Robots in the Classroom for Introductory CS


Call for Proposals

The Institute for Personal Robots in Education is pleased 
to announce an opportunity for professors, instructors and 
teachers of introductory Computer Science courses.  This 
program is centered on an effort to deploy and assess the 
effectiveness of personal robots as a context for teaching 
introductory Computer Science.  IPRE has developed robot 
hardware, currcula, a textbook, and software for classroom
use: see www.roboteducation.org

We expect to provide at least 10 gifts of $10K plus robot 
hardware (up to 20 robots) to proposers in support the 
establishment of trial curricula.  It is expected that the 
funds would be used to support preparation for teaching using 
robots including: summer salary support, TA support, 
equipment or travel.  Awards up to $20K are possible, provided 
there is sufficient justification.  Funds may be used at 
the PI's discretion and there are no contractual deliverables.  
Award letters will stipulate that awards are not subject 
to overhead.

Awardees will also be eligible for additional travel support 
to attend or lead workshops and to present research related 
to their curricular efforts.

Awardees should plan to use IPRE developed assessment 
instruments (i.e.  surveys of student attitudes) in their 
courses.  IPRE will provide assistance and support in the 
adminstration of these assessments.  Awardees should also 
contribute to the community, for instance by publishing 
research results and by sharing curricular ideas or 
other items such as example project assignments on the IPRE 
website.  

We anticipate awardees to begin teaching using these 
approaches in the the 2008-2009 academic year.  The results 
of assessments and reports on progress should be provided as 
they become available, but at least twice during the 
2008-2009 academic year.


Proposal Content and Assessment:

Please consult the proposal template available here:
www.roboteducation.org/cfps

We expect most awards to support a plan for testing robots 
using IPRE's existing suite of tools.  However novel 
projects are also welcome.  Example topics for novel 
projects include, but are not limited to:

	o Adding support for additional programming languages 
		such as C#, Java, Occam, or C++.

	o Novel assignments for students.

	o Firmware that extends the capabilities of
		IPRE hardware.

	o Application of IPRE robots or curricula to 
		new audiences such as K-12 or upper 
		division undergraduate courses.

The proposal should  include a description of the proposer's 
experience in teaching the relevant subject matter; a 
description of how the proposer expects to use robots in 
the classroom, and a summary of how the provided funds 
might be expended.  If the proposal is for a grant larger 
than $10K, sufficient justification should be provided.

Proposals will be evaluated partly on the basis of the 
proposer's record of quality or innovation in teaching 
introductory computer science.  This may be established by 
publications, innovative curricular materials, or both.  

Proposals from the broad community are welcome: We seek 
balance and diversity among public and private institutions, 
class size, and student background.

With the exception of supporting materials, proposals are 
not expected to exceed 3 pages in length.


Period of Award and Participation:

Awardees will be announced in April 2008, with funds provided 
by June 2008.


Deadline:

Proposals should be sent by email in PDF format to 
tucker@cc.gatech.edu no later than April 15, 2008.  Please 
use the subject line "IPRE CFP" in your message.  The call 
will remain open after that date, but only those proposals 
arrive by the deadline are guaranteed to be reviewed. 

IPRE (the Institute for Personal Robots in Education), founded 
in July 2006 and hosted at Georgia Tech with Bryn Mawr College, 
is a research project funded by Microsoft Research, Georgia 
Tech and Bryn Mawr College.  This particular opportunity is 
provided by IPRE thanks to a gift from Microsoft Research.