Amber Settle		Vincent de Paul Professor

From 2008 until 2011 I served as the founding director of the Innovation in Technology Education Center (iTec).  From 2008 until 2011 I was the PI on an NSF-funded project on Computational Thinking Across the Curriculum.  I am also a member of the Research Group in Theory.

Research interests

I have two main research areas:

1. Information technology and computer science education, including computational thinking, game development and design, gender and computing, online learning, programming pedagogy, and student recruitment and retention
2. Theoretical computer science, including distributed algorithms, cellular automata, information retrieval, and the firing synchronization problem

I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago in 1999.  My advisor was Janos Simon.   The work for my Ph.D. thesis focused on the firing synchronization problem.

Research projects

From June 2002 until June 2003 I served as Todd Bittner's advisor as he completed his Master thesis.

An article about the linked-courses learning community project organized by Terry Steinbach and me appeared in the Spring 2015 In The Loop magazine and another article appeared in the January 2017 issue of DePaul Newsline.

Publications

Book chapters

• M.M. McGill, A. Decker, and A. Settle.  A Framework for Addressing Gender Imbalance in the Game Industry through Outreach, Gender Considerations and Influence in the Digital Media and Gaming Industry, IGI Global, 2014.

Journals

• C. Izu, C. Mirolo, A. Settle, L. Mannila, G. Stupuriene. 2017. Exploring Bebras Tasks Content and Performance: A Multinational Study. In Informatics in Education, 16:1, pp. 39-59.
• M.M. McGill, A. Decker, and A. Settle. 2016. Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of the Impact of Pre-college Computing Activities on Choices of Major. In ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 16:4.
• M.M. McGill, A. Settle, and A. Decker. 2013. Demographics of Undergraduates Studying Games in the United States: A Comparison of Computer Science Students and the General Population.  In Computer Science Education, 23:2.
• M. McGill and A. Settle. 2012. Identifying Effects of Institutional Resources and Support on Computing Faculty Research Productivity, Tenure, and Promotion.  In International Journal of Doctoral Studies 7, pp. 167 - 198, http://ijds.org/Volume7/IJDSv7p167-198McGill348.pdf.
• C.S. Miller and A. Settle. 2011. When Practice Doesn't Make Perfect: Effects of Task Goals on Learning Computing Concepts.  ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 11:4, http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2048933.
• T. Berry and A. Settle. 2011. Learning Style Differences.  In the International Journal of Education Research, 6:1.
• A. Settle and C. Settle. 2007. Distance Learning and Student Satisfaction in Java Programming Courses.  In the Journal of Universal Computer Science, 13:9, pp. 1270 - 1286.  http://www.jucs.org/jucs_13_9/distance_learning_and_student
• L. Dettori and A. Settle. 2005. Course Mentoring: Toward Achieving Consistency in the Curriculum.  In Information Systems Education Journal 3:25, http://isedj.org/3/25/. ISSN: 1545-679X.  Originally appeared in ISECON 2004: Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference, Newport, Rhode Island, 2004.
• A. Berthiaume, T. Bittner, L. Perković, A. Settle, and J. Simon. 2004. Bounding the Firing Synchronization Problem on a Ring.  Theoretical Computer Science 320:2-3, pp. 213-228. (ScienceDirect reference)
• A. Settle, A. Berthiaume, E. Lulis, and A. Mirza. 2003. Informed Discussion in Information Technology Survey Courses.  In Information Systems Education Journal 1:6, http://isedj.org/1/6/, ISSN: 1545-679X.  Originally appeared in ISECON 2003: Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference, San Diego, California.
• A. Settle and A. Berthiaume. 2003. Debating E-commerce: Engaging Students in Current Events.  In Journal of Information Systems Education 14:3, pp. 279-285.  Originally appeared in ISECON 2002: Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference, San Antonio, Texas.
• A. Settle and J. Simon. 2002. Smaller Solutions for the Firing Squad. Theoretical Computer Science 276:1, pp. 83-109.
• V. Kulyukin and A. Settle. 2001. Ranked Retrieval with Semantic Networks and Vector Spaces. In the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 52:14, pp.1224-1233.  (Word document)
• A. Classen and T.A. Settle. 1991. Women in Martin Luther's Life and Theology.  German Studies Review: 14:2, pp. 231-260.

Refereed conference proceedings

• A. Settle and T. Steinbach. 2018. Retention Rates for the First Three Years of a Linked-courses Learning Community. In SIGITE 2018: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
• Simon, J. Sheard, M. Morgan, A. Petersen, A. Settle, and J. Sinclair. 2018. Informing Students about Academic Integrity in Programming. In ACE '18: Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Computing Education Conference, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
• A. Settle, J. Doyle, T. Steinbach. 2017. The Effect of a Computing-focused Linked-courses Learning Community of Minority and Female Students. In SIGITE 2017: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Rochester, New York.
• Simon, J. Sheard, M. Morgan, A. Petersen, A. Settle, J. Sinclair, G. Cross, C. Riedesel. 2016. Negotiating the Maze of Academic Integrity in Computing Education.  In ITiCSE-WGR 2016: Proceedings of the Working Group Reports of the 2016 Innovation & Technology in Computer Science Education Conference, Arequipa, Peru.
• A. Settle and T. Steinbach. 2016. Improving Retention and Reducing Isolation via a Linked-courses Learning Community. In SIGITE 2016: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Boston, Massachusetts.
• C. Miller and A. Settle. 2016. Some Trouble with Transparency: An Analysis of Student Errors with Object-oriented Python. In ICER 2016: Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference on International Computing Education Research, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
• A. Decker, M.M. McGill, and A. Settle. 2016. Towards a Common Framework for Evaluating Computing Outreach Activities. In SIGCSE 2016: The Proceedings of the 46th Annual SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Memphis, Tennessee.
• E. Barendsen, L. Mannila, B. Demo, N. Grgurina, C. Izu, C. Mirolo, S. Sentance, A. Settle, and G. Stupuriene. 2015. Concepts in K-9 Computer Science Education. In ITiCSE-WGR 2015: Proceedings of the Working Group Reports of the 2015 Innovation & Technology in Computer Science Education Conference, Vilnius, Lithuania.
• C. Miller, A. Settle, and J. Lalor. 2015. Learning Object-Oriented Programming in Python: Towards an Inventory of Difficulties and Testing Pitfalls. In SIGITE 2015: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Chicago, Illnois.
• A. Settle, J. Lalor, and T. Steinbach. 2015. Evaluating a Linked-courses Learning Community for Development Majors. In SIGITE 2015: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Chicago, Illnois.
• M.M. McGill, A. Decker, and A. Settle. 2015. Does Outreach Impact Choices of Major for Underrepresented Undergraduate Students? In ICER 2015: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference on International Computing Education Research, Omaha, Nebraska.
• A. Settle, J. Lalor, and T. Steinbach. 2015. A Computer Science Linked-courses Learning Community. In ITiCSE 2015: The 20th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Vilnius, Lithuania.
• A. Vihavainen, C.S. Miller, and A. Settle. 2015. Benefits of Self-explanation in Introductory Programming. In SIGCSE 2015: The Proceedings of the 45th Annual SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Kansas City, Missouri.
• A. Settle, J. Lalor, and T. Steinbach. 2015. Reconsidering the Impact of CS1 on Novice Attitudes. In SIGCSE 2015: The Proceedings of the 45th Annual SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Kansas City, Missouri.
• L. Mannila, V. Dagiene, B. Demo, N. Grgurina, C. Mirolo, L. Rolandsson, A. Settle. 2014. Computational Thinking in K-9 Education. In ITiCSE-WGR 2014: Proceedings of the Working Group Reports of the 2014 Innovation & Technology in Computer Science Education Conference, Uppsala, Sweden.
• A. Settle and T. Steinbach. 2014. Building a Linked-Courses Learning Community for Introductory Development Majors. In FECS 2014: The International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering, Las Vegas, Nevada.
• A. Settle, A. Vihavainen, and C.S. Miller. 2014. Research Directions for Teaching Programming Online. In FECS 2014: The International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering, Las Vegas, Nevada.
• M.M. McGill, A. Settle, and A. Decker. 2013. Demographics of Undergraduate Students in Game Degree Programs in the United States and United Kingdom.  In SIGITE 2013: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Orlando, Florida.
• A. Settle, M.M. McGill, and A. Decker. 2013. Diversity in the Game Industry: Is Outreach the Solution?  In SIGITE 2013: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Orlando, Florida.
• A. Settle, S. Pieczynski, L. Friedman, N. Kizior. 2013. Evaluating a Prospective Student Mentoring Program.  In FECS 2013: The International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering, Las Vegas, Nevada.
• A. Settle, Turning the Tables: Learning from Students about Teaching CS1. 2012.  In SIGITE 2012: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Calgary, Canada.
• A. Settle, B. Franke, R. Hansen, F. Spaltro, C. Jurisson, C. Rennert-May, B. Wildeman. 2012.  Infusing Computational Thinking into the Middle- and High-School Curriculum.  In ITiCSE 2012: The 17th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Haifa, Israel.
• M. McGill and A. Settle. 2012. Institutional Support for Computing Faculty Research Productivity: Does Gender Matter?  In ACM Southeast Conference, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
• M. McGill and A. Settle. 2011. Computing Faculty Tenure and Promotion Requirements at U.S. and Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions.  In SIGITE 2011: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, West Point, New York.
• A. Settle. Computational Thinking in a Game Design Course. 2011.  In SIGITE 2011: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, West Point, New York.
• A. Settle and J. Glatz. 2011. Rethinking Advising: Developing a Proactive Culture to Improve Retention.  In SIGITE 2011: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, West Point, New York.
• A. Settle, C. Wilcox, and C. Settle. 2011. Engaging Game Design Students Using Peer Evaluation.  In SIGITE 2011: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, West Point, New York.
• A. Settle, L. Dettori, and M.J. Davidson. 2011. Does Lecture Capture Make a Difference for Students in Traditional Classrooms?  In ITICSE 2011: The 16th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Darmstadt, Germany.
• A. Settle, L. Friedman, and M.J. Davidson. 2010. The Impact of Multiple Computing and Digital Arts Degrees on Undergraduate Recruitment.  In SIGITE 2010: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Midland, Michigan.
• C.S. Miller, L. Perković, and A. Settle. 2010. File References, Trees, and Computational Thinking.  In ITiCSE 2010: The 15th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Ankara, Turkey.
• L. Perković, A. Settle, S. Hwang, and J. Jones. 2010. A Framework for Computational Thinking across the Curriculum. In ITiCSE 2010: The 15th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Ankara, Turkey.  (Slides)
• J. Linhoff, and A. Settle. 2009. Motivating and Evaluating Game Development Capstone Projects. In ICFDG 2009: The International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, Disney Wonder.
• J. Linhoff and A. Settle. 2008. Teaching Game Development Using XNA. In ITiCSE 2008: The 13^th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Madrid, Spain.
• A. Settle, J. Linhoff, and A. Berthiaume. 2008. A Hybrid Approach to Projects in Gaming Courses. In GDCSE 2008: Microsoft Academic Days Conference on Game Development in Computer Science, Celebrity Century.
• L. Perković and A. Settle. 2007. Computing Branches Out: On Revitalizing Computing Education. In FECS 2007: The International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering, Las Vegas, Nevada. (PDF)
• A. Settle, R. Burke, and L. Dettori. 2007. Game Design as a Writing Course in the Liberal Arts. In FECS 2007: The International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering, Las Vegas, Nevada. (PDF)
• A. Settle and C. Settle. 2005. Graduate Student Satisfaction with an Online Discrete Mathematics Course.  In CCSC-MW 2005: The Consortium for Computing Science in College: Midwest Region Conference, Decatur, Illinois.
• W. Marrero and A. Settle. 2005. Testing First: Emphasizing Testing in Early Programming Courses.  In ITiCSE 2005: 10^th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Monte da Caparica, Portugal.
• A. Berthiaume, L. Perković, A. Settle, and J. Simon. 2002. New Bounds for the Firing Squad Problem on a Ring, In SIROCCO 9: Proceedings of the 9th International Colloquium on Structural Information and Communication Complexity, Andros, Greece, pp. 17-31, Carleton Scientific. (Postscript, PDF)
• A. Settle. 2001.  An Introductory Course in an Undergraduate E-commerce Technology Degree Program. In ISECON 2001: Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference, Cincinnati, Ohio.  (Word document, ECT 250 Web site).
• A. Settle and J. Simon. 1998. Improved Bounds for the Firing Synchronization Problem. In SIROCCO 5: Proceedings of the 5th International Colloquium on Structural Information and Communication Complexity, Amalfi, Italy, pp. 66-81, Carleton Scientific.  (Postscript, PDF)

Technical reports

• A. Settle, J. Doyle, and T. Steinbach. Participating in a Computer Science Linked-courses Learning Community Reduces Isolation. Cornell University Library, arXiv:1704.07898 [cs.OH], April 24, 2017.
• T. Correa, B. Gustavo, L. Lemos, and A. Settle. An Overview of Recent Solutions to and Lower Bounds for the Firing Synchronization Problem, Cornell University Library, arXiv:1701.01045 [cs.FL], January 4, 2017.
• A. Settle and B. Sedlak. Computing Educator Attitudes about Motivation, Cornell University Library, ArXiv:1603.08996 [cs.CY], March 29, 2016.
• C. Miller, A. Settle, and J. Lalor. Learning Object-Oriented Programming in Python: Towards an Inventory of Difficulties and Testing Pitfalls, College of Computing and Digital Media Technical Report 25, DePaul University, March 2015.
• A. Settle. What's Motivation Got to Do with It? A Survey of Recursion in the Computing Education Literature, College of Computing and Digital Media Technical Report 14-001, DePaul University, February 2014.
• L. Perković and A. Settle. Computational Thinking across the Curriculum: A Conceptual Framework, College of Computing and Digital Media Technical Report 10-001, DePaul University, January 2010.
• A Settle and L. Friedman. 2009. An Initial Report on the Impact of Multiple Technical Degree Programs on Undergraduate Recruitment, College of Computing and Digital Media Technical Report 09-003, DePaul University, November 2009.
• A. Settle, W. Marrero, and C. Settle. 2008.  Preliminary Results with a Targeted Online Java Course, College of Computing and Digital Media Technical Report 08-005, DePaul University, August 2008.
• A. Settle and C. Settle. 2005. Distance Learning and Student Satisfaction in Java Programming Courses, School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems, DePaul University, November 2005.
• A. Berthiaume, L. Perković, A. Settle, and J. Simon. 2002. Firing Synchronization on the Ring, School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems, DePaul University, January 2002.
• V. Kulyukin and A. Settle. 1999. On the Equivalence of Semantic Networks and Vector Spaces under Ranked Retrieval, School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems, DePaul University, November 1999.
• A. Settle. 1999. New Bounds for the Distributed Firing Synchronization Problem (Ph.D. thesis), Computer Science Department, University of Chicago, February 26, 1999.
• A. Settle, and J. Simon. 1997. Non-Minimal Time Solutions for the Firing Synchronization Problem, Computer Science Department, University of Chicago, August 25, 1997.
• A. Settle. 1997. A Symmetric Nine-State Automaton for the Generalized Firing Synchronization Problem, Computer Science Department, University of Chicago, May 2, 1997.
• P. Kimmel and A. Settle. 1992. Reducing the Rank of Lower Triangular All-Ones Matrices, Computer Science Department, University of Chicago, November 6, 1992.

Presentations

Refereed conference panels

• B. MacKellar, G. Hislop, M. Sabin, A. Settle. Information Technology and Computer Science Programs: how do we relate? At SIGITE 2015: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Chicago, Illnois, October 2015.
• A. Settle, A. Vihavainen, and J. Sorva. Three Views on Motivation and Programming. At ITiCSE 2014: The 19th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science, Uppsala, Sweden, June 2014.
• A. Settle, D.S. Goldberg, and V. Barr.  Beyond Computer Science: Computational Thinking Across Disciplines.  At ITiCSE 2013: The 18th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science, Canterbury, United Kingdom, July 2013.
• A. Settle, D. LaBelle, and S.S. Sicilia.  Best Practices in Teaching Information Technology Development.  At SIGITE 2012: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Calgary, Canada, October 2012.
• M. Sabin, A. Settle, and B. Rutherfoord.  Interactive Online Learning: Challenges and Opportunities.  At SIGITE 2012: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Calgary, Canada, October 2012.
• P. Curzon, J. Peckham, H. Taylor, A. Settle, and E. Roberts, Computational Thinking (CT): On Weaving It In. At ITiCSE 2009: The 14th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science, Paris, France, July 2009.
• O. Astrachan, S. Hambrusch, J. Peckham, and A. Settle, The Present and Future of Computational Thinking. At SIGCSE 2009: The 40th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Chattanooga, Tennessee, March 2009.
• Nelson, Bhagyavati, Miles, Settle, Shaffer, Watts, and Webber, Online Teaching Practices (Both Best and Worst). At CCSC-SE 2005: The Consortium for Computing Sciences in College: Southeastern Region Conference, Hickory, North Carolina, November 2005.  (Slides)

Refereed workshops

• A. Settle.  Reaching the 'Aha!' Moment: Web Development as a Motivator for Recursion.  At  SIGITE 2013: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, Orlando, Florida, October 2013.

Refereed conference presentations

• T. Berry and A. Settle, Learning Style Differences between Students and Faculty, In The Financial Education Association Conference, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, September 2009.

Refereed conference posters

• A. Decker, M.M. McGill, and A. Settle, Computing Outreach Liberature Review. At RESPECT 2015: The First Conference on Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology, Charlotte, North Carolina, August 2015.
• A. Settle, The Computational Thinking across the Curriculum Workshop.  At SIGITE 2011: The Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference, West Point, New York, October 2011.
• A. Settle, S. Pieczynski, L. Friedman, M.J. Davidson, An Initial Look at Prospective Student Mentoring. At ITiCSE 2011: The 16th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Darmstadt, Germany, June 2011.
• A. Settle and J. Glatz, Early Successes and Failures of a Comprehensive Student Service Retention Plan for Computing and Digital Media Programs.  At SIGCSE 2011: The 42nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Dallas, Texas, March 2011.
• T. Berry and A. Settle, Faculty-Student Learning Styles Differences in Programming and Finance Courses.  At The Teaching Professor Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 2010.
• A. Settle and L. Friedman, An Initial Report on the Impact of Multiple Technical Degree Programs on Undergraduate Recruitment.  At SIGCSE 2010: The 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 2010.

Grants

•  CPATH CB: Computational Thinking Across the Curriculum.  Funding agency: The National Science Foundation.  Dates: July 2008 – June 2011.  Co-PI: Ljubomir Perkovic.

• Microsoft XNA lab grant.  Funding agency: Microsoft Corporation.  The grant included 20 XBox 360s, 20 XNA Creator’s Club Memberships, and funds for the purchase of switchable composite/DVI input monitors for CDM labs and faculty participants.  Date: Summer 2007.  Co-PI: Joe Linhoff.