PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES UPDATE

Name:     James S. Jones                         Date:  September 18, 1996
Division: Science and Math Division


I.   Teaching Innovations (course development, revisions, instructional 
     strategies implemented, use of technology, etc.)

An NSF grant (which I had participated in writing last year) was awarded 
to the University of Iowa together with Graceland, Luther, and Cornell 
colleges to acquire a high-performance parallel computer for use by
undergraduates. The machine, an SGI Power Challenge, was purchased and 
is maintained at the University of Iowa. I assisted a Graceland senior 
doing independent study in parallel programming on this machine over
the Internet and also did some simple programming on it to become 
familiar with it myself.

"Introduction to Computers and Applications" was offered in a different
format this year, taught by me rather than by those in different departments.
The changes in the course included a change in textbook, change in software
(Claris on Mac & Perfect Suite on PC), change in platform (both Mac and
Windows 3.1), change in work environment (microlabs, dorm computers, and
off-campus internet connections), change in teaching environment (218 Zim
with a networked multi-platform MacOS/Win3.1/Dos machine), change in
class size (single section unlimited size), and change in publisher's
support tools (videos and multi-media package). These all kept me very busy
and there were many innovations that were tried in this course (and others) as
a result. An e-mail assignment in which I carried on an e-mail instructional
dialog with individual students to make sure each knew how to fully use e-mail
was one such teaching strategy. It was a great success for student learning
but was also very time-consuming and office-work-interruptive in nature.
I also developed and maintained Web pages to communicate with and assist the 
students in course related matters. The maintenance activity took more time 
than originally anticipated as the number of files involved grew.
 
Developed several Claris Works slide series for presenting topics in
various courses via computer display.

Purchased a second (advanced) version of Claris Works 4.0, the application
used in my teaching which I made available to students for self study.

A decision (based on early assessments of the curriculum and alumni 
feedback) was made to change the central programming language used in
the curriculum from Pascal to C++ beginning in Fall 1996. Preparations 
for this were made over the summer. 


II.  Service Provided

     A. Professional Service

        Faculty advisor to 15-20 students
        Inform students of (and post) the many e-mail job notices I receive
        Meet with prospective students at the request of Admissions
        Assisted various faculty with computer/net questions throughout year

     B. College Committees and Assignments

        Academic Computer Services Committee
        Computing Services Committee
        Liberal Studies/Extra Institutional Review Committee


III. Presentations (title, organization, date)

"Multi-layered Pipeline Parsing from Multi-axiom Grammars" presentation
and an online demonstration of this work given at the AMiLP (Algebraic 
Methods in Language Processing) Conference in December 1995 at the 
University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands.


IV.  Publications (bibliographic data)

T. Rus and J.S. Jones. "Multi-layered Pipeline Parsing from Multi-axiom 
Grammars". In A. Nijholt, G. Scollo, and R. Steetskamp, editors, "Algebraic
Methods in Language Processing, AMiLP'95", pages 65-81. University of Twente,
Department of Computer Science, NL 7500 AE Enschede, 1995. [see III above]

T. Rus and J.S. Jones. "PHRASE Parsers from Multi-Axiom Grammars". 
Submitted to Theoretical Computer Science in Sept 1996. Review pending.


V.   Grant Writing

No new grant proposals that I directly participated in this year. 

Prepared an "in writing" list of needs for the future of the Computer Science 
program at Graceland College which provides a basis for future grant requests.

Participated in committees to provide feedback on past awarded grants:
(1) the Graceland College Computer Engineering/Physics I.L.I. grant, and 
(2) the Consortium (Un of Iowa, Graceland, Luther, Cornell) for Parallel
Programming's I.L.I. grant for undergraduate access to high-performance
parallel processors.


VI.  Courses/Workshops/Conferences attended (title, organization, date, place)

AMiLP Conference, December 1995, Netherlands [see III above].

"First Things First" workshop. SkillPath, August 11, Overland Park, KS.

"Intensive C++", Western Institute of Computer Science (WICS), Stanford
University Computer Science Department. August 12-17. Stanford, CA.

Maintained enrollment as a Ph D student at the Un of Iowa, as required, and
continued research, development, and writing toward that end.


VII. Professional Memberships

Member of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM, Comp.Sci. Prof. Society)
Member of ACM Special Interest Group for Programming Languages (SIGPLAN)
Member of Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges
Other profession related subscriptions:
  -  Computer Science Education
  -  Computing Research News
  -  Technological Horizons in Education
  -  College Teaching
  -  MacUser
  -  PC Computing
  -  Claris Works Journal
  -  C/C++ Journal
  -  Inside the Internet


VIII. Other

Enormous changes are occuring in Computer Science in general, and in
Computer Science at Graceland College in particular (esp. the environment in 
which teaching and lab work take place). Much time and energy is devoted 
to just trying to keep abreast of things and manage the problems which
arise (student access, equipment configurations, software for demonstation
or use, network problems, etc).

The new approach to Introduction to Computers and Applications (23:101)
demanded much time and continues to defy a simple, clear, and stable
teaching format given the massive and on-going changes in the software,
hardware, networks, and concepts, on which it is built.

I was coordinator for the Computer Science Department which requires
additional paperwork and communication. This year there has been more 
time spent in curriculum assessments and measurements.

I am an assistant Scoutmaster for Lamoni Troop 116 (community service).


IX.  Professional Objectives for 1996-97

Complete the final 3-hours of Ph D coursework needed at the Un of Iowa
in Fall 1996.

To write and defend my Dissertation in January 1997 (if this isn't feasible
then sometime prior to May 1997, perhaps during Graceland's Spring break).

To take other continuing education courses (including self study) relevant 
to Computer Science instruction at Graceland College (perhaps on Windows 95,
Java & CGI programming, or on update on certain microcomputer-applications).


X.  Status of professional objectives identified last year for 1995-96

To implement and demonstrate my research at the Algebraic Methods in Language 
Processing (AMiLP) at the University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands.
 
   -- This was done on December 6-8, 1995.

To prepare and submit a joint paper (co-authored with my advisor) regarding
our work to a theoretical journal for Computer Science and Language theory.

   -- This was done in May, but the reviewers made suggestions so a second
      refinement was developed over the summer and was submitted early this
      month (September 1996) for another review.