Teaching

Since around 2014, I have been actively working to make my teaching more inclusive. In a variety of teaching contexts, I have used Team-Based Learning (and elements of its philosophy) and specifications grading (especially as presented by Linda Nilson and developed by Robert Talbert); I have also brought into my teaching ideas from Grading for Equity (Joe Feldman) and Making Black Scientists (Marybeth Gasman and Thai-Huy Nguyen). As I work to develop a new course at Michigan, I am drawing on the strategies and tactics presented in Inclusive Teaching (Kelly A. Hogan and Viji Sathy).

At Michigan, I have taught EECS 376, Foundations of Computer Science, in Fall ’24 and EECS 203, Discrete Mathematics, in Winter ’25. I plan to teach EECS 496, Professionalism, in Fall ’25 as well as a Special Topics course I’ll be piloting as an alternative/replacement to EECS 496.

Prior to Michigan, I taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in and adjacent to computer science, including introductory/intermediate programming courses, theoretical computer science, database design, programming languages, information theory, technology ethics, and digital humanities. At Brooklyn College, I served as the Director of the Roberta S. Matthews Center for Teaching and Learning and as the Director of the Core Curriculum.

I am a member of the board of the CodeLab Foundation, a non-profit that is freeing the CodeLab service (supporting programming instruction) developed commercially by Turing’s Craft, Inc.

I have occasionally published and presented on teaching and learning:

Syvantek, Martina, Scott D. Dexter, and Ashley Shew. “Now What? Adding Accessibility Midstream.” Academe, November 30, 2020. https://www.aaup.org/article/now-what-adding-accessibility-midstream.

S. Dexter, “Does TBL Boost Retention for Under-represented Undergraduates in Computer Science?” presented at the 17th Annual Team-Based Learning Collaborative Conference, San Diego, CA, Mar. 2018.

L. Cooley, D. Vidakovic, W. Martin, S. Dexter, and J. Suzuki, “Student reactions to learning-theory based curriculum materials in linear algebra—A survey analysis,” International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, vol. 17, no. 1, Apr. 2016, [Online]. Available: http://www.cimt.org.uk/ijmtl/index.php/IJMTL/article/view/12

L. Cooley, D. Vidakovic, W. O. Martin, S. Dexter, J. Suzuki, and S. Loch, “Modules as Learning Tools in Linear Algebra,” PRIMUS, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 257–278, Mar. 2014, doi: 10.1080/10511970.2013.867293.

S. Dexter, E. Buchanan, K. Dins, K. R. Fleischmann, and K. Miller, “Characterizing the need for graduate ethics education,” in Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education, 2013, pp. 153–158.

E. Buchanan and S. Dexter, “From Text to Classroom: A Discussion by and for Educators on Ethics, ICT, and Teaching and Learning,” presented at the Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE), Lisbon, Portugal, Jul. 2013.

W. Martin, S. Loch, L. Cooley, S. Dexter, and D. Vidakovic, “Integrating learning theories and application-based modules in teaching linear algebra,” Linear Algebra and its Applications, vol. 432, no. 8, pp. 2089–2099, 2010.

G. W. Hislop, H. J. Ellis, A. B. Tucker, and S. Dexter, “Using open source software to engage students in computer science education,” in ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 2009, pp. 134–135.

N. Parlante et al., “Nifty assignments,” in ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 2003, pp. 353–354.

S. Dexter, J. Shuler, and L. Monke, “The Digital Divide in Brooklyn’s Public High Schools,” in Proceedings of the International Research Foundation for Development’s World Forum on the Information Society (in conjunction with the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society)., Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 2003.

D. Arnow, S. Dexter, and G. Weiss, An Introduction to Programming Using Java: An Object-Oriented Approach, 2nd Edition. Addison Wesley, 2003.

S. Dexter and C. Gurwitz, “Virtual education: a view from the trenches,” Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 220–225, 2002.

S. Dexter, “Teaching applet programming to non-majors-virtually,” in Frontiers in Education Conference, 2000. FIE 2000. 30th Annual, 2000, pp. S2D-6.

S. Dexter, “On automated checking of Java applets,” in Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 2000, pp. 84–95.

S. Dexter and G. Theoharis, “Democracy at a Distance?: The Political Realities of Distance Learning,” in Proceedings of the 2000/2001 Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association/American Studies Association Conference., 2000.