General Information:

As a land grant University, the UW Madison has a special relationship with the citizens of the state of Wisconsin. In return for the citizens paying taxes to support the educational mission of the University [and the educational goals of the students], the University is asked to freely share the knowledge that is created here, to all corners of the state. In recent years, that has been interpreted to mean we share our knowledge with all corners of the world.

In the spirit of The Wisconsin Idea, students who create a unique work that presents accurate technical Computer Science knowledge in an entertaining way to a target audience will receive up to 5% extra credit toward their final cs302 grade. All sources must be used with permission and fully cited. Your work will be your own and you may choose your copyright level, but it must be shared in some way with the general public.

Find a specific area of computer science or programming that is interesting and preferably a challenge for you, research that concept or term and design and develop an entertaining way to present and teach that concept. Students may work in teams of any size, but each student is responsible for writing their own self-assessment survey on Learn@UW.

Objectives

1. Learn about The Wisconsin Idea and share your knowledge with a broader community.
2. Learn how to research a technical topic using multiple sources.
3. Improve your life long learning skills, including but not limited to:
   project management, team-building, conflict resolution, problem-solving, presentation techniques, importance of producing and not just consuming creative content.
4. Learn basic html and editing skills by editing a simple web page using a text-only editor.
5. Learn and understand the topic you choose at a deeper level than was covered in the course.
6. Your wi_idea.html web page can be your project, or it can just provide introduction and links to a more sophisticate web site and media created with other tools.

Announcements and Deadlines:

All students must complete and submit their wi_idea.html file to their WI handin folder via Forms.

All work must be readable via a Web browser. The valid file types that may be submitted are: jpg gif png pdf txt and html.  If you need to submit some other type of file, send email to deppeler@cs.wisc.edu.  Other document types including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents may not be submitted. See the Getting Started section for a link to download a wi_idea.html file to get started. 

5/3: The wi_idea.html file must be handed in via Forms before 10pm on Friday, 5/3.

Getting Started:

1. Choose a Topic (may suggest your own)

   There are many possiblities, but here are some Computer Science and Programming terms and concepts to help you get started: Reserved Words (in Java and or other languages), Primitive data type, Variables/Method/Classes, Selection, Repetition, Arrays, Input/Output, Exceptions, Hardware, Software, Object-Oriented Programming, Debugging Tools and Techniques, Test-Driven Development, Refactoring, Compilers, Operating System, Architecture, Databases, Networking, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Good Programming Practice (Style Guides), Programming Languages, Inheritance, Recursion

2. Create a Team

   Students may choose the number of students in their team or may work alone. We recommend 2-4 students per team.

3. Choose a Target Audience

   Think about who you would like to produce this content for. Some possibilities include, but are not limited to: Classmates, Friends, Family, K-12 Teachers, K-12 Students, General Public.

4. Research your Audience
   • What is their interest in computer science or programming?
   • What topic or type of project would be valuable?
   • Try to find a specific person or group that can be your "customer" or consumer of your work.
5. Research your Topic
   • What is interesting or challenging about the topic?
   • How is it presented in the classroom? Online? by your classmates?
     
     
6. Propose Something

   Write a brief proposal for your project and send it to deppeler@cs.wisc.edu before Friday, November 15th, to get your idea pre-approved.

7. Create Your Project

   Different projects will naturally require different time commitments. Things like diagrams, animations, concept maps, problem set, flash cards, etc can be completed by one person, while larger projects, like creating a game, skit, song, video, puzzle, would likely benefit from a team of students working together. Find others who want to work on the same topic or project as you and then create something that you can all contribute to.

   1. Diagram
   2. Animation
   3. Video
   4. Song
   5. Dance
   6. Game: Board Game, ARISGames, RPG
   7. Problem Set or Quiz: SyntaxUntangler
   8. Live Demonstration
   9. Skit or Play (save a recording)
   10. Word Cloud
   11. Concept Map
   12. Crossword Puzzle
   13. Jigsaw Puzzle
   14. Flash Cards
   15. Online Tutorial
   16. Scratch Animation http://scratch.mit.edu
   17. Arduino Microprocessor Project http://www.arduino.com
   18. Humming Bird Robot http://www.hummingbirdkit.com/
       
       
8. Share your Work with Wisconsin (and the World)

   To earn extra credit, each project must submit a wi_idea.html file that describes the Wisconsin Idea as well as contains links to their creative content.

   At a minimum, your page must identify:

   1. the topic or concept being presented
   2. a brief description of the Wisconsin Idea
   3. the creators (your team members)
   4. the target audience (name names if you have permission)
   5. an abstract or brief description of your work
   6. a link to the work, or include pictures, audio, video, and text describing the work itself

Here are some tips to get started on your wi_idea project

Get the example html file as a starting point (template) for your web page:

Note: text-only html files can be edited in Eclipse, or Notepad, or any text-only editor.  Microsoft Word and other word processors must NOT be used for editing text-only files as they insert formatting codes that will not be read correctly by standard web browsers. Learning to edit basic html files is easy and is a learning objective of this project.

1. Create a web-accessible folder.  This is easy, just create a new folder at u:\public\html\wi_idea on your CS account (from a lab machine).   Anything you put in this folder can be read via the internet address: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~yourcsloginname/wi_idea
2. Create your project
   1. download and save a web page template file: wi_idea.html
   2. download and save a cascading style sheet (css) file: wi_idea_styles.css
   3. edit your wi_idea.html
   4. view your web page at: pages.cs.wisc.edu/~CSLOGIN
   5. repeat edit view cycle until your web page is complete
3. Submit your web page and any other work that can be saved, to your Forms->WI Idea folder.
4. Complete the end of project survey (will be available via Learn@UW after 12/6).

Self-Assessment and Grading

The Wisconsin Idea project is worth up to 5% extra credit toward your final grade awarded on a scale of 1-10 points. Each member of the project team must complete the self-assessment survey individually and identify their contributions to the overall final project. The self-assessment will be available on Learn@UW and will ask students to evaluate their work on several scales, how well it met stated objectives, uniqueness, correctness, entertainment value, effort.

Extra Credit will be awarded as follows: 7-8pts for an Outstanding project, 5-6pts for a Very Good project, 3-4pts for a Good Project, and 1-2pts for incomplete projects that show some content correctly.

Work that presents an idea or concept in a unique, correct, and complete way will earn 1-8 pts for each team member. Each team member will also receive an additional 1pt if the team has created a well-written web page presentation of the work.

The final 1 pt is awarded individually to each student that completes the self-assessment survey on time.

10/10 points is equal to 5% extra credit.

Selected Submissions from Spring 2013 Semester

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~cnichola/wi_idea/wi_idea.html

Selected Submissions from Fall 2012 Semester