hey-alexa-ccsc-cp

CCSC-CP 2021 Workshop repo for Hey Alexa! A Fun Introduction to AWS Lambda, Serverless Functions, and JavaScript with Conversational AI

CCSC-CP 2021 Conference

• CCSC-Central Plaines
• 2021 CCSC-CP Conference Schedule

About

• Hey Alexa! A Fun Introduction to AWS Lambda, Serverless Functions, and JavaScript with Conversational AI [see note]
• Denise M Case, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO 64468
• [email protected]

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Agenda (3 hour Workshop)

1. Introduction & Overview (10 minutes)
2. Introducing Alexa Skills (20 minutes)
   • Alexa Developer Account & Console
   • Skills / Intents / Enumerated Types / Endpoints
3. Introducing AWS and Hosting Functions (20 minutes)
   • Amazon Web Services Account
   • Lambda Serverless Functions
   • Skill Code
   • Editing / Updating Function Code
4. Demonstrating Testing & Submission Process (10 minutes)
5. Creating Alexa and AWS Accounts/Break (30 minutes)
6. Working through Alexa Build Tasks (30 minutes)
7. Working through Alexa Code Tasks (30 minutes)
8. Prepare and Certify (20 minutes)
9. Wrap Up / Discussion / Sharing (10 minutes)

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Overview

Learn how to design and create engaging cutting-edge apps! We’ll introduce principles of designing apps that apply freely available conversational AItools (e.g., Alexa, Google Home, and Siri) [2]. We’ll explain the powerful and easy ‘serverless’ functions that power them - no programming experience re-quired! We’ll introduce cloud computing and show the benefits of serverless functions [1]. Along the way, participants will open an Amazon Web Services account and get started as an Alexa developer for free! We’ll show how to use AWS Lambda serverless functions to run code without worrying about servers, complex file transfers, or setup. We’ll show you how to easily upload and edit simple web-enabled functions. You’ll learn how Alexa can be used to illustrate basic programming concepts like programming flow and enumerated types. Participants get access to the project code for the reference app, check-lists for working through the steps to publish, and if they like, can leave witha newly submitted Alexa skill customized for their organization or institution.

References

1. Simon Eismann, Joel Scheuner, Erwin van Eyk, Maximilian Schwinger, JohannesGrohmann, Nikolas Herbst, Cristina Abad, and Alexandru Iosup. Serverless ap-plications: Why, when, and how?IEEE Software, 2020.
2. Ashwin Ram, Rohit Prasad, Chandra Khatri, Anu Venkatesh, Raefer Gabriel,Qing Liu, Jeff Nunn, Behnam Hedayatnia, Ming Cheng, Ashish Nagar, et al.Conversational ai: The science behind the alexa prize. 2018.

Copyright

• Copyright is held by the author/owner.

Keywords

• computer science education
• software engineering
• conversational AI
• Alexa
• serverless functions
• AWS Lambda

Topics

• Computing Topics Web-Based Technology
• Education and Experience Topics - API and Library
• Education and Experience Topics - Computational Thinking
• Education and Experience Topics - Undergraduate Instruction

Learn More

• Alexa Developer Portal

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