Blog | Swaroop Joshi

Received the DST-NSF Grant for the 'GameSignAI' Project

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 12:50:08 +0530

Our team of researchers –Profs. , , , and – from the Department of CS & IS, BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus, along with from the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, have been awarded a prestigious research grant for the joint call by Department of Science and Technology (DST), India, and National Science Foundation (NSF), USA.

The project, titled “GameSignAI: Using AI to Help Deaf Children Acquire Language Skills”, is an interdisciplinary project that focuses on combating language deprivation in Deaf children, particularly those born to hearing parents, by developing AI-powered educational games that teach sign language through interactive, sign-recognition-based gameplay. The project will develop two major tools –CopyCat and PopSignAI– to aid children in both Indian and American Sign Languages (ISL and ASL), and enhance both expressive and receptive language skills. The research integrates human-computer interaction, educational technology, and cognitive sciences to create open-source resources that can be adapted for sign languages worldwide.

Received ACM SIGCSE Special Projects Grant

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 15:22:30 +0530

I am glad to share that my project titled Serious Games for Teaching Accessibility was recently selected to receive the .

We are developing web-based serious games to teach digital accessibility concepts to computing students and software developers. We have developed two prototype games, A11YMythBuster and A11YBugHunter and tested them with 125 participants. Based on their feedback, following the Design-Based Research methodology, we will improve the games further and evaluate their impact on learning. The games are designed to help learners develop accessibility awareness and technical knowledge ( guidelines and ).

This grant will be used for game development, software licenses, and data collection. For more details, check out our project .

I thank Prof. Yolanda A. Rankin (Emory University), who coordinates the SIGCSE Special Projects program, for considering my proposal and the Review Committee for its valuable comments. I also thank my PhD advisee Parthasarathy PD and the undergraduate students who have worked/are working on this project.

Teaching Excellene Award 2024

Sat, 14 Sep 2024 11:16:11 +0530

I am honoured to receive the 🏆 from the BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus Teaching Learning Center. I thank my department leadership and colleagues for the continued encouragement of my teaching innovation and the institute for recognizing these efforts.

The award was presented by The Director, Prof. Suman Kundu, at the beautiful Samarpan 2024 ceremony on Teacher’s Day (Sept 5).

I am grateful to my students for all the valuable engagements, challenges, and memorable moments they present through varied interactions inside and outside the classroom. I consider myself privileged to be among the youthful and talented students, as I also learn a lot from them.

As the says about the student-teacher pair–

May we work together with great energy (सह वीर्यं करवावहै),
May our knowledge be radiant (तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु),
May there be no differences or disputes between us (मा विद्विषावहै).

Two of our papers accepted for ACM ICER'24!

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 00:09:29 +0530

Two of our research papers are accepted for the (ICER'24), to be held in Melbourne, Australia, in August 2024.

ICER is a CORE A conference and a prestigious Computing Education research community venue.

My PhD advisee, , will present the following papers at the conference:

MOU with NCISM on AI in ASUS Education

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:04:31 +0530

is a statutory body responsible for the education of the Indian System of Medicine disciplines (namely, Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and Sowa-Rigpa, abbreviated ASUS). With the recent and ongoing developments in AI, they are interested in incorporating AI education in their institutes. Indeed, ASUS education has some unique challenges:

since India is the only country in the world where ASUS education exists in a well-structured manner, unlike other fields, there are no contemporary models for comparison in the rest of the world, and
it is equally important to preserve the philosophical and ethical underpinnings of this field in the era of fast-changing technologies.

BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa campus signed an MOU with NCISM on March 19, 2024. I am the principal investigator on this project.

The broader goals are:

Assessing the AI-preparedness of the current ASUS faculty and students,
Assessing the sector-specific needs for the creation of AI tools, and
Developing appropriate course content and pedagogies and assessing its impacts on student learning.

Two of our papers accepted for ICSE'24!

Sat, 06 Jan 2024 00:45:22 +0530

Two of our papers are accepted for the ICSE'24 conference’s Software Engineering Education and Training , to be held in Lisbon, Portugal in April, 2024.

The International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) is a CORE A* conference, a flagship conference in software engineering.

Accessible Indian Bubbles: A Radio Show in New Zealand!

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 23:47:53 +0530

At the recent ACM conference at IIIT-Hyderabad, we met , one of the keynote speakers and a professor at Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.

Otago Polytechnic is one of the southernmost universities in the world. They aim to have all their graduating students be able to “think and act as sustainability practitioners” irrespective of their areas of expertise. Sam has pioneered this program and has authored a book titled The Green Graduate on the same.

He also hosts a weekly radio show, Blowing Bubbles, on Otago Access Radio. After learning about , he invited us to record an episode for his show, which was broadcast on Dec 13.

We talked about teaching accessibility from various angles: what we are doing and why we are doing it, to whether accessibility should be taught in a separate course or be a part of all CS courses, to our superpowers, to what gets us going in the morning, to the challenges and opportunities we foresee in the coming few years.

It was great talking to Sam about these and many other things (outside the podcast). I hope you will enjoy listening to our conversation.

I found his characterisation that “People with disabilities is the largest minority anyone can become a part of in a heartbeat” very insightful.

After the recording, I asked Sam what his superpower is, and he said he can find anything exciting. Isn’t that fascinating!

Go to the Podcast

Seeking Letters of Recommendation

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 19:50:25 +0530

Writing letters recommending students to graduate schools, fellowships, internships, and such is a part of my academic job.

Advice like this is neither new nor unique. I am building on more detailed posts from more experienced academicians and my personal experience as a reader of several recommendation letters.

You should have worked with me on a project to get a letter from me. Please read to approach me for a project.
- This is necessary but not sufficient.
- While you are working with me, note any interesting interactions or significant contributions to the project. (See the point about evidence below.)
Plan ahead: give me at least a month to work on your letter before your earliest deadline.
- Ask in person first; in this conversation, be prepared to tell me your long-term plans and how your work with me is relevant to your application.
Once I agree to write a letter for you, get the school’s portal to send me a link to upload your letter. Waive your right to read the letter.
Send me:
- Your CV
- SOP for that school
- Summary of the work you have done with me
- Summary of what you want me to highlight in a letter.
  - This is where you should brag; I will filter/tone down if required.
  - You may have to highlight different things for different schools—study their application carefully (E.g., grad school LOR prompts for and ).
- Provide evidence for the things you want me to talk about. For example, if I am stating you are “receptive to constructive criticism,” tell me about an instance where you improved your work after receiving critical feedback.

Some useful links:

Dr. Long’s on the importance of listing evidence about the candidate’s qualities.
Dr. Krishnamurthi’s . Knowing what I am expected to write will help you approach me with the right information.

Ramayana: Abilities, not resources, determine success

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 23:24:53 +0530

The life of śrīrāma continues to inspire millions like me across the world. On this rāmanavami, as I reflect on the lessons from śrīrāma’s life, I am reminded of this saṁskṛta subhāṣita:

विजेतव्या लंका चरणतरणीयो जलनिधिः
विपक्षः पौलस्त्यो रणभुवि सहायाश्च कपयः।
तथाप्येको रामः सकलमवधीद्राक्षसकुलम्
क्रियासिद्धिः सत्त्वे भवति महतां नोपकरणे।।

It means: Even when faced with extraordinary challenges, namely, (a) defeating Lanka, one of the most powerful kingdoms of the time, (b) crossing the sea by foot, (c) fighting rāvaṇa, a mighty opponent, and (d) having only monkeys as help on the battleground, śrīrāma solely destroyed the entire clan of monsters. Success depends on your inherent abilities, not on external resources.

In the traditional way of conveying a principle (सिद्धान्त) via examples (दृष्टान्त), this subhāṣita paints a lively picture of śrīrāma leading the vānarasenā across the sea, launching the attack on Lanka, and defeating rāvaṇa and his entire army to restore peace on earth.

He was a prince of Ayodhya on a mission to rescue his abducted wife – he could have asked his younger brother bharata, the ruler of Ayodhya, for help. Instead, he gathered the forest dwellers, built an army, overcame all the challenges, and fulfilled his destiny.

He had the ability to build an army, cross the sea, and kill rāvaṇa. He did not wait for resources or complain about their lack. He continued manifesting his abilities, and the resources kept coming along the way.

This message reflects in the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji, who inspired the peasants and villagers to fight against the injustice of Mughals, Nizam, and Adilshah, and established the swarajya after more than 300 years of oppression.

This message reflects in the life of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, who, rose from a humble background, earned two doctorates (PhD in Economics from Columbia University and a DSc in Economics from the University of London), inspired millions of untouchables to take to education, chaired India’s Constitution Drafting Committee, and ushered an era of equality.

This message reflects in the life of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a fisherman’s son from a small Tamil Nadu village, who grew up to lead the satellite and missile programs of India, played a crucial role in successful nuclear tests (Pokhran II), went on to become the most popular President of India, and continues to inspire millions of students through his legacy.

This message reflects in the life of , a tribal woman who was once accused of being a witch and abandoned by her husband, has worked on creating awareness on the matter and single-handedly saved over one-hundred women from witch-hunting.

This message reflects in the life of , who was abandoned by her husband with an infant girl, went on the become the mai (mother) of over 1500 orphans.

This message reflects in the life of , who works in her farm even at the age of 105, runs a successful business of growing millets, pulses, and vegetables, entirely using organic fertilizers.

।।जयश्रीराम।।

Approaching me for research projects

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 00:50:42 +0530

A list of

working in my research group.

Hello students!

Approaching faculty to find appropriate research projects is essential to your academic life. This post provides some valuable tips for making communication easy and efficient for both of us. I will update it occasionally by adding new projects, removing old ones, and modifying some details.

Please read carefully before approaching me.

First, I work in (computing) education research, an emerging, interdisciplinary field, with applications of the core CS concepts (like programming language design, natural language processing, etc.) to human-computer interaction, learning theories, and behavioral studies. Make sure you really want to work in this field before approaching me. (Of course, if you are simply curious about this field and my interests, don’t hesitate to ask questions.)
Prerequisites:
- Foremost ones are being proactive, punctual, and having good communication skills¹.
- Basic statistics is required (can be a co-requisite²); inferential statistics is desired.
- For certain projects, mastery in basic CS concepts (software engineering, object-oriented programming, data structures and algorithms) is essential.
- Having prior teaching or research experience is desired but not required.

How to contact me

Read through the descriptions of my .
Email me your resume, the title of the project you want to work on, and a 300-500 word description of why you want to work on that project.
Include any relevant information, like teaching or research experience.
Mention (a) at least one book³ you have read in the past year, or (b) if you haven’t read a good book in the past year, your all-time favorite book, or (c) if you don’t have a favorite book, your favorite movie or TV show.

Note

If your initial email does not demonstrate that you have read this page, you will not get a response.

Prospective Ph.D. students

There are exciting research questions at the intersection of computing education and accessibility.

I look forward to working with part-time or full-time Ph.D. students to explore those questions.

Interested students should note some important points:

Familiarize yourself with the BITS Pilani . Admissions happen through the BITS process; interest from a faculty does not guarantee admission.
Please let me know if you are looking for a full-time Ph.D. position or part-time. Full-time students stay on/near the campus and attend classes/meetings regularly. Part-time students typically fulfill the requirements remotely while working in the industry or academia; part-time positions are not advertised every semester.
The second bullet under ‘How to contact me’ above is even more critical for Ph.D. applicants. Besides explaining why this particular project, explain in detail why you want to do a Ph.D. in the first place (what are your career goals, how a Ph.D. in this area will help you achieve those, etc.).

Masters’ degree (HD) students

For the research practice course, I will expect the following deliverables from you (apart from the final evaluation by the institute):

Reading and presenting (to a small group) 2-3 relevant research papers,
Developing an artifact (a piece of software or a document) that reasonably advances the project.

For the thesis or any other course, we will discuss the expectations and deliverables on a case-by-case basis.

I will work with only a limited number of students, so make sure you approach me well in advance (at least two weeks before the relevant deadlines).

Undergraduate (FD) students

If you are interested in doing your project course(s) with me, please be advised that I would like to see your work before formally assigning you to a project. Keep this in mind and approach me early so you can work with me without affecting your coursework and graduation schedule. The expected deliverables are similar to the HD courses listed above.

I expect FD students to work with me for a semester or so, before enrolling for a formal project course.

Good communication skills need not mean speaking or writing English. The vocabulary of a particular language may limit you at first, but if you can communicate well in one language, you can (with some effort) communicate in other languages too. On the other hand, if you cannot communicate in any language, including your mother tongue, it is unlikely you will communicate well in English. ↩︎
I you have not completed the stats courses yet, you can learn the relevant concepts on your own while you work with me. ↩︎
Any language, any genre ↩︎

Troubleshooting the Android Device Not Found Issue

Sat, 29 Aug 2020 23:19:50 -0600

When I started preparing for my CS 4530 Mobile App Programming course, I found an old Android device, an LG Nexus 4 I had used a few years back. I plugged it in to use it as my physical device for development. Android Studio immediately detected it and I hit the green play button (to run the app). Whoa! It hit me back with this message:

Installation failed due to: ‘device ‘018aa11a1ccf6e45’ not found’

Dejected, I opened the Connection Assistant in the Android Studio via Tools > Troubleshoot Device Connections. Again, it had no issues detecting the phone:

Found 1 Android device(s) ready for debugging:

lge-nexus_4-018aa11a1ccf6e45

Even on the command line, I could find it via adb:

> adb devices -l
List of devices attached
018aa11a1ccf6e45 device usb:20:6 product:occam model:Nexus_4 device:mako transport_id:1

Puzzled, I looked for solutions online. The most common advice was:

disconnect and reconnect your device, or try using a different USB cable

Needless to say, it didn’t work—otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog! Thankfully, I found a solution , which I am repeating below so I find it easily if I ever have to do this again. In a nutshell, this solution suggests resetting the USB debug privileges.

On your phone, under ‘Developer Options’, stop USB debugging and revoke USB debugging authorization. (The post next suggests restarting your phone, but it worked for me without a restart.)
Next, reset the adb server on the laptop:

> adb kill-server

> adb start-server

Unplug and replug the device. At this point, the device asked me to allow USB debugging. The device was again recognized by adb, but I realized the usb: information was different this time:

> adb devices -l
List of devices attached
018aa11a1ccf6e45 device usb:341835776X product:occam model:Nexus_4 device:mako transport_id:1

Perhaps that was the glitch?

Teaching Learning Resources

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 16:02:17 -0600

Various teaching/learning resources from different sources I find useful; most are from the SIGCSE mailing list. Identifying information removed.

CS1/CS2

CS1:
CS2 and Algorithms:

C/C++

Thinking in C++, Second Edition. Brief introduction and links to legal PDFs .

“Regardless of the book you choose, I encourage you to look at the following C++ videos (courtesy of my colleague):

The key is to use the modern features of C++, that are so much cleaner and elegant (and the right thing to do) rather than extrapolate from plain old C. Having said that, I would look at Stroustrup’s recent books (C++ 11 at least, preferabley C++ 14 or higher) and also cplusplus.com which has tons of examples for every possible command (I teach an OOP course that uses C++ and I only use the website for that.”

Android

Google
Google

R

, Ed Berry

GPG

Writing

CS Assessment

, and related 2013 ITiCSE working group .
Project Quantum

Autograder

Gradescope - I’ve used it in a Java class
supports Java, C++, Python

Zotero and Box

Sat, 27 Jun 2015 14:17:49 -0400

This is a note to self (and possibly some others who might need this tip).

I have been using for my bibliography management for quite some time now. It has wonderful features, including a sync feature which lets you access your data from different machines and different OS. Unfortunately, the sync limit on zotero servers is 300 MB which fills up pretty soon; but the brighter side is, it allows you to sync much more data on a third party WebDav server, like box.com.

Here’s a quick list of steps on how I did this:

Create a folder zotero in your box.com root. I already have an account on box.com (those who don’t, can create one for free).
Go to Zotero > Preferences > Sync and choose “WebDav” in File Syncing; use the URL dav.box.com/dav, and your box.com credentials.
Choose syncing options as you like.

That’s it.

Acknowledgement: I took a look at post before I got this to work.