Professor Dr. Christian Servin, along with two Computer Science students and STS Peer Leaders, Ivan Alonso and Emiliano Garcia, presented at the Technical Symposium of the Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education (SIGCSE TS) program held in Portland, Oregon, March 20-23, 2024. Their work titled “The Fingerprint Assignment: An Interdisciplinary Assessment for CS I Education” was included in the “Nifty Assignment” session.

The EPCC team’s work was competitively selected for inclusion by multiple reviewers and a committee in a category that included more than 30 submissions from different countries. Their work is considered among the top six assignments in the computer science community for the current year globally and is particularly noteworthy since this is the first time that Nifty Assignments has accepted a community college assignment in this track.

The symposium focused on addressing common challenges among educators involved in developing, implementing, and evaluating computing programs, curricula, and courses. The symposium serves as a platform for sharing innovative ideas related to syllabi, laboratories, and other aspects of teaching and pedagogy across all levels of instruction.

Emiliano Garcia, Dr. Christian Servin, Ivan Alonso

As the first community college to be included, EPCC’s winning assignment now is a part of a body of work that also includes assignments from Tier One universities including Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton and others. According to Servin, this is just one example of how research and contributions originating from EPCC are being showcased in the global community of computer science education, highlighting the importance of involvement of undergraduate students in research in the field. He says the Computer Science department at EPCC prioritizes ensuring that students have the opportunity to be involved in innovative projects like this frequently.

For many students, EPCC provides their first experiences doing research which helps broaden their knowledge. Alonso and Garcia are EPCC students who have served as peer leaders for the computer science programs for the past two years. This project, spearheaded by Dr. Servin, identified best practices for disseminating material and actively promoted computational thinking withing their peer community. Garcia said participating in this project with the guidance of Dr. Servin helped gain skills that he will use as a computer scientist. He said the project presented many challenges that helped his educational experience and boosted his professional development. Alonso said participating in this project prepared him with deeper understanding of computer science and he learned valuable insights about potential career paths for his future. “Through participation in this research, I discovered knowledge beyond the classroom,” Alonso, said. “Engaging in research exposed me to real world applications and challenges, which fostered a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the field.”

It through innovative projects like these, EPCC students and faculty are able to work together. Students gain the knowledge and skills they need to become competitive for the jobs of the future. Professors like Dr. Servin are able to teach students how advance research and contribute to the Computer Science field. “I express gratitude to the Student Government Association, EPCC’s Education & CTE department and to the National Science Foundation ATE grant DUE-2300378 that made travel expenses possible to present this work.”