Friday, November 2, 2012

CMD-IT Announces Diversity as an Innovation Resource (DIR) Workshop Projects

From the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT October 2012 eNewsletter:

CMD-IT Diversity as an Innovation Resource (DIR) Workshop Projects

The primary goal of DIR workshop series is to bring together different constituencies to collectively identify how programs, which seek to increase the participation of students/professionals from under-represented groups into computing, can use that opportunity to foster innovative projects that impact the underrepresented communities. The major outcome from each workshop is a list of projects ideas to be disseminated to the broad community for implementation. The time period for the projects is 18 months, with DIR workshops held every two years.




DIR 2012 focused on math education delivery for grades 6 through 8 in under-served communities using mobile devices. The workshop led to the development of several ideas for mobile applications focused on middle school math concepts.  The ideas were developed by groups consisting of teachers, principals, researchers in ethnomathematics, practitioners in working with innovative communities, and researchers in mobile devices. 

Each project idea includes a short description, a list of the math concepts to be incorporated with the application, and suggestions for how culture can be incorporated into the mobile application.  When a student group takes on a project, we require the completion of very short pre and post surveys to gauge interest in the projects before and after implementation. We also have a listserv of teachers and researchers available to answer questions about the projects.   Currently, the projects are being used with the courses at Texas A&M and Bowie State University. 

If interested in working on a project, using the projects in a design course, or having the resultant applications used in your middle school classroom, please send an email to Valerie Taylor or join a group on the DIR website

 

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