The 18th CCSC Southwest Region Conference March 28-29, 2025

Rephactor Supporter Session: How to Use Rephactor for Your Intro CS Course

Tom Way, Rephactor/Villanova University

Rephactor is an interactive, customizable, and affordable online textbook for introductory Java and Python courses, with C++ on the way. Bring your laptop and play around with Rephactor. I'll walk you thru the steps for getting started and using Rephactor's next-level interactivity and tools. Try out the customizable syllabus builder, in-topic code explorer, auto-graded quizzes and lab exercises, and the instructor dashboard to analyze student progress, automate attendance tracking, design your own lab exercises, download slides, and manage grades.

Navigating Feasibility: Choosing Service-Learning for Academic Fit

Nathan Sommer (Xavier University), Stan Kurkovsky (Central Connecticut State University), Chad Williams (Central Connecticut State University), Mikey Goldweber (Denison University)

Abstract: Service learning combines community service with course instruction and reflection, and provides students with impactful experiences that are beneficial in many ways. In courses that employ service learning, students engage with community partners to complete projects that can have a tangible impact on the missions of local community organizations. These projects allow students to develop and exercise their skills in real-world contexts, expose students to ways that computing can be used for the social good, and attract students from groups traditionally underrepresented in computing.
Adopting project-based service learning comes with numerous challenges. Changing pedagogical approaches demands a significant time commitment, and may be difficult to integrate into an existing curriculum. Some institutions have staff and resources dedicated to supporting instructors seeking externally sourced projects, while others lack such support, leaving instructors to fend for themselves. Potential community partners who lack technical knowledge may be enthusiastic about a partnership, but need assistance with brainstorming project ideas. More technically minded partners might have many ideas for projects, but lack the perspective to gauge the scope of work that can be accomplished by a group of students in a single semester. Student work is not guaranteed to deliver software that can be deployed, so careful communication is required to ensure partner expectations are aligned with possible outcomes and pedagogical goals.
In order to ease adoption by instructors who wish to embrace service learning projects but lack institutional or peer support, we are developing a framework that provides a course structure, sample deliverables and associated rubrics, instructor guides, and resources for sourcing appropriate projects. We draw from our past experiences to try to increase the chances of successful learning outcomes for students in service learning courses by addressing common pitfalls and highlighting factors that help lead to feasible projects with appropriate scope and academic fit.
This tutorial will focus on project feasibility evaluation. Tutorial participants will be presented with project proposals from hypothetical project partners, and engage in discussion to collaboratively assess the feasibility of the project case studies. Participants will discuss potential adjustments to the proposals that reduce risk to student learning outcomes while still satisfying the goals of the partners. We will provide our partner conversation guide and project feasibility evaluation rubric to help guide discussion.
This tutorial builds upon the success of our previous tutorial at the 2024 CCSC Northeastern Conference, and our Birds of a Feather session at the 2024 SIGCSE Technical Symposium. We draw from our collective experience facilitating over 100 distinct projects involving more than 600 students at different types of institutions.

Overcoming Procrastination: The Impact and Opportunities of ClearMind

Yiqing Li, Jiaen Yu, Dingyi Yu, Rocio Saez, Christina Cho, Soohyun Nam Liao
University of California, San Diego
Abstract: STEM fields are often associated with high levels of pressure, driven by tight deadlines, heavy workloads, and the pressure to succeed. Studies have shown that students exposed to such stressful environments are more likely to suffer from high levels of stress and anxiety. Correspondingly students often use procrastination as a coping mechanism to manage these emotions. However, academic procrastination can be detrimental to students' academic performance, well-being, and learning abilities, which often results in increased anxiety, burnout, and greater difficulties in breaking the cycle of procrastination. Our prior work, which hosted a small-scale, in-person workshop, suggests that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) effectively reduces procrastination. Building on this foundation, we developed ClearMind, a scalable smartphone-based application with interactive ACT activities designed to help students manage and overcome academic procrastination. In 2024, 13 computing students from a public research university participated in two hour-long focus groups and used ClearMind for two weeks. The focus groups, guided by the Technology Acceptance Model, explored students' perceptions of ClearMind for reducing procrastination, and its effectiveness in managing academic procrastination. This panel aims to promote ClearMind to potential users by sharing positive experiences and constructive feedback from student participants and highlighting the support the development team can offer to new users. Additionally, the panel seeks to gather suggestions from the audience for future enhancement to ClearMind.

Debugging Server- and Client-Side Javascript

Tiva Rocco, Joshua Gross
California State University, Monterey Bay
Abstract: Tutorial and hands-on demonstration of debugging tools and techniques for Javascript and Node.js applications, providing common errors and practical solutions to improve code quality and development efficiency.

Introductory Computing in the GenAI Era

Leo Porter (UC San Diego)
Sam Lau (UC San Diego)
Daniel Zingaro (University of Toronto, Mississauga)
Moderator: Leo Porter

Abstract: GenAI is having a significant impact on computing education by changing industry practices, shifting the skills needed to write software, and offering students solutions to traditional CS assessments. In this panel, three textbook authors who have integrated LLMs into their books and courses will discuss the challenges and opportunities posed by GenAI. They will explore key questions, including: How can we (re)design courses to incorporate GenAI? (Why would we want to?) How can we assess student learning effectively in the presence of GenAI tools? How have the skills needed to write software changed? What ethical considerations should be addressed when teaching with GenAI?

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