Evolution of the Digital Explorations Project
by Kaity Hauge
Each spring semester at the University of Colorado's department of Applied Mathematics is marked by the changing of the department's "theme" for the coming year. This new theme offers not only a new look to the department's advertisements, website design, and its publications, but also a new direction for the outlook and intentions of the department as a whole. In 2011, the spring semester's new theme was "Building Communities." This very broad and bold headlining statement for the department's intended new direction is an embodiment of an attitude that reflects an understanding of the need to evolve, on both an individual and on a collective level, synchronously with our rapidly developing global community and to bring together groups of individuals who can work together to simultaneously gain and spread knowledge, which is ultimately the way that any community can flourish and have a positive impact on the world as a whole. Both of these principals are part of the founding ideals of any University or place of learning. This new theme serves to inspire and challenge all members of the applied mathematics community to work together to better both themselves and all of the communities to which they belong.
Already, the Applied Mathematics Department has risen to the test of embodying this bold and inspiring new theme. One new program that embraces and illustrates the year's new theme is the newest evolution of the "Digital Explorations" program. Funded by grants given by the NSF, MCTP, the University of Colorado, and the EEF and headed by the department's own instructor John Flynt, the 2011 Digital Exploration's program has brought together a unique group of individuals whose intentions exemplify the very essence of "Building Communities".
The digital explorations program evolved out of another program called "digital currents" which was created through a partnership between the Applied Mathematics Departement and ATLAS in 2009. There was so much interest in the program in the summer of 2009 that a second section was created. This section was the first evolution of the digital explorations program, which had more emphasis on math and student involvement in the teaching aspect of the program. A pattern was then set in place where the work on flash applications in the school year would then lead students to be involved in a teaching role in the following summer. They were also given the opportunity to attend a conference with Flynt where they would present conference papers.
"I tried to take an authoritative role in creating a schedule in which work needs to be done, but allow students to do their own work at their level of ability," said Flynt of his role in the evolution of the digital explorations program.
This year, however, the program has taken on a new direction and with the help of a new grant from the EEF, has grown to reflect the many aspects and dimensions of the department's new theme. In previous years, the participants in the program took a basic programming course with Flynt, which would prepare them for the work in the following term. This year, the department tried a new approach in which students were paid to come in and take a course to learn the basics of flash. It allowed students to be more independent in their learning, which has so far shown to be an improvement over pervious years.In the late fall of 2010, the department brought together a rather unusual group of students who were to take on a similar challenge to that of previous digital explorations programs. This cast of characters was made up of several new engineering students who made an excellent first impression in their first year as members of the applied mathematics community, as well as a few, more established students from different communities within the University. The department selected freshmen Shana Mallick, Federico Paredes, and Eric Phaneuf as representatives of new and promising engineering talent. Each representing a different field from within the engineering school, these young students brought fresh perspectives to the group, and all were able to quickly pick up the skills necessary to begin working with flash program design.
"I have to take computing for engineers for my major and its always a great confidence booster for me when I can help people in my class using skills that I learned in my job," said Mallick, when asked about the new skills she has learned as part of the digital explorations program this year.
The other half of the group was made up of a bit more unusual crowd. Joining Mallick, Paredes and Phaneuf were sophomores Alexander Blair and myself: Kaity Hauge, as well as senior Troy Owens. Owens was the veteran of the group. As a participant in the Digital Explorations program in the summer of 2010, Owens was familiar with both the format of the lessons taught during the fall, as well as what was expected of him during the construction of the individual projects in the spring.
"I was on the team last year, and instead of the whole semester we only had one 8 hour day with John to try and learn everything about flash," said Owens of his experiences in the digital explorations program. "This lead to a pretty disastrous semester, since no one really knew what was going on. Now that everyone on the team has had some experience making programs, I look forward to what everyone will be able to accomplish."
Blair and I supplied an outsider's perspective to the group of primarily engineering students. As an integrative physiology and biology major, Blair was able to quickly pick up the basic programming skills due to his background in science and technology, and his communication skills and creativity allowed him to step into an unofficial leadership role. Blair's ability to communicate effectively with all of the members of the group and produce high quality and creative work allowed him to inspire and engage the other students to live up to the expectations of the department.
Now that the initial step of learning the process of creating flash applications and developing individual projects is complete, the digital explorations students will be entering into the next phase of the program. In the next months, students will be traveling to high schools in the Denver area to promote interest in the engineering programs available in local colleges.
"I feel like showing these kids the amount that we have been able to accomplish with just 6 months of training will inspire them to get involved in engineering programs," said Blair. "If we can show them what can be accomplished with very little experience, they will be able to conceptualize what can be accomplished with 4 years of engineering training."
What will truly be accomplished through these presentations to high school students will be examined in the next article in this series. The presentations are scheduled to be held at the end of April at regional high schools.
