Grant Work

See About page to see overview of grant project and methodology.

Note: all documents below are shared for transparency of a collaborative process between CS student interns and faculty through multi-semester development. Finalized versions will be shared through a Canvas shell and resource document once the phases below are completed.

Planning

Below are the planning materials generated in Fall 2025:

• IDEA OER Assessment Rubrics: Many C++ books on OER Commmons, MIT OpenCourseWare, and O’Reilly Books, as well as Learn C++. A total of 20 books were explored and the most student-friendly were evaluated
  • O’Reilly Introducing C++
  • Learn C++ - Debugging
  • Introduction to CS, Franchitti - Chapter 1
  • Learning Electronics with Arduino - Chapters 1-9
• Brainstorming how to address class fragmentation (complete intro students + ready to transfer students)
  • Using embedded systems (Arduino) as a vehicle to introduce C++ and…
  • Provide students an additional skillset for the workforce based on our industry advisory board
• Arduino Platform: Assessing various platforms to use, both physical and digital. Landed on using physical board kits for in-person section activities and TinkerCad for course work and online students.
• New Course Structure:
  • Canvas setup similar to GOALS in CS grant work to provide structured online learning environment
  • Flipped classroom (for in-person) with hands-on activities like physical Arduino kits and Sphero bots to introduce programming concepts using block coding language
  • New pacing that supports first-time CS students
  • Four culturally relevant unit projects, 3 weeks each, built through weekly labs to model final project ideas and approaches
    • General unit guides:
      • Cultural/societal context material (short reading/podcast/video)
      • Convention guide
      • Documentation guide
    • General lab structure for each lab/week:
      • Lab instructions
      • Sample solution
      • Word instruction guides for wiring (accessibility doc)
      • Debugging scenarios list and strategies
  • Unit Project brainstorm:
    • Unit 1 = Salsa Beat Maker
    • Unit 2 = Symbols of Solidarity
    • Unit 3 = Algorithms, Refactoring, Final Project Prep
    • Unit 4 = Soil Moisture Sensor

Implementing

Below are the materials built in Spring 2026 and Fall 2026:

• ZTC Course “Book”: List of selected topics and resources
• Canvas Sandbox: working off of GOALS in CS canvas shells with OER/ZTC Instructional Designer
• Unit 1 Guides (as example of general structure):
  • Cultural Context Material (Note: two tabs, one for student-facing version and a faculty-facing one with activity ideas)
  • Convention + Documentation Guide
• Lab 1A Docs (see tabs in doc for each below):
  • Lab Instructions
  • Wiring Guide (accessibility doc)
  • Debugging Guide
  • Sample Solution
• Similar breakdown as above for rest of labs:
  • Lab 1B Docs
  • Lab 1C Docs
• In Progress:
  • Lab 4 cleanup
  • Lab 3 Implementation
  • Lab 2 Implementation
  • Met with Aaron Holmes (SAS) about accessibility/universal design for labs. Planning to create box of components with braille labels

Teaching

Planned for Spring 2027

Finalized

• Canvas Sandbox: TBD
• Lab Repositories: TBD

Page last updated: 05-15-2026