June 30, 2017
Name: Maya Israel
LTEC Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Professional Background: I am an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. I am also the research director of the Creative Technology Research Lab (CTRL). I started my career as a special education teacher, and I consistently noticed that when we provide students with disabilities with instruction that is accessible and engaging, they can succeed academically and socially. This work led to my research focus on developing and studying instructional strategies, pedagogies, and technologies that promote active and meaningful engagement and learning for a broad range of learners, including those with disabilities. My research interests include pedagogical approaches to support students with disabilities and other struggling learners in K-12 computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) instruction.
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June 01, 2017
This Spring we had a great time presenting at National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting & Expo 2017. San Antonio, TX was a balmy 55–72 degrees throughout and we had more than a couple “team meetings” along the gorgeous River Walk. Below you will find a summary of our various presentations – featuring LTEC and other mathematics work. Please feel free to sound off in the comments section with any feedback!
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May 22, 2017
Name: Diana Franklin
LTEC Role: Senior Personnel
Professional Background: I am the Director of Computer Science Education at UChicago STEM Education and a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science. I began my career as an assistant professor (2002–2007) and associate professor with tenure (2007) in Computer Science at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, during which I held the Forbes Chair. From 200–2015, I was tenured teaching faculty at UC Santa Barbara, where I won two teaching awards. I am a recipient of the NSF CAREER award and an inaugural recipient of the NCWIT faculty mentoring award. My research interests include computing education research, parallel programming and architecture, and ethnic and gender diversity in computing. I am the author of “A Practical Guide to Gender Diversity for CS Faculty,” from Morgan Claypool.
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April 20, 2017
The LTEC team kicked of the conference season with SIGCSE 2017 in Seattle, WA. A non-zero subset of us was not even ready for the hilly downtown area, but the greenery was a welcome sight after a long Illinois winter. SIGCSE really showed off with elegant events – true to its small, CS conference roots, despite this year’s record-breaking attendance of 1500+ people. There were lovely receptions and luncheons, daily snacks in the exhibit hall, and even a puzzle challenge that a pair of us excitedly completed. Team members were excited to present 3 papers and 1 poster at this year’s conference – 2 of which were LTEC-related. Links to our papers and presentation slides appear below.
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