WEEK ONE: June 25 - June 28
| Tuesday:
I flew from Eugene, Oregon to Phoenix, then to AtlantaÖsuper long flight. My to-be-house-mate, Dana, picked me up from the airport and took me to my new home. The whole process was relatively painless since I somehow was able to pack everything I would need to 10 weeks into one single suitcase! That evening Dana had arranged for us to have dinner with the grad student I would be working with, Kristin, and her Husband, Lambo (great name, huh?!). I fell asleep very soon after dinner so I didnít make very good company, but because of the 3-hour time difference my sleepiness was well excused. |
Wednesday: I met with the professor who will be my advisor for the next 10 weeks, Prof. Janet Kolodner.I also met and attended a meeting with all the grad students and researchers involved in the Learning By Design Project. Kristin showed me around campus and got me set up with a MARTA (bus/train) pass, security badge, keys to the office and a Georgia Institute of Technology ID Card. I didnít really do any ěrealî work today, just got settled in and introduced to a lot of people. I went out to lunch with other grad students in the Computer Science departmentÖhad some really good Indian food! Also of importance: I found a rugby team and a soccer team to play on so now I donít have to worry about getting my team sport fix. To read more about rugby team go here:
|
Thursday: Today I actually got to dig into the project Iíll be working on for the next 10 weeks. The DigiQuilt project, which is described on my project page, is written entirely in a programming language called, Squeak. Squeak is a spawn of Smalltalk and looks very similar. I didnít really get a chance to learn the basics of the language before diving right into the code. Squeak is 100% Object Oriented so I was at least familiar with the structure thanks to my background in Java. Today I also read Kristinís research proposal for her DigiQuilt (she hasnít yet heard if it will be accepted) in order to better understand what she wishes to accomplish with her Quilt project. Iím very excited about the project as I am interested in Educational Software and Technology.
|
| Friday:
Today was fun. After
working on my piece of the project, which involves figuring out how to change
all instances of a specified patch in the quilt to a different color, I
got to take a break and actually work with kids. Another grad student, Jakita Owensby is currently testing her
software, SMILE, on a group of kids ages 11 to 15. Today
the kids learned about different types of erosion, walked around campus
looking for examples, then got to come back to the classroom and simulate
erosion in a very messy experiment with dirt, sand, rocks, moss, and water.
Clean up wasnít that hot, but it was fun to see what the kids would come
up with. |