Summer Science Scholars Project Kickoff (May 12–15)

Project: Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) for POGIL Activities
Goal: Build a functioning ITS platform to deliver marked-up Google Doc-based POGIL activities in class with student group roles, AI feedback, and rich interaction support.

Day 1 – Monday, May 12: Vision, Strategy & Platform Introduction

Morning (9:00 – 12:00)

  • Welcome & Introductions
  • Icebreaker Activity – “What excites me about this project”
  • Project Vision
    • POGIL + ITS = structured collaborative learning at scale
    • Research + Development goals
  • Strategy Discussion
    • Milestone roadmap
    • Key roles (Platform Dev, Activity Dev, AI, Testing)

Afternoon (1:00 – 4:00)

  • POGIL Overview & Principles
    • Student roles, phases, facilitation model
  • ITS System Architecture Walkthrough
    • Frontend, backend, activity parser, AI feedback layer
  • POGIL Markup Language Intro
    • Review this doc:
      POGIL Markup Syntax
    • Discuss tags: \title, \group, \question, \textresponse, \python, etc.
  • Activity Conversion Demo
    • Convert a sample Google Doc live
    • Highlight structure, edge cases, and tooling

Day 2 – Tuesday, May 13: Dev Setup + Activity Pipeline

Morning (9:00 – 12:00)

  • Dev Environment Setup
    • GitHub, Node/React/Express/MariaDB stack
    • Local server & database setup
    • Cloning and running the ITS platform
  • Codebase Walkthrough
    • Backend routes, frontend structure, markdown parser, sheet parsing

Afternoon (1:00 – 4:30)

  • Activity Conversion Team Planning
    • Review full list of target POGIL activities
    • Identify “starter set” for COMP 118 (e.g., Variables, Functions, If/Else)
    • Assign 1–2 POGILs per student to convert using new markup
  • Conversion Checklist Workshop
    • Structural tags (\group, \question)
    • Interactive blocks (code, response fields)
    • LaTeX-inspired formatting (lists, bold, italics)
  • ITS Preview Testing
    • Use platform preview tool to test rendered POGIL
    • Debug formatting issues, malformed markup

Day 3 – Wednesday, May 14: Testing & Task Planning

Morning (9:00 – 10:40)

  • Regression Test Framework Planning
    • What features need coverage (activity parsing, submission logging, AI responses, role assignment)
    • Define test levels: unit, integration, system
    • Design format for test cases (input doc → output JSON/render → expected behavior)
    • Set up GitHub test suite structure (e.g., /tests, CI hook)

Afternoon (1:15 – 4:30)

  • Working Group Assignment
    • Platform features: UI, AI, role manager
    • Activity Conversion: assign more docs
    • Regression Test: build test case loader, parser mock
  • Sprint Planning (Week of May 19)
    • Dev goals while Skon is abroad
    • Async check-in plan (Slack or GitHub issues)
  • Platform Test Run
    • Push one full activity through the pipeline
    • Submit group responses, trigger AI feedback
    • Log bugs, improvements

Day 4 – Thursday, May 15: Development, Testing & Sync

Morning (9:00 – 12:00)

  • Hands-On Coding / Conversion Blocks
    • Developers: feature enhancements (e.g., group view, submission rotation)
    • Activity Team: convert 1–2 more activities each
    • Testing Team: begin test runner for sample POGIL docs

Afternoon (1:00 – 4:30)

  • Sync and Show & Tell
    • Each pair/group demos their progress
    • Discuss issues in parsing, previewing, and AI response logic
  • Refinement Sprint
    • Fix any rendering or logic bugs
    • Update checklist, parser rules, test inputs
  • Wrap-Up and Next Steps
    • Confirm Week 2 goals
    • Shared Google Drive or repo folder for test docs and converted activities
    • Final Q&A
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