The field of computer science has a problem of representation–many groups are not represented in our classroom at levels approaching their composition in society. Unfortunately, the representation issue is a larger societal issue and begins well before students enter our institutions. Though we acknowledge that building inclusive and learner-centered classroom environments cannot increase representation by itself, it can have an impact on retention and inclusion for members of marginalized communities.

As proposed by Linda B. Nilson and Joseph A. Packowski in Specifications Grading 2.0: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, Saving Faculty Time, and Developing Career Competencies, Specifications Grading is an assessment paradigm that relies on complete/incomplete grading of assignments and assessments, the structuring of course content into modules linked to learning outcomes, and the bundling of assignments and assessments within those modules. One intention of this type of course grading construct is to align assessment more closely with student attainment of intended learning outcomes. Many of the features of Specifications Grading make it more equitable. While there has been very visible work in incorporating Specifications Grading in some academic areas (e.g., in mathematics), examples of the use of Specifications Grading in computer science courses are less common, but increasing. The goal of this tutorial is to introduce the concepts of Specifications Grading and explain how to apply these concepts to a wide range of computing courses and class sizes. You will learn that it can be implemented on a continuum, and is not an all or nothing approach. Each participant should leave the tutorial with the ability to revise their course syllabus and assignments to incorporate Specifications Grading. Access to many examples and resources will be provided.

The field of computer science has a problem of representation-many groups are not represented in our classroom at levels approaching their composition in society. Unfortunately, the representation issue is a larger societal issue and begins well before students enter our institutions. Though we acknowledge that building inclusive and equitable classroom environments cannot increase representation by itself, it can have an impact on retention and inclusion for members of marginalized communities.

As proposed by Linda B. Nilson in Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time, Specifications Grading is an assessment paradigm that relies on pass/fail grading of assignments and assessments, the structuring of course content into modules linked to learning outcomes, and the bundling of assignments and assessments within those modules. One intention of this type of course grading construct is to align assessment more closely with student attainment of intended learning outcomes. Many of the features of Specifications Grading make it more equitable. While there has been very visible work in incorporating Specifications Grading in some academic areas (e.g., in mathematics), examples of the use of Specifications Grading in computer science courses are less common. The goal of this tutorial is to introduce the concepts of Specifications Grading and explain how to apply these concepts to a wide range of computing courses and class sizes. You will learn that it can be implemented on a continuum, and is not an all or nothing approach. Each participant should leave the tutorial with the ability to revise their course syllabus and assignments to incorporate Specifications Grading. Access to many examples and resources will be provided.

Computer science graduates seeking a career in software engineering often find themselves inadequately prepared for the challenge demanded by technical interviews, as the interview questions frequently transcend the scope of standard data structures and algorithms courses. Thus, after spending four years pursuing a specialized degree, many graduates begrudgingly purchase technical interview crash courses and allocate an additional two or three months in interview preparation, effectively studying the equivalent of what otherwise could have been an advanced course in applied algorithms and data structures. This paper outlines our journey in designing and evolving a structured computer science course aimed at bridging this academia-industry divide. We detail our collaboration with industry experts to enhance course outcomes and present a retrospective analysis spanning five years of continuous improvement efforts. This course primarily targets third and fourth-year undergraduate students and covers the precise topics found within technical interviews, with a focus on both implementation and running time analysis. Student performance from the most recent offerings indicates a significant improvement in the course learning outcomes, and indirect assessment reflected this success, with students feeling both confident and empowered to excel in interviews and beyond.

The field of computer science has a problem of representation-many groups are not represented in our classroom at levels approaching their composition in society. Unfortunately, the representation issue is a larger societal issue and begins well before students enter our institutions. Though we acknowledge that building inclusive and equitable classroom environments cannot increase representation by itself, it can have an impact on retention and inclusion for members of marginalized communities.

As proposed by Linda B. Nilson in Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time, Specifications Grading is an assessment paradigm that relies on pass/fail grading of assignments and assessments, the structuring of course content into modules linked to learning outcomes, and the bundling of assignments and assessments within those modules. One intention of this type of course grading construct is to align assessment more closely with student attainment of intended learning outcomes. Many of the features of Specifications Grading make it more equitable. While there has been very visible work in incorporating Specifications Grading in some academic areas (e.g., in mathematics), examples of the use of Specifications Grading in computer science courses are less common. The goal of this workshop is to introduce the concepts of Specifications Grading and explain how to apply these concepts to a wide range of computing courses and class sizes. Each participant should leave the workshop with the ability to revise their course syllabus and assignments to incorporate Specifications Grading. Access to many examples and resources will be provided.

As proposed by Linda B. Nilson in Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time, Specifications Grading is an assessment paradigm that relies on pass/fail grading of assignments and assessments, the structuring of course content into modules linked to learning outcomes, and the bundling of assignments and assessments within those modules. One intention of this type of course grading construct is to align assessment more closely with student attainment of intended learning outcomes. Many of the features of Specifications Grading make it more equitable. While there has been very visible work in incorporating Specifications Grading in some academic areas (e.g., in mathematics), examples of the use of Specifications Grading in computer science courses are less common. The goal of this workshop is to introduce the concepts of Specifications Grading and explain how to apply these concepts to a wide range of computing courses and class sizes. Each participant should leave the workshop with the ability to revise their course syllabus and assignments to incorporate Specifications Grading. The workshop presenters, having more than twenty-five years of combined experience implementing Specification Grading, will provide access to many examples and resources.

The field of computer science has a problem of representation - many groups are not represented in our classroom at levels approaching their composition in society. Unfortunately, the representation issue is a larger societal issue and begins well before students enter our institutions. Though we acknowledge that building inclusive and equitable classroom environments cannot increase representation by itself, it can have an impact on retention and inclusion for members of marginalized communities.

As proposed by Linda B. Nilson in Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time, Specifications Grading is an assessment paradigm that relies on pass/fail grading of assignments and assessments, the structuring of course content into modules linked to learning outcomes, and the bundling of assignments and assessments within those modules. One intention of this type of course grading construct is to align assessment more closely with student attainment of intended learning outcomes. While there has been very visible work in incorporating Specifications Grading in some academic areas (e.g., in mathematics), examples of the use of Specifications Grading in computer science courses are less common. The goal of this workshop is to introduce the concepts of Specifications Grading and explain how to apply these concepts to a wide range of computing courses and class sizes. Each participant should leave the workshop with the ability to revise their course syllabus and assignments to incorporate Specifications Grading. Access to many examples and resources will be provided.

Games are an excellent tool for undergraduate research in artificial intelligence because they typically have clear objectives, a limited action space, and well-defined constraints. Nonetheless, games involving chance and imperfect information offer unique challenges for optimizing gameplay. In this paper, we analyze one such card game, gin rummy, and propose an artificial intelligence player based on empirically driven strategies. Our approach separates gameplay into three disjoint policies for drawing, discarding, and knocking. On each turn, decisions are influenced by offensive considerations as well as defensive moves. Tournament-style simulations enable us to determine statistically which combination of policies achieves the highest win rate. Our resulting player, dubbed Heisenbot, is competitive against strong baseline strategies.

As proposed by Linda B. Nilson in Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time, specifications grading is an assessment paradigm that relies on pass/fail grading of assignments and assessments, the structuring of course content into modules linked to learning outcomes, and the bundling of assignments and assessments within those modules. One of the intentions of this type of course grading construct is to align assessment more closely with student attainment of intended learning outcomes. While there has been very visible work in incorporating specifications grading in some academic areas (e.g. in mathematics), examples of the use of specifications grading in computer science courses are less common. The goal of this workshop is to introduce the concepts of specifications grading, explain how to apply these concepts to a wide range of computing courses and class sizes, and have the participants apply these concepts to one of their current or upcoming computer science courses. Each participant should leave the workshop with at least one revised course syllabus or assignment that incorporates specifications grading. Access to examples and resources will be provided.

As proposed by Linda B. Nilson in Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time, specifications grading is an assessment construct that relies on pass/fail grading of assignments and assessments, the structuring of course content into modules linked to learning outcomes, and the bundling of assignments and assessments within those modules. One of the intentions of this type of course grading construct is to more closely align assessment with student attainment of intended learning outcomes. While there has been very visible work in incorporating specifications grading in some academic areas (e.g. in mathematics), examples of the use of specifications grading in computer science courses are less common. The goal of this workshop is to introduce the concepts of specifications grading, explain how to apply these concepts to a wide range of computing courses, and have the participants apply these concepts to one of their current or upcoming computer science courses. Each participant should leave the workshop with at least one revised course syllabus or assignment that incorporates specifications grading. A laptop computer is recommended, but not required. Access to handouts will be provided.

Artificial intelligence in games serves as an excellent platform for facilitating collaborative research with undergraduates. This paper explores several aspects of a research challenge proposed for a newly-developed variant of a solitaire game. We present multiple classes of game states that can be identified as solvable or unsolvable. We present a heuristic for quickly finding goal states in a game state search tree. Finally, we introduce a Monte Carlo Tree Search-based player for the solitaire variant that can win almost any solvable starting deal efficiently.

As proposed by Linda B. Nilson in "Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time", specifications grading is an assessment construct that relies on pass/fail grading of assignments and assessments, the structuring of course content into modules linked to learning outcomes, and the bundling of assignments and assessments within those modules. One of the intentions of this type of course grading construct is to more closely align assessment with student attainment of intended learning outcomes. While there has been very visible work in incorporating specifications grading in some academic areas (e.g. in mathematics), examples of the use of specifications grading in computer science courses are less common. The goal of this workshop is to introduce the concepts of specifications grading, explain how to apply these concepts to a wide range of computing courses, and have the participants apply these concepts to one of their current or upcoming computer science courses. Each participant should leave the workshop with at least one revised course syllabus or assignment that incorporates specifications grading.

Traditional, points-based grading poses several challenges to computer science educators. Students can lose focus on learning the material and instead focus on the game of trying to accumulate enough partial credit to get to the next grade tier. Faculty can waste large amounts of time obsessing over partial credit point assignment for a particular assignment. It can be difficult to use course grades to connect student performance with learning outcomes for the course and the program. This poster presents an overview of an alternative approach to traditional grading: specifications grading. Specifications grading is a points-free, mastery style of grading that replaces partial credit with quality feedback and revision opportunity. This model provides several advantages over the traditional grading approach. These advantages include better support for high academic standards and rigor, an increased focus for students on learning by removing the intrinsic motivation to earn points, and a stronger connection between student grade assessments and course learning outcomes. The poster will provide an overview of specifications grading and its benefits, along with details of implementation for an Android application development course and an introductory-level programming course. Additionally, the poster will include student evaluation data from previous offerings of the courses.