Computer Science Professor Charles Mcdowell Named Carnegie Scholar

SANTA CRUZ, CA–The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has named Charles McDowell, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a Carnegie Scholar for 2001-02. McDowell is the second UCSC faculty member to serve as a Carnegie Scholar, following the selection of professor of mathematics Bruce Cooperstein for the 1999-2000 program.

The Pew National Fellowship Program for Carnegie Scholars, established in 1998, brings together outstanding faculty committed to investigating and documenting significant issues in the teaching and learning of their fields. The program is administered by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

As part of the program, each of the scholars designs a project aimed at improving understanding of an important issue in the teaching and learning of his or her field. McDowell’s project will focus on the way computer programming is taught. He will examine the use of an approach called pair programming, in which two programmers work side by side at one computer.

Pair programming has been successfully practiced in industry for several years, but it is still not widely accepted, McDowell said. He will investigate how the use of pair programming in courses at all levels affects students’ enjoyment of the subject, their proficiency with the material, the speed with which they attain mastery of the material, and their decision to continue to study in the area of computer science. He will also examine the impact of pair programming on the workload for instructors and teaching assistants.

This represents an extension of work in progress under the leadership of Linda Werner, a lecturer in computer science, who received a National Science Foundation grant to explore the use of pair programming with students in introductory-level computer science courses.

McDowell and the other Carnegie Scholars will come together at the Carnegie Foundation in Menlo Park for two two-week-long summer residencies during their appointments. They will also spend shorter periods together during the academic year, sharing ideas and refining their projects.