Workshop on Selected Topics in Computer Science

S.G.S. Institute of Technology and Science, Indore

April 5--6, 1997

Report by

P. D. Vyavahare

SGS Institute of Technology and Science
Indore.

Brief background

In October 1996 there was a discussion between Prof~P~D~Vyavhare of S.G.S.I.T.S., Prof~N~S~Chaudhary of Department of Computer Science, Devi Ahilya University and Dr~S~Oberoi of Tata Infotech, on the possibility of conducting a workshop aimed at third and final year students pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. The workshop was envisaged as a number of self-contained short tutorials on topics that do not receive much attention in the regular curriculum. It was proposed that a trial workshop of this kind be conducted at Indore, as Prof~Vyavhare and Prof~Chaudhary were both from Indore colleges and would be able to make local arrangements more easily. Dr~Oberoi was to speak to people in Mumbai who would be willing to prepare and deliver such tutorials, as well as find out if this activity could be done under the umbrella of IARCS. In this connection Dr~Oberoi had talks with Prof~R~K~Shyamasundar of TIFR, Dr~M~Sohoni of IIT Bombay, Dr~P~Bhaduri of Tata Infotech and Dr~M~Chandramouli of IIT Bombay. This idea met with the approval of all these people, and it was decided to go ahead and conduct a trial workshop in Indore under the ageis of the IARCS.

Structure of the workshop and topics covered

The workshop was organized as a series of tutorial of 90 minutes each. There were 6 such tutorials. These were:

5th April

Perspectives in Computer Science:
N~S~Chaudhary, Computer Science Department, Devi Ahilya University, Indore.
Intranets:
A~K~Rawat, Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore.
Rational Approximations:
M~Sohoni, Dept of Computer Sc \& Engg, IIT Bombay.
Reactive Systems:
P~Bhaduri, Applied Technology Group, Tata Infotech, Mumbai.

6th April

Computability and Complexity:
M~Chandramouli, Dept of Mathematics, IIT Bombay.
A Tutorial Introduction to Types:
S~Oberoi, Applied Technology Group, Tata Infotech, Mumbai.

Copies of the slides of some talks (talk 3 and 4 on 5th April and talk 1 and 2 on 6th April) were made available to the organizers. A copy of the entire tutorial for talk 2 on 6th April was also made available to the organizers.

Students were charged Rs.~25/- each to attend and faculty members were charged Rs.~50/- each. The organization was done by the students under the umbrella of their computer club.

Preparation

On 5th April (which was a Saturday) there were about 80-100 participants, most of which were final year students in Computer Science and Electronics and Telecom. There were many faculty members too. On 6th April (which was a Sunday) there were about 35-40 participants most of whom were students. There were very few faculty members. On the whole the audience was participative and was larger than we had generally expected. However the response from the faculty was, in general, somewhat disappointing. This was more that made up by the enthusiasm of the students themselves.

Feedback Received

The first form of feedback was the student response as well as the post tutorial discussions with the students. This feedback was very positive, and it clearly indicates that this kind of activity is worth the effort. Some feedback was received from some of the faculty that was present. This also was positive.

Another, somewhat unusual, source of feedback was also available. A dinner was hosted for the people who had conducted the tutorials. This was hosted by the Alumni Association of S.G.S.I.T.S., and was a small and focussed affair attended by the Director of the Institute, HOD's of the CS and the Electronics and Telecom department, the head of placement and some senior local alumni. These people were keen to know in what way they could help in the kind of activity that we had started off.

Some Concerns

A few concerns need to be addressed to make this activity more effective than it was in our first experiment. These are:

We need to ensure that the activity remains students focussed. This does not necessarily mean that it should be organized by a student body. There should be a lot interactivity and it would be nice to have one or may be two parallel open sessions each day without specific agenda just to get interaction going.
Copies of the tutorials as well as the slides need to be made available to the students before the tutorials.
Some key faculty members need to take a strong interest and ensure that the aims of the whole exercise are made clear to other faculty. Some delicate political situations can interfere with this and have a significant negative impact on the whole activity.
We need more poeple to come forward and assist in this activity by agreeing to prepare and deliver tutorials.
Some small level of funding is now needed. These funds will be utilized towards 2 tier/3 tier AC rail fare for the people delivering the tutorials, as well as generating copies of notes.

Overall Assessment

Overall the workshop could be said to have met its objectives. The response was certainly better than had been expected. Strong contributing factors are that the workshop was student focussed and the enthusiasm shown by some faculty members. The workshop could have been even more effective had it been possible for other institutes in Indore to have participated.

An image from the workshop:

Picture of S~Oberoi, Milind~Sohoni, P~D~Vyavahare, M~Chandramouli, P~Bhaduri