Winter Break Recap: Building, Writing, and Teaching

A productive winter break filled with new projects, conference paper submissions, and coding lessons.

Hello and welcome back! I missed a couple of weeks during winter break, but I'm back with a recap of the break. It was a time of relaxation, creativity, and progress on multiple fronts. As always, disclaimer: I talked for 10 minutes and then had AI generate this post, which I then edited lightly.

Rest and Relaxation: The break started with a much-needed rest, with about a week and a half of downtime around Christmas. It was a perfect opportunity to recharge before diving into new projects.

Verse - Voice-Based Discussion Robot: In late December, Elliot and I had a breakthrough day. We spent time rock climbing and brainstorming at the Ohio State University libraries, where we sketched out the plan for the latest iteration of Verse. This asynchronous voice-based discussion robot allows teachers to input discussion topics, and students engage with AI-driven follow-up questions. We quickly built a working demo, shared it, and gathered a waitlist of interested users. The next phase involves outreach and further development.

Conference Paper Submissions: Elliot and I submitted two conference paper drafts to the American Society for Engineering Education Conference, scheduled for June in Montreal. The first paper, led by Elliot, introduces Patch, our software for teaching coding to middle school students. The second paper focuses on our binary search tree cards activity, which helps students understand binary search trees through an engaging, hands-on approach. Both papers are works in progress, and we're excited to see how they develop.

Coding Lessons: I had the pleasure of returning to coding tutoring with kids in my community. We explored Scratch with an eight-year-old and Scratch Junior with a five-year-old. It was a joy to reconnect with them after a long break and witness their enthusiasm for learning. I hope to continue these sessions via Zoom throughout the semester.

Looking forward to sharing more about the upcoming semester in my next entry. Until then, toodles!