This year at Brown, during the Spring semester, the Departments of Computer Science and Education will again offer the Educational Software Seminar. The basic idea motivating the course is that small groups of undergraduates (computer science and education concentrators primarily) can work with local teachers to successfully design, build and implement classroom software, originally specified by the teacher. The students work in teams, in close contact with the teacher requesting the software and his/her students, and the final result is a set of well-documented research projects that are also interesting computer programs and successful implementations of educational software.

In the Spring of 1998, seven projects were undertaken by the CS092 students, and all were successfully completed and implemented. The 1998 programs included a first-grade counting program for the Blessed Sacrament School in Providence, a Web-based study of color theory for Brown University's Visual Art 10 course, an introduction to computer networks for Classical High School, and an exploration of the Providence sewer system for the Providence Childrenšs Museum. These and other CS92-created programs are available to everyone at the course web site: http://www.cs.brown.edu/courses/cs092.

Recognizing that Internet access has broadened the range of what might be called "classroom software," we should emphasize that the Brown students will be using advanced authoring tools capable of creating both "freestanding" and Web-based tools and applications, and the primary goals of the projects are to meet the specifications of the teacher and provide the most versatile implementations possible. Therefore, in considering a project for CS92, we ask that you not think primarily about platforms and applications, but rather about how a computer-based tool, tutorial, or guided set of activities might help you achieve specific instructional goals in your course(s).

Participating teachers will want to meet with the student team working on their projects regularly (e.g. an hour each week), and of course allow members of the team to observe your class and have access to course materials. In return, participating teachers will have "software" built for them, to their specifications, and will contribute greatly to the experience of everyone in CS92.

If you are a teacher in a school in the Providence area, and have a project for CS92, please fill out and return a proposal form by December 15, 1998. You can use the on-line form below, or print and fill out the form in PDF format and mail it to me at the Department of Computer Science, Box 1910, Brown University, Providence RI 02912. Projects will be selected during the first week of February, and they will be completed by the end of the Spring semester at Brown. If you have any questions about possible projects, the technology wešll be using, or the Seminar in general, please donšt hesitate to call me at 863-7619, or send e-mail to rbb@cs.brown.edu.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider the offer. And if you have any questions, please donšt hesitate to contact me.