Dr Tom Kelsey will be an expert panel member for the launch event on the future of artificial intelligence and machine learning held at the London Marriott Hotel, November 2018.
Fable-based Learning: Seminar by Prof Jimmy Lee
CUHK + UniMelb = Fable-based Learning + A Tale of Two Cities
Prof Jimmy Lee, Chinese University of Hong Kong
This talk reports on the pedagogical innovation and experience of a joint venture by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the University of Melbourne (UniMelb) in the development of MOOCs on the computer science subject of “Modeling and Solving Discrete Optimization Problems”. In a nutshell, the MOOCs feature the Fable-based Learning approach, which is a form of problem-based learning encapsulated in a coherent story plot. Each video lecture begins with an animation that tells a story based on the Chinese classic “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, in which the protagonists in the novel encounter a problem requiring technical assistance from the two professors from modern time via a magical tablet bestowed upon them by a fairy god. The new pedagogy aims at increasing learners’ motivation as well as situating the learners in a coherent learning context. In addition to scriptwriting, animation production and situating the teaching materials in the story plot, another challenge of the project is the remote distance and potential cultural gap between the two institutions as well as the need to produce all teaching materials in both (Mandarin) Chinese and English to cater for different geographical learning needs. The MOOCs have been running recurrently on Coursera since 2017. Some learner statistics and feedbacks will be presented. The experience and preliminary observations of adopting the online materials in a Flipped Classroom setting at CUHK will also be detailed.
This video at Youtube shows the trailer for the Coursera Course:
Biography:
Jimmy Lee has been on the faculty of The Chinese University of Hong Kong since 1992, where he is currently the Assistant Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Engineering and a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. His major research focuses on constraint satisfaction and optimization with applications in discrete optimization, but he is also involved in investigating ways of improving students’ learning experience via proper use of technologies. Jimmy is a two-time recipient (2004 and 2015) of the Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award and most recently the recipient of the University Education Award (2017) at CUHK.
Event details
- When: 21st August 2018 13:30 - 14:30
- Where: Cole 1.33b
- Format: Seminar
Seminar: SMT, Planning and Snowmen
Professor Mateu Villaret, from Universitat de Girona is a visiting scholar with the AI group from July 1st until September 30th. Professor Villaret works on algorithms for routing and scheduling with the AI group at St Andrews.
As well as solving practical problems, he also enjoys puzzle games. That is the basis of this talk, about using Planning and SMT to solve the “Snowman” puzzle.
Event details
- When: 6th August 2018 11:00 - 12:00
- Where: Cole 1.33a
- Series: AI Seminar Series
- Format: Seminar
DHSI Seminar Series
The school of Physics & Astronomy (Room 222) are hosting our next Digital Health Seminar
12.00pm – Lunch
12.20pm – Isla Rose & Mary Barnard Ultraviolet Radiation, DNA damage, and sunscreen
12.50pm – Lewis McMillan Monte Carlo radiation transfer model of laser tissue ablation
1.20pm – Nicole Schanche Planet candidate detection and ranking using MachineLearning
1.50pm – General discussions
All welcome!
DHSI Flyer – Physics & Astronomy 17.8
Event details
- When: 17th August 2018 12:00 - 14:00
- Where: Physics Bldg
- Format: Seminar
Workshop on Using Video in CS Education
The Higher Education Research Group is happy to announce the workshop on using video on Computer Science education on Aug 7th 2018.
Goals
Participants of this full-day workshop will look at the role of video in education in general, and specifically:
* Discussing opportunities and challenges that are specific for use of video in teaching and learning
* Connecting practitioners to share contextual experiences in using video in education
* Discussing curriculum design implications to include the use of technology
* Generating a collection of good practice “tips” and lessons learned for the benefit of those willing to start using video in learning, assessment and feedback, and seek to disseminate them afterwards in a practitioners’ focused publication, e.g. http://collections.plos.org/ten-simple-rules
* Reconciling practice-based with theoretical approaches to construct a vision of the current state-of-the-art learning technologies to then identifying future challenges.
Format
We are very happy to announce that the Director of Computational Foundry at Swansea University, Alan Dix, will give the keynote. He has worked in human–computer interaction research since the mid 1980s, is the author of one of the major international textbooks on Human-Computer Interaction and author of approximately 500 research publications covering topics from formal methods to creativity. In 2013 he produced an HCI MOOC that is now hosted at InteractionDesign.org and the materials reused for flip class teaching. In the same year he walked 1000 miles round the coast of Wales; the outcomes of which have included a case study of the educational use of the data gathered during the walk in the Open Knowledge Foundation book on “Open Data as Open Educational Resources”. The talk will include the use of fine-grained learning analytics of video and related educational resources.
In addition to the invited talk, the workshop will consist of a set of presentations followed by a world-café activity, producing practical tips in using video in education with a focus on assessment and feedback.
Background
Although video has historically played an important part on teaching and learning, only recently video-making and editing technologies have become accessible in an unprecedented way, allowing students to become proficient video “prosumers” (producers and consumers). Further, there are numerous educational gains to be had through these technologies. This interactive workshop explores how can video be used in practice to leverage skills and foster creativity whilst facilitating knowledge acquisition.
Target Audience
The workshop will involve 24 participants, who have experience or an interest in using video in education. While the central topic is video for assessment, we hope to also appeal to practitioners using video in a wider sense (e.g. in lecture capture, MOOCs, video feedback).
In order to register, contact Adriana at agw5@st-andrews.ac.uk, or visit the Eventbrite page:
Event details
- When: 7th August 2018 10:00 - 16:00
- Where: Gateway Bldg
- Format: Workshop
SICSA Workshop on Learning Analytics in Education
The Higher Education Research Group is happy to announce the SICSA-sponsored workshop on learning analytics on Aug 6th 2018.
Goals
The purpose of this SICSA-sponsored workshop is to encourage an evidence-based approach to teaching by leveraging quantitative and qualitative data available to CS schools. Most importantly, we plan to organise a multi-institution study on using machine learning and AI-based techniques on existing data to improve learning outcomes across multiple universities. The workshop will serve to formulate the goals of such a study and forge the necessary collaborations to make this happen.
Format
We are very happy to announce that the chief regulatory adviser at Jisc Technologies Andrew Cormack will give an invited talk about the legal and ethical framework for learning analytics. In addition to the invited talk, the workshop will consist of a set of breakout sessions and a final discussion dedicated to preparing a follow-up study. The breakout sessions will involve discussions about existing quantitative and qualitative data available to educators, how these data influence teaching, what (statistical and other) data procesisng is useful for driving decisions, and which algorithmic approaches could be applied across institutions.
Background
Evidence-based teaching is of particular importance in fast-moving fields like Computer Science, and is therefore of interest to many higher education institutions. We have more data on students and courses than ever before including grades, entry requirements, qualitative and quantitative feedback, and career paths after leaving the university, and as computer scientists we are well equipped to process such data. It is important to measure the positive and negative impact of changes to the delivery (e.g. lecture capture, different lecturers) and content (slides, supporting material, organisation) in order to maintain and hopefully improve learning outcomes over time.
However, measuring how teaching approaches affect learning outcomes can be challenging because of issues such as data protection, small numbers of students, changes in the curriculum, or changes in admission procedures. Measuring differences between institutions is even harder because of differences in course structure, class sizes and marking scales. We believe that computer science techniques such as data mining, machine learning and artificial intelligence will become increasingly important in this field, and would like to set up an ambitious study across several universities based on the findings of this workshop. Such a study is only possible if coordinated well across institutions and this workshop aims to provide the basis for such collaboration.
Target Audience
The workshop will involve 24 academics, mainly from SICSA-affiliated institutions, aiming to foster an exchange of ideas and best practice. While the central topic is CS education, we hope to also appeal to CS academics engaged in data ethics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (e.g. for processing data in natural text form) because the topic provides an important application of CS, and has great potential for impact.
To register, contact Kasim at kt54@st-andrews.ac.uk, or go to the Eventbrite page:
http://learning-analytics-workshop.eventbrite.com/
Event details
- When: 6th August 2018 09:30 - 15:30
- Where: Gateway Bldg
- Format: Workshop
Seminar: AI-augmented algorithms — how I learned to stop worrying and love choice
The speaker is Lars Kotthoff, previously a PhD student here, now and Assistant Professor at the University of Wyoming. All welcome.
Often, there is more than one way to solve a problem. It could be a different
parameter setting, a different piece of software, or an entirely different
approach. Choosing the best way is usually a difficult task, even for experts.
AI and machine learning allow to leverage performance differences of
algorithms (for a wide definition of “algorithm”) on different problems and
choose the best algorithm for a given problem automatically. In AI itself,
these techniques have redefined the state of the art in several areas and led
to innovative approaches to solving challenging problems.
In this talk, I will give examples of how AI can help to solve challenging
computational problems, what techniques have been applied, and how you can do
the same. I will argue that AI has fundamental implications for software
development, engineering, and computer science in general — stop making
decisions when coding, having more algorithmic choices is better!
Graduation Reception June 2018
Congratulations to our Senior Honours Class of 2018, MSci Honours students and our PhD students Dr Adam Barwell, Dr Martin McCaffery, Dr Gonzalo Mendez and Dr Long Thai, who graduated last month. Students were invited to a reception in the School prior to the ceremony, to celebrate their achievement with staff, friends and family.
Our graduates will move on to a wide variety of interesting and challenging employment and further study opportunities, and we wish them all well with their future careers.
School Technician wins sponsorship prize.
Technician David Letham entered the raffle for sponsorship of Berwick Rangers and won first prize!
“Berwick Rangers are excited to confirm that Berwick-based Northern Soul Kitchen will be the primary shirt sponsor for the 2018/19 season.
David Letham, founder of St Andrews Berwick Rangers Supporters and winner of the front of shirt sponsor prize at our sponsor draw on Saturday evening, has opted to donate the shirt sponsorship to the local community project: “Rather than putting my Supporters club on the front of the home shirt, I’ve asked Northern Soul Kitchen of Berwick if they would like the sponsorship and they were delighted to accept. It’s a good community initiative that is just starting up and I’m happy to help them by donating this sponsorship and hopefully forging a new link between Berwick Rangers and the local community in the process.”
Northern Soul Kitchen are a community project on West Street, Berwick, turning unsold food into affordable and delicious meals for people. The food is offered on a Pay-As-You-Feel (PAYF) basis meaning people can pay what they think the food is worth, donate whatever amount they can afford or even volunteer their time and skills to pay for a meal – all have their value.
Everyone knows that there is a nationwide problem with perfectly edible food being chucked away. Northern Soul Kitchen rescue this food before that happens and use it to make healthy meals for everyone. The kitchen will work to help a number of local issues, including food waste, food poverty, social exclusion and a misunderstanding about nutrition. As well as serving meals, Northern Soul Kitchen will be offering workshops and events for people to learn more about eating healthily on a budget.
Harriet Grecian, co-founder of Northern Soul Kitchen, is delighted to have been offered the primary shirt sponsorship prize: “We are incredibly grateful to David Letham and Berwick Rangers for this sponsorship opportunity. As a community project, it means a great deal to have partnerships with local organisations, especially one as significant as the local team. We’re looking forward to a great season for Berwick Rangers and can’t wait to come and see a game at Shielfield!”
The club are looking forward to working with Northern Soul Kitchen, with a number of exciting ideas already being discussed for the next 12 months. You can learn more about Northern Soul Kitchen here.”
PhD viva success: Adeola Fabola
Congratulations to Adeola Fabola, who successfully defended his thesis today. He is pictured with supervisor Dr Alan Millar, Internal examiner Dr Colin Allison and external examiner Dr Elizabeth Falconer, from Bournemouth University.
