This presentation will focus on the utility of collaborative problem solving for improving students' interest in and success at problem solving and mastering technical material. I will present two variations of co-curricular collaborative problem solving that I work with - a team-based challenge for university students and an individual challenge that involves students and professionals. I will also present several examples of non-traditional, problem-solving exercises for students. These will include an interactive, on-line tool to help operating systems students in understanding deadlock, a problem-solving exercise to help second-semester students understand polymorphism and performance trade-offs, and an interactive problem used to invite novice programmers to automate a difficult task. I'll provide a demonstration of a lecture segment on two-dimensional arrays. Finally, I will present some of my efforts to extend education beyond computer science students through NSF-funded work in developing coursework in computational thinking.

Dr. David Sturgill is a visiting associate professor in computer science at UNC Greensboro. Prior to that, he was an associate professor at Baylor University, where he has served as the graduate program director and the chair of the undergraduate curriculum committee. Since 2008, David has been the director of the ICPC Challenge, a program-vs-program competition among the world finalist teams in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. David received his Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University in 1997.