Did anyone get any papers on Squeak accepted at the ACM SIGCSE 
(Computer Science Education) conference?

I submitted both a workshop (on teaching with Squeak) and a paper (on 
the computer music class I've been teaching and the active essays 
we're using), and both were rejected.  Workshops aren't reviewed 
(decision made by committee), so I have no feedback on that.  The 
paper had four reviews:
- First reviewer didn't get why anyone would want to teach computer 
music in a CS department: "A type of course that is not common in 
computing, but that has been used in mathematics and physics (at 
least) for a number of years to illustrate various mathematical 
concepts. May be of interest to some attendees, but of little 
interest to the majority."  Gave it a 4/6.
- Second reviewer gave it 5/6. "A demonstration of the coding for a 
couple algorithms along with the resulting output would be a striking 
demonstration. "
- Third reviewer gave it 6/6. "Please accept this paper.  Live demos 
of every aspect -- SQUEAK, Active Essays. The audience will be 
delighted."
- Fourth reviewer killed it with 2/6. "I am not sure where this 
material would be incorporated in a typical CS curriculum. "  He 
didn't like the idea of teaching a "specialized language" (Squeak) 
nor of teaching "computer professionals how to _generate_ music" -- 
he says that they should just use "recordings."

The lesson for me is that the hardcore CS educator is harder to sell 
than I realized.  I'm hoping that some others fared better -- anyone?

Mark
--------------------------
Mark Guzdial : Georgia Tech : College of Computing : Atlanta, GA 30332-0280
Associate Professor - Learning Sciences & Technologies.
Collaborative Software Lab - http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/csl/
(404) 894-5618 : Fax (404) 894-0673 : guzdial at cc.gatech.edu
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/Mark.Guzdial.html