TITLE: SIGCSE Day 1 -- This and That
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: March 13, 2008  8:06 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<P ALIGN="right">
   <FONT SIZE="-1"><EM>[A transcript of the
   <A HREF="http://www.cs.duke.edu/sigcse08/">
      SIGCSE 2008</A>
   conference:
   <A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2008-03.html#e2008-03-13T19_22_31.htm">
      Table of Contents</A>]
   </EM></FONT >
</P>

This sort of entry usually comes after I write up the various
conference sessions and have leftovers that didn't quite fit
in an article.  That may still happen, but I already have
some sense of what will go where and have these items as
miscellaneous observations.

First of all, I tried an experiment today.  I did not blog
in real-time.  I used -- gasp! -- the antiquated technology
of pen and paper to take notes during the sessions.  On one
or two occasions, I whipped open the laptop to do a quick
Google search for a
<A HREF="http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~ckelleher/">
   PhD dissertation</A>
or a
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Facilitating-Problem-Based-Learning-Maggi-Savin-Baden/dp/0335210546/">
   book</A>,
but I steadfastly held back from the urge to type.  I took
notes on paper, but I couldn't fall into "writing" --
crafting sentences, then forming paragraphs, editing, ...
All I could do was jot, and because I write slowly I had
to be pickier about what I recorded.  One result is that
I paid more attention to the speakers, and less to a train
of thought in my head.  Another is that I'll have to write
up the blog posts off-line, and that will take time!

As I looked through the conference program last night, I
found myself putting on my
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2008-03.html#e2008-03-13T11_49_40.htm">
   department head hat</A>,
looking for sessions that would serve my department in the
roles I now find myself in more often: CS1 for scientists,
educational policy in CS, and the like.  But when I got to
the site and found myself having to choose between Door A
and Door B...  I found myself drifting into the room where
<A HREF="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/reges/">
   Stuart Reges</A>
was talking about a cool question that seems to pick out
good CS students, and the nifty assignments.  Whatever my
job title may be, I am a programmer and CS teacher.  (More
on both of those sessions in coming entries...)

Now, for a couple of non-CS, non-teaching observations.
<UL>
<LI> I am amazed at how many healthy adults will walk out
     of their way, past a perfectly good set of stairs, to
     ride up an escalator.  Sigh.
<LI> Staying at the discount motel over three miles away
     and without a car, I am relying on public buses.  I
     have quickly learned that bus schedules are suggestions,
     not contracts.  Deal with it.  And in Portland, that
     often means: deal with it in the rain.
<LI> Schoolchildren here take standard mass transit buses to
     school.  I never knew such a place existed.
</UL>

There is so much for me to learn.
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