigcis.org/" class="">sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org</a></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">This email is relayed from members at <a href="http://sigcis.org/" class="">sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org</a></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">This email is relayed from members at <a href="http://sigcis.org" class="">sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org</a></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Feb 15, 2023, at 09:40, Evan Koblentz via Members <<a href="mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org" class="">members@lists.sigcis.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" class="">
<div class=""><p class="">Hi everyone,</p><p class="">I've been teaching a special topics course in computer history
for three semesters here at NJIT. The university policy is three
semesters maximum, then the course must be made permanent or
cancelled. So I'm going through the process of trying to make it
permanent.</p><p class="">The department administration supports it, but it has to be voted
on by the rank-and-file faculty, many of whom don't seem to
understand the value of a history course -- or at least not of a
history course in a technical department, rather than through our
humanities college.</p><p class="">It would help if I can show them other examples. Can anyone point
me existing examples of history courses in CS, EE, or other
technical departments at U.S. universities?<br class="">
</p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br class="">
Evan Koblentz
<p class="">
New Jersey Institute of Technology<br class="">
- Senior Writer, Office of Strategic Communications<br class="">
- Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing<br class="">
- Faculty/Staff Advisor, NJIT Lego Club</p><p class="">
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:evank@njit.edu">evank@njit.edu</a><br class="">
(973) 596-3065<br class="">
<a href="https://web.njit.edu/~evank/" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://web.njit.edu/~evank</a><br class="">
</p>
</div>
</div>
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