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, we are encouraging each student to create some content to be shared with the general public or some other target audience. 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.
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 creating a simple web page to share your knowledge with a broader community. Your web page can be your project, or it can just provide introduction and access to your media content.

Announcements and Deadlines:

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.  Word documents may not be submitted. Links to websites, must be typed in an html document and submitted to your handin folder.  See the Getting Started section for links to download template files for a starter HTML proposal and project document to edit. 

3/23: I will create the FORMS handin folder for WI IDEA proposals and submissions. 

4/19: Email a written proposal (txt,html,or pdf) before 10pm on 4/19.  Failure to get approval for your idea means a risk that your work will not be accepted for extra credit. All WI_IDEA work must be completed and submitted via Forms before the due date to receive extra credit.

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

5/3-5/15: The end of project Self-Assessment Survey will be available.  The survey must be submitted before 10pm on Wed, 5/15.

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 get your idea approved. Approval is recommended to ensure that your work will be accepted for extra credit.

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 have a web page that describes the Wisconsin Idea in their own words as well as 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 files 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 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. Write a project proposal
   1. download and save the proposal template file: wi_idea.html
   2. complete the web page as a way to get started and share your proposal (edit the wi_idea_tmpl.html template using Notepad or Eclipse)
   3. Email your completed wi_idea.html and any related files to deppeler@cs.wisc.edu.
3. 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. copy your wi_idea_templ.html to wi_idea.html or some other appropriate name.
   4. edit your wi_idea.html
   5. view your web page at: pages.cs.wisc.edu/~CSLOGIN
   6. repeat edit view cycle until your web page is complete
4. Submit your web page and any other work that can be saved, to your Forms->WI Idea folder.
5. Complete the end of project survey (will be available via Learn@UW after 5/3).

Self-Assessment and Grading

The Wisconsin Idea project is worth up to 5% extra credit toward your final grade. 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.

It is not necessary to be perfect on all scales to earn the total 5%. Any work that presents an idea or concept in a unique way will earn 0-4% for each team member. Each team member will also receive an additional 0-1/2% if the team has created a well-written web page presentation of the work.

The final 0-1/2% is awarded individually to each student that completes the self-assessment survey on time.

Selected Submissions from Spring 2013Semester

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

Selected Submissions from Fall 2012 Semester