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Developing Outreach Activities in the School of Computing Sciences

Dr Ben Milner

Director of Learning and Teaching

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Overview

• Motivation

• Methods of outreach developed– Visits by schools

– Visits to schools

– CMP ambassadors

• Activities

• Funding

• Feedback and benefits

• Future activities

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Motivation for outreach in CMP

• Outreach activities began in 2003

• Stimulation of applications – Applications to computing have fallen by 50% from 2001

• Inspire and educate children about computing science– Content of computing/IT subjects in schools is uninspiring

– Show children more interesting aspects of computing science

– Use facilities not available in schools - hardware and software

• Raise aspirations– Show children what they can do - at university

– Benefits of going to university

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Methods of outreach developed

• Visits by schools to CMP

• Organised centrally or locally• Between 20 and 60 children visit• Duration from 1 hour to 4 days• Range of activities

– Lab-based

– Short lectures

– Campus tours

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Methods of outreach developed

• Visits to schools– Take practical activities into schools

– Lectures on computing/HE

– School science days

• CMP ambassadors– Encourage our own students visit previous school/college

– Give presentation on UEA/CMP

– Invite school back to UEA

– Difficult to recruit ambassadors

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Aims of activities

• Activities are selected based on several criteria

– Should be fun

– Quick to start and make progress on

– Work independently

– Arouse curiosity

– Experience new technology

– Achieve an end goal

– Often culminate in a competition

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Types of activities

• Robotics• Computer graphics• Speech• Artificial intelligence• Motion capture

• Talks on computing science and higher education• Campus tour• Campus lunch

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Example programme (day long)

Welcome and introduction 5 minutes

Robotics 90 minutes

Break 15 minutes

Motion capture 30 minutes

HE talk 30 minutes

Lunch and campus tour 90 minutes

Computer graphics 90 minutes

Conclusion 5 minutes

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“Robot Wars”• TV programme Robot Wars is very

popular with children

• School of Computing Science has 18 Lego Mindstorm robots

• Start with simple programs to move robot forwards and backwards

• Extends to develop use of touch sensors and light sensor

• Variable lab sessions depending on age and duration

• Robot Wars world champion (Ed Hoppitt) lectures on our longer courses

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• Final competition based on navigating through an obstacle course

• Students enjoy challenge and competitive aspects

• Certificates for winners

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“Robot Wars”

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“Robot Wars” champions

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• Updated robots with 18 new Lego NXTs

• Need to keep ahead of schools

Next generation robots

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• Most children are familiar with computer graphics - – Computer games

– Simulation

– Movies (Toy Story)

– Special effects

• Activities again based on quickly producing something with a clear end goal

Computer graphics

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• Younger children use 3-D studio max to create a simple moving scene

• Example was for 11-12 year old children in about 90 minutes

• 3-D studio max is not generally used in schools

• Industry-standard modelling and animation software

Computer graphics - animation

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• Recently purchased several Microsoft Xbox 360 games consoles for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching

• These have now been included in work with schools, mainly for older children - 16-18 year olds

• Write prototype code on PCs in C# and upload to Xbox to play

Computer graphics - games consoles

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• Simple space shooting game coded

• Aimed at older students - produced in about 2 hours

• Runs on Xbox 360

• Students gain real sense of achievement

• Very different to studies in schools

Computer graphics - games consoles

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• Activity requires students to connect phonemes together to form speech

• Students learn about phonemes and context

• Refinement to improve realism

• Computer synthesises speech from phoneme sequence

Computer speech

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• State-of-the-art motion capture lab - funded by the BBC

• Used for research into animation

• Same equipment used for motion capture in games and film/TV

• Involve students by capturing their motion and playing it back

• Students can relate to this through experiences with computer games and films

Motion capture

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Funding

• Funding has come from a variety of sources

• Aimhigher• Gifted and Talented Students• Smallpeice Trust• SCI Faculty• CMP

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Aimhigher Norfolk

• Aimhigher Norfolk arranged into five areas:

– Central

– East

– North

– South

– West

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Activity costs

• Centrally organised events– Charge for faculty time, laboratory demonstrators and equipment

– Approximately £60 per hour

• Locally organised events– Daily rate of £280 for a single group, rising for parallel and multiple groups

– Covers lab activities, tour guides, refreshments, equipment, etc

– May offer reduced rates in special circumstances

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Developing links

• Outreach website• Aimhigher reps• STEM network• Word of mouth

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Established school links

• Close links with 14 local schools and colleges

• Hosted about 50 sessions in the last year

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Feedback and benefits

• Stimulation of applications – Difficult to measure - have recognised faces at CMP Visit Days

• Inspire and educate children about computing science– Experience outside of classroom - more advanced CS

– Students are exposed to a range of areas in computing science

– See large computing labs and hardware not seen in schools

• Raise aspirations– Students get better idea of what university education in like

– Benefits of going to university are explained/discussed

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Feedback and benefits

• Teachers– “Thank you very much for organising such an interesting day for my

students! I would love to bring another group next year.”– “Thanks. Excellent day. Our students were full of it. More like this please.”– “Brilliant day thanks.”

• Students– “Thanks you for making the day really enjoyable. Programming was really

fun and I learnt a lot.”– “The day was very enjoyable and I learnt a lot about AI and robots.”– “Thanks for the wonderful experience you gave us at the University of

East Anglia.”– “Thanks for a fun experience.”

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Feedback and benefits

• Several articles in local newspapers

• Generates publicity for UEA/CMP

• Advertises our outreach activities

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Future activities

• Faculty Outreach Officers (FOOs)– Each faculty now has an FOO to arrange outreach

– Budget of £10,000 - expected to seek further funding

• Careers advisors workshop for computing

• Computing/IT teachers workshop

• A-level computing advanced classes (cf further maths)

• CMP ambassadors

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End