CIS Department Talk - March 1, 2007

The Department of Computer and Information Science & The Society of Computer Science Present

Speaker:	Christina Schweikert, CUNY Graduate Center
Topic:	Study of Programming Plan Mismanagement and Design of WPOL (Web Plan Object Language) with User Profiles and Assesment
Date:	March 1, 2007 at 1:00
Place:	John Mulcahy Hall, Room 138

Studies of novice programmers reveal that major errors are a result of plan mismanagement. Programming has evolved through many different paradigms, including Object Oriented Paradigm, aiming to make programming more efficient and better understood. Despite all these enhancements, programming is still considered by novices to be a very difficult task and students find difficulties in implementing objects, while representing the real world, as some point, can be intangible, vague, and lack context for novice programmers. To address the problems faced by novice programmers, WPOL (Web Plan Object Language) is designed. WPOL is plan oriented and teaches novice programming by plan management as to how they are integrated, and bridges the gap between objects and functions. In WPOL, An object or a function can be simply understood by their defined plans (as to their purpose at the time). WPOL can be customized to each novice programmer's needs by setting a profile and specific plan object library. A feedback mechanism will be built into the system to monitor assess, and assist the student with their problems and progress.

Christina Schweikert is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at CUNY Graduate Center with research on novice programming errors and design of a teaching and learning system for programming, WPOL (Web Plan Object Language) which is based on a Plan-Object Paradigm. C. Schweikert is a Visiting Assistant Professor at SUNY College at OW. For the past two years, C. Schweikert co-organized a Conference on Computer and Human Error at CUNY Graduate Center.