Overview

At this workshop, educators in Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Geoscience, Engineering, Math, and allied fields shared their experiences and expertise in teaching computational thinking skills in undergraduate courses. Participants worked with peers and MathWorks representatives to develop new, and revise existing, activities and course materials that incorporate MATLAB for computation. Participants discussed strategies, tools, and best practices for building computational thinking skills in their courses and assessing students' understanding of applied computation.

Workshop activities featured sharing of effective peer-developed classroom activities, electronic tools for teaching and grading (e.g., Live Editor, MATLAB Grader), opportunities to work in small groups on activity/course design, and talks from MATLAB experts. This effort drew upon the resources developed in past workshops, including teaching activities, videos, and best practices. Activities produced at the workshop are publicly available to anyone teaching with MATLAB, and will underwent peer review as part of an annual review process, enabling citation in publications and on CVs, and for other faculty teaching with MATLAB. In addition, MathWorks representatives were on hand to support the workshop and share expertise for teaching with MATLAB, providing insights into topics such as data access, big data and parallel computing, and education aids for teaching and assessing computational skills live, online, and in flipped-classroom settings.

Jump down to: Workshop Goals | Dates | Expectations | Costs | Application | Facilities | Contact

Past Events

Workshops

Webinars

Workshop Goals

The goals of this workshop are for you to:

  • Improve computational thinking teaching skills, activities, and courses
  • Gain knowledge of MATLAB tools and skills for teaching
  • Share best practices for two computational course settings
    • Applying MATLAB in STEM-oriented courses while learning programming skills
    • Learning computational skills in dedicated programming courses for scientists
  • Get integrated into a faculty community teaching computation with MATLAB

Dates: October 20–22, 2019

The main workshop will start at 5:00pm on Sunday, October 20th. All participants should plan to arrive in Northfield in time for the first workshop event at 5:00pm on Sunday, October 20.

New this year, participants will be offered the option to sign up (in advance) for special Sunday afternoon (the 20th) pre-workshop sessions on:

  • Improving your course design (with an expert mentor)
  • Learning MATLAB teaching tools (by MATLAB experts)

The workshop will end Tuesday, October 22 at 2:00 pm. Participants should plan return travel no earlier than 4:30 pm that day.

Expectations

By applying to the workshop, participants agree to do the following, if accepted:

  • Submit an activity that involves teaching computation using MATLAB. A template will be provided for participants to enter the essential information about their teaching activities. These activities will be showcased at the workshop so they must be completed prior to the workshop.
  • Submit an essay on your experience with teaching computation using MATLAB.
  • Participate fully in the entire workshop and attend all workshop sessions. Many participants will be invited to make presentations or serve as discussion or working group leaders at the workshop.
This workshop is a collaboration between MathWorks and the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. Participants are expected to review and follow SERC's Code of Professional Conduct for SERC Events.

Costs

MathWorks is supporting the complete cost of hosting the workshop. Participants or their home institutions must cover the costs of local lodging and travel to and from the workshop at Carleton College in Northfield, MN. A shuttle to and from Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport will be arranged for participants.

There are funds available for stipends for some participants unable to cover the costs of travel to the workshop. Otherwise, participants or their home institutions must cover the costs of local lodging and travel to and from the workshop at Carleton College in Northfield, MN. To receive a travel stipend you must complete both the stipend application and the workshop application.

Application and Selection Criteria

Applicants for this workshop must teach at a two- or four-year college or university. They should also have experience using MATLAB in teaching or plans to use MATLAB for teaching. The final list of participants will be developed with the goal of assembling a group of experienced educators, representing a wide range of experiences, educational environments, and specialties.

Facilities

The workshop will be held at Carleton College (more info) located in Northfield, Minnesota . All scheduled workshop events will be on the Carleton College campus. Most sessions will be in the Severance Great Hall. It's a short walk from the hotel to campus.

For More Information

If you have any questions, please contact Mitchell Awalt at the Science Education Resource Center: mawalt AT carleton dot edu