AAAI 2010 Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence

Model AI Assignments Session

What Is The Model AI Assignments Session?

The Model AI Assignments Session seeks to gather and disseminate the best assignment designs of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) education community.

One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty, until you try.  – Sophocles

Recognizing that assignments form the core of student learning experience, we invite AI educators to submit draft assignment materials that exemplify an approach to teaching AI topics at all levels.

Submission Ideas

Consider these challenges in assignment design:

• Introductory AI Audience: As any AI educator knows, AI topics are diverse, and one can only effectively cover a sampling of topics at the introductory level. Pick an AI topic/subtopic you consider essential to Introductory AI (for example, search, constraint satisfaction, knowledge representation and reasoning, planning, probabilistic reasoning, machine learning, robotics, machine vision, and so on). What is your optimal assignment to ground the core concepts in experience?
• K-12/CS1/CS2 Audience: Which AI assignment experiences best communicate the techniques, potentials, and challenges of the discipline? If you could offer a single assignment to attract the next generation of AI practitioners, which would it be?
• Emerging Topics: When a new algorithm has high impact in a research area, there is a need to introduce the algorithm not only to students, but to all AI researchers as well. The creation of initial high-quality assignments to teach such groundbreaking techniques can accelerate research advancements and keep AI material fresh at all levels. Which emerging topic(s) are most in need of excellent tutorial assignment materials?

Whether sharing the best of your time-tested assignment designs, or offering a timely new creation, please consider how your creative assignment ideas can attract and prepare the next generation of AI researchers, or accelerate the advancement of the current generation.

Model Assignment Considerations

The Model AI Assignment Session is a part of EAAI-10: The First Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence. This will be held July 13–14, 2010 in conjunction with AAAI-10 in Atlanta, Georgia.

As with SIGCSE’s Nifty Assignments, EAAI Model AI Assignments have a tendency to be:

• Adoptable — Provide materials to make the assignment easy for other instructors to adopt. Materials might include handouts in common formats (e.g. HTML, PDF), starter source code, data files, suggestions for use, etc.
• Engaging — Model assignments often have a playful “fun factor” or impressive outcome. The applications spark interest in the topic, lead to deeper understanding, and are accomplishments likely to be shared with others.
• Flexible/Scalable — Language/platform independence, while not required, would allow more widespread use over time. Suggestions of possible follow-on projects, further readings, or other open ends invite continued learning. Advise for variations in assignment design can help other instructors create unique (that is, not easily plagiarized) assignment experiences for their students.

Submissions

See the EAAI Model AI Assignment Session supplementary web site for submission instructions.