Project Description

  1. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
  2. Key objectives of the project are:

  3. PROJECT CHARACTER
  4. The project has three major constituents:

    The Scaffolding project aims to foster a community of discourse, in which ideas can be generated, tested, examined and extended. The project has been designed to address directly and effectively the needs and problems faced by the participants.

    The biggest cost in any community endeavour is the cost of establishing relationships. Our workshops put participants into a "hothouse"-a place where ideas are nurtured and sustained through intensive interaction. Then, the experiment kit, managed mailing list, and meetings at SIGCSE '04 and '05 will carry this energy and discourse into everyday working practice.

    The whole program of activity over time is designed to engender skills and confidence that will allow participants to initiate subsequent research and engage in the wider research community.

  5. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  6. Each participant will be asked to make a two-year commitment encompassing attendance at two week-long workshops, and conducting a data collection exercise in the interim. In addition, their interim activity will be scaffolded with on-line discussions and additional meetings at SIGCSE Symposia in 2004 and 2005. The first workshop will be held June 13 - 18, 2003 in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The second workshop will be held June 5 - 10, 2003, also in the Pacific Northwest.

    Structure of the project

    Year 1 Application Process Participants are selected on the basis of submitted position papers
    Preliminary Reading Participants will be provided with a 'reader' of relevant selected material in advance of the workshop
    Workshop 1 (Tacoma and Port Townsend, June 13-18,2003)
    Interim Electronic Discussion Network A combination of spontaneous and guided discussion
    Intervening (& co-joined with Bootstrapping) meeting Discussion meeting held at SIGCSE 04 (Norfolk, VA)
    Each participant executes the experiment kit Individual data-gathering
    'Where next'? Each participant will prepare a sketch for a new research study (of their own) in advance of the second workshop.
    Preliminary reading Critical reading of other participants' research sketches
    Year 2 Workshop 2 (Pacific Northwest, June 5 - 10, 2004)
    • conclusion of the experiment kit (presentation, amalgamation, and analysis of data; writing up)
    • framing of individual research studies
    Submission for publication
    • Preparation for publication
    • The paper resulting from the experiment kit will be submitted for publication in a suitable journal.
    Fledging Meeting Together with Bootstrapping participants at SIGCSE 05.

    Initial Workshop (1)

    The experiment kit

    Capstone Workshop (2)