BLOCKS+
A SPLASH workshop at SPLASH 2018 in Boston, MA, USA on Sun Nov 04, 2018

2018 BLOCKS+ Workshop Program

This full-day workshop will be on Sunday, November 4, 2018 at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, MA. Workshop activites will take place in the Beacon Hill Room (4th floor, see map).

Below is the schedule for the BLOCKS+ workshop day. You may also want to consult the SPLASH BLOCKS+ website and the schedule for all SPLASH workshops on Sun Nov 04.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Franklyn Turbak.

Use this world-writable coordination document to make announcements, organize meal groups and discussions, etc.

Sunday, November 04

The workshop format and schedule is designed to encourage discussion amongst the attendees. Most activities are themed sessions with a collection of short (3 to 10 minute) talks followed by open discussions and distributed presentations of demos and posters.

This is so-called "Fall back" day, on which clocks are set earlier by one hour to transition from Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) to Eastern Standard Time (EST). So 8am today is 24 hours later than 9am Sat Nov 03.

08:00-08:20
SPLASH Workshops Breakfast

Grab a bite and a coffee in the Terrace room (in the lower lobby, take steps down from concierge desk) before the BLOCKS+ workshop begins. The breakfast goes until 9am, but BLOCKS+ begins at 8:20am.

08:20-08:30
Welcome and Opening Remarks from the Organizers
08:30-09:00
Introductory Session (Session Chair: Lyn Turbak)
09:00-10:00
Themed Session 1: Limits People Reach and How to Get Past Them
(Session Chair: Daniel Wendel)
10:00-10:30
Morning Break
10:30-11:00
Block Abstractions for Artificial Intelligence (Panel) (Session Chair: Lyn Turbak)
11:00-12:00
Themed Session 2: Empowerment & Broadening Participation (Session Chair: Michelle Ichinco)
12:00-13:10
Lunch

Lunch is not provided by SPLASH, but there are lots of nearby restaurants to grab a quick lunch..

Be sure to be back in the workshop room by 1:10pm for the keynote talk!

13:10-14:10
Keynote Talk
(Session Chair: Josh Sheldon)
14:10-15:00pm
Themed Session 3: Accessibility and Language Construction Tools
(Session Chair: Akos Ledeczi)
15:00-15:30
Afternoon Break
15:30-16:15
Themed Session 4: Collaborative Programming (Session Chair: Amon Millner)
16:15-17:00
Implementers’ Campfire: Designs for Blocks-based Programming
(Session Chair: Mark Sherman)
17:00-17:05pm
Closing remarks
17:05-18:00
Playground Poster/Demo Session + SPLASH Social (Optional)

For anyone interested, here is a chance to follow up on ideas from earlier sessions or to circle back to something you may have missed. Or, if you have new work that didn’t make it into a session, feel free to bring a poster or demo for feedback!

This is the same time as the SPLASH social event in the Terrace room. Feel free to bring your conversations and demos to the Terrace room!

18:30ish
Dinner Groups (Optional)

Continue discussions from the workshop over dinner and after. There are lots of great restaurants nearby.. Use the world-writable coordination document to plan dinner groups! Or meet up with other in the Park Plaza lobby.