As always, well put!  But I'm willing to keep banging my head against 
the wall.  There are lots of those non-peer "peers" out there, and 
they teach the majority of the students and classes.  An important 
path to getting these ideas out there is to figure out how to explain 
it to the "rest of us."  So next year, I'll try again...:-)

Thanks,
   Mark


>Well, Mark, the problem with "peer review" (and "trial by a jury of 
>peers") is that they almost never come up with actual peers. (I 
>personally have always detested (and ignored) this mechanism in ACM 
>and NSF, etc.)
>
>Cheers,
>
>Alan
>
>------
>
>At 9:55 PM -0500 11/4/01, Mark Guzdial wrote:
>>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
>
>
>--

--------------------------
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