WCCCE 2022 The Lite Version
The Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education (WCCCE) 2022 - lite version May 6, 2022, via zoom hosted by The University British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Conference
The Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education is a forum for discussing the development of computing programs and curricula, and for sharing innovative strategies and tools for teaching & learning in fields such as computer science, software engineering, computer technology, information systems and information technology. It brings together educators from the western provinces, the rest of Canada, and beyond, giving them the opportunity to share their experiences and learn from one another.Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference had run for 24 consecutive years. We were looking forward to our 25th anniversary in 2020 but we had to postpone it. The conference values the community building opportunities that an in-person event provides and as a result we again reluctantly postponed the conference in 2021. Although an in-person event might have been possible this year, we recognized the uncertainty and effect the pandemic s had on everyone's workload and life. Consequently, we have opted for a lighter-weight virtual event to allow us to re-connect, form new associations, and discuss the changing landscape of computing education in preparation for an in-person event in 2023.
Venue
WCCCE 2022, the lite version, will take place virtually on May 6th, 2022. The sessions will be hosted on Zoom by the Department of Computer Science at the The University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus. To get the zoom link for the conference please follow the instructions here. It will be helpful if you register as soon as possible, even if you can only attend part of the the conference or are unsure if you can attend, but would like to.Background
Although we originally planned to hold a more "normal" conference, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has had a substantial effect on everyone's workload and other commitments over the last few months. Building a thriving WCCCE community is important, so the organizing committee has decided to put on a small lite-weight version of WCCCE. As a result we have put together a program to make it easy to "attend the conference" by confining it to a virtual half-day conference. Also, we want to make it easy for people to contribute without requiring a substantial time commitment. To that end we have introduced Blizzard Presentations. A Blizzard Presentation is an easy light-weight way for people to tell us about what they have been doing or want to do. (See below for just what a Blizzard Presentation is and how the name was selected.)Schedule
| Time (PDT) | Activity |
|---|---|
| 8:30 | Tailgating: Informal meet and greet |
| 9:00 | Welcome and Keynote I: The permanent impact of COVID on teaching CS
Geoffrey Challen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
|
| 9:45 | Breakout room/group discussions on how COVID has permanently changed our teaching practices. |
| 10:30 | Break |
| 10:40 | Blizzard Presentations (Eight 5-minute presentations, in two rooms) Cabin A Presentations Cabin B Presentations |
| 11:25 | Break |
| 11:30 | Keynote II:
Building a Community of Equity-Focused CS Educators Manuel Pérez-Quiñones (University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
|
| 12:10 | Breakout room/group discussions building a community of equity-focused CS educators |
| 12:50 | Wrap up |
| 13:00 | After party: Informal discussions |
Keynote Speakers
Dr Geoffrey Challen
Associate Teaching Professor
Department of Computer Science
The Grainger College of Engineering
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
URL: https://geoffreychallen.com
Keynote Title: The impact of COVID-19 on how we teach Computer Science moving forward.
Bio
Geoffrey Challen is an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Illinois. He teaches introductory programming and computer science to thousands of students each year, and creates novel software to support his courses and materials. Geoffrey publishes essays on teaching and technology at geoffreychallen.com, where you can also find out more about his work.
Dr Manuel A. Pérez-Quiñones
Professor of Software and Information Systemsd
Department of Software and Information Systems
College of Computing and Informatics
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
URL: https://webpages.charlotte.edu/mperez19
Keynote Title: Building a Community of Equity-Focused CS Educators
Bio
Dr. Pérez-Quiñones is Professor of Software and Information Systems at UNC at Charlotte. His research interests include HCI, CS education, and diversity in computing. He was Chair of the Coalition to Diversify Computing, Program Chair for the 2014 Tapia Conference, and Co-Chair for SIGCSE 2018 (program) and 2019 (symposium). He serves on the SIGCSE Board, Advisory Board for CMD-IT, Steering Committee for BPCNet.org and Technical Consultant for the Center for Inclusive Computing at Northeastern. His service to diversify computing has been recognized with ACM Distinguished Member status, the A. Nico Habermann award, and Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award. He is originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico.Blizzard Presentations
A Blizzard Presentation is the a Canadian equivalent to a lightning talk. The name is in honour of the snow experienced during the last WCCCE in Calgary. Individuals will be given 5 minutes to present on any topic of potential interest to the WCCCE community. For example, this would be a great way for people to tell us about work in progress, an interesting assignment, things learned from the pandemic, new teaching tools, solicit opinions on a topic, or recruit partners for new course development or studies. Again these are just examples and anything that you think would be of interest is appropriate. To submit your Blizzard Presentation follow the instructions at this link.Important Dates
- Deadline to submit Blizzard Proposals: April 27, 2022 11:59PM (anywhere in the world)
- Notification of Blizzard Proposal acceptance no later than May 1st, 2022
- Deadline to submit PowerPoint slides for accepted Blizzard Proposals (minimum 1 slide) May 3rd 2022