While many University of students wandered from booth to booth perusing student organizations during this year’s Quad Day, freshmen and transfer students new to the department of computer science had a mission. Through a technology-based, collaborative scavenger hunt, students were able to familiarize themselves with not only department resources, but also those available throughout campus, cracking clues and scoring prizes along the way.

The orientation activity is designed to give students a better understanding of key locations and the support network available to them on campus. The scavenger hunt activity began in 2003 for all students entering the computer science program.

“The main goal is to get the new students to know each other and begin working as a team,” Department Head Marc Snir said. “The ancillary goal is to help them get to know the campus and department.”

Students were separated into 21 teams of five people and then provided with one Hewlett-Packard Jornada handheld computer per team. The Jornadas were used to deliver cryptic clues and hints about what the team’s next destination would be. Teams were also given a special campus map containing a variety of locations and the corresponding code name associated with each potential destination.

Once a group’s members would figure out a clue, such as, “Fence supporter, off on ice. Find it in the math building” (US Post Office), they would use the map to find the code name associated with the location and enter the code into a text field. If the answer was incorrect or a group was stumped, they could retrieve a hint from the computer. Two hints were available for each clue, but not without penalty -with each hint used, extra time would be added onto a group’s final score.

Professor Sam Kamin, the director of undergraduate programs in computer science and chair of the orientation planning committee, said there were several benefits to using the Jornadas to administer clues and keep score.

The computers allowed scoring to be based on solution time, instead of travel time, which was necessary because each team traveled a different route, Kamin explained.

“We didn’t want to penalize them for getting lost or how long it took them to get from place to place,” he said. “Our original motivation was not to prejudice teams with handicapped students on them.”

Michael Ilseman, freshman in Engineering who participated in the event, said he enjoyed it. He believes that the clues, which were created by a committee of student and faculty volunteers, were generally simple to answer. He claims that his group, while initially strangers, became acquainted quickly, built an effective team and didn’t have much difficulty figuring out the correct destinations. Ilseman is considering joining the planning committee to increase the difficulty of the clues included in next year’s event.

In addition to getting to know one another and what resources the University offers, various prizes were awarded to students. Each of the five winning team members received a gift certificate from Champaign Telephone Company, a year’s membership in the local chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery, as well as use of a departmental laptop computer and wireless network card for the year.

Students who were not on the winning team also had a chance to win prizes through a raffle, with sponsorship from HP, Apple Computer and Microsoft. The raffle prizes included a digital camera, iPaq, iPod and Xbox.

Ilseman said he found the scavenger hunt worthwhile.

“I think it did help, as far as finding your way around,” Ilseman said. “One clue was at Walgreens, another was in Altgeld, which is a very confusing building, so there were a lot of locations that new students would need to know,” he said.