The Visible Program Project

Dr. Paul Juell

The Visible Program project has been developing 3D visualization of AI programs. These visualizations are then used in the classroom setting. The visualizations are delivered on the Web using VRML. This allows student control of the presented images.

Goals

introduce visualization into curriculum
make visualization a natural way to do things (change a full class)
allow better understanding of AI techniques
empower students to experiment
develop visualizations of AI processes

The Context

fluid flow visualizations very sophisticated, both in visualizations and flexibility (i.e. Vis5D for weather information)
range of tools for numerical models (i.e. VTK Toolkit [Schroeder, Martin & Lorensen 1998])
visualizations for studying program execution [Stasko, Dominque, Brown & Price 1998]
visualization for studying the problem the AI tool was used to solve rather than than how the AI technique works (i.e. TSP solutions)
individual visualization of symbolic information [Tufte 1983] [Pickover 1990]
very limited symbolic visualizations, limited tools, limited tools for students, limited AI technique visualizations

The Project

time line

NSF grant starting Summer 1998
Fall 1998 developed several visualizations
Spring 1999 fielded first versions of tools with CS724 AI class
Summer - Fall 1999
- improved presentation to students and stabilized tools
- more attractive visualizations
- refined tools and visualizations,
- extended visualizations with more data, more features, movies
- developed new visualization and new development tools,
Spring 2000 fielded second versions with CS724 AI class
Summar 2000 started developing interactive sophisticated visualizations
end original NSF grant

The Environment - Web and VRML

The combinations of Web and VRML presentation of visualizations allow:

access to the visualization without special hardware
3D images of the information
interactive control by user
a way to allow interactive learning

The Visualization Process

some of the visualizations

Simple Visualization (introduce visualization concept and build skills)
- depth first search ( web page ) ( VRML )
- breadth first search ( web page )
- hill climbing ( web page ) ( Jave )
Visualization the student built for their own program
- blocks worlds ( web page )
- crossing problem - a state space search ( web page ) ( VRML )
- neural networks (NN) ( web page ) (VRML)
- Genetic Algorithm (GA) ( web page ) (VRML)

some results

felt important by the students
allowed student creation of visualizations
the students incorporated the visualization into their view of the techniques
they used the visualizations for understanding but wanted to address more questions with the visualizations
some of our additions to the visualization interfered with the goals of understanding
the development process is costly - numerous dead ends or projects that will take more time to be useful (ie We developed about four different rule based programming visualizations. We tested the prototypes and decided we could bring other visualization to useful levels quicker. So we shelved these visualizations.)

Ongoing Work

Additional goals

Empower exploration
Provide a unifying tool
Provide alternatives

We try to address these by:

additional visualizations
more modes of multimedia
more user control over the presentation
multiple views (interlocking views with user controlled navigation)
probe (find out about individual values)
additional numeric and symbolic tools

Following is a prototype showing some of the ideas. This prototype is for GA searches .

Conclusions

Students consider this interesting and useful
I enjoyed using the visualization in the class
They seem to aid learning and added to the class
We are continuing to build on these strengths

Bibliography

Hartman, Jed and Josie Wernecke (1996). The VRML 2.0 Handbook: Building Moving Worlds on the Web. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Silicon Graphics, Inc.
McClean, P.E., D.P. Schwert, P. Juell, B. Saini-Eidukat, B.M. Slator, A. White. Cooperative Development of Visually-Oriented, Problem-Solving Science Courseware M/SET 99, International Conference on Mathematics/Science Education & Technology, San Antonio, Texas, March 1-4, 1999.
Pickover, Clifford A., Computers, Pattern, Chaos and Beauty, St. Martin's Press, new York, 1990.
Schroeder, Will, Ken Martin and Bill Lorensen, the Visualization Toolkit, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall PTR, 1998.
Stasko, John, John B. Domingue, Marc H. Brown, and Blaine A. Price (eds.) Software Visualization, The MIT Press, 1998.
Tufte, E.R., The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Graphics Press, 1983.

Publications from the VP project

Juell, P., Visualization of symbolic information: empowering student introspection, Ed-Media 2000, World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, Jun3 26-July 1, 2000, Montreal Canada.
Juell, P., Enabling Student Development of Interactive Program Visualizations, The Fifth Joint Conference on Information Sciences, Atlantic City, NJ, February 27-March 3, 2000.
Juell, P., Developing Visualizations for AI Course Use, The International Symposium on Intelligent Multimedia and Distance Education (ISIMADE'99) in Baden-Baden Germany, (ed)George Lasker, The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, August 2-7, 1999, pp101-106, 1999.
Juell, P, Educational Opportunities using VRML in the AI Classroom, M/SET 99, International Conference on Mathematics/Science Education & Technology, San Antonio, Texas, March 1-4, 1999.
Juell, P, The Visual Program Project, Small College Computing Symposium (SCCS99), University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, April 15-17, 1999.

Publications Related to the VP project

Slator, B. M., P. Juell, P. McClean, B. Saini-Eidukat, K. Schwert, A. White, C. Hill, Virtual Environments for Education, Journal of network and Computer Applications, No. 22, 1999, pp161-174.
P.E. McClean, D.P. Schwert, P. Juell, B. Saini-Eidukat, B.M. Slator, A. White. Cooperative Development of Visually-Oriented, Problem-Solving Science Courseware M/SET 99, International Conference on Mathematics/Science Education & Technology, San Antonio, Texas, March 1-4, 1999.
Slator, B.M., P. Juell, P.E. McClean, B. Saini-Eidukat, D.P. Schwert, A. White, C. Hill, Virtual Environments for Education at NDSU, (ED-MEDIA 99), World Conference on Educational Media, Hypermedia and Telecommunications Seattle, WA, June 19-24, 1999.

A page with just the images from this talk.