These small improvements are a positive sign in light of growing concerns about the AP Computer Science exam, but it is doubtful that they are sufficient to overcome the growing sense among both K-12 and university educators that the exam is in need of a significant review and revision.

Posted by cstephenson at 12:34 PM | Comments (1)

February 16, 2007

How does more testing ensure that students are gaining critical thinking skills?

For those of you who have not yet seen it, the Commission on No Child Left Behind has put out their report proposing changes and updates to the NCLB legislation currently in place.

In reading the high school section of the report (Chapter 6) I was immediately drawn to the recommendations that they are making for high schools. In addition to changing the way that high schools are evaluated, and including evaluation for principals, there are some changes that concern me. First of all the report states that "70 percent [of employers] said that high school graduates were deficient in critical thinking and problem solving skills" (p. 131).

Are they recognizing that there is a pressing need to include more critical thinking activities (such as large design projects) or that students take at least one elective course in their high school career that is designed around critical thinking and problem solving? No, this is not their solution. Instead they are instituting another grade level assessment at the 12th grade level. If they are not bothering to teach these key concepts and skills as part of the curriculum, why on earth do they think that yet another assessment will solve the problem?

Problem-solving courses can take many forms and many of these courses already exist in schools. The problem is that they are being phased due to the pressures of NCLB. Why not re-energize those courses, computer science included, by recognizing they teach an important set of concepts that is often missed in the four R's.

Regardless of your feelings about NCLB and the mentioned changes here, I highly recommend you read the report. Even if you do not read the entire report, at least read the sections pertaining to your particular sphere of existence. Share your thoughts, speak out, let us know what you think the solutions might be.

Leigh Ann Sudol
CSTA Communications Chair

Posted by cstephenson at 11:47 AM | Comments (1)

December 21, 2006

Florida's New High School Computing Majors

In an effort to provide students with more highly defined career paths, the state of Florida is requiring high school students to choose a college-style major. To facilitate this change it has created a list of 400 possible majors, including eight that deal specifically with computing.

Computer and Communications Technology
Computer Education
Computer Education - Applications
Computer Education - Programming
Computer Education (Magnet)
Computer Graphics and Design
Computer System Analyst
Computer Systems Technology

The good thing about this list of possible majors is that it includes the possibility of computing technology majors (Computer and Communications Technology and Computing Applications), majors relating specifically to the use of computing across the curriculum (Computer Education and Computer Education - Magnet)) and majors that can be considered more traditional computer science courses Computer Education - Programming, Computer System Analyst, and Computer Systems Technology). It also includes opportunities to focus on the use of computing inn other disciplines with majors such as Bioinformatics and Business and Information Technology).

The problem with the list of majors, however, is that in attempting to connect courses with specific career paths, Florida may be focusing on so closely on one particular element of a discipline that it will make it difficult for students to acquire a sufficiently broad knowledge to function well in a workplace where both the jobs and what they are called are continually shifting.

Take Computer Education - Programming for example. While there are some who think that computer science is really just programming, experts in the high tech industries will tell you that computer science is a whole lot more. Students need a foundational understanding of software design, software development, and software maintenance. They also need to be introduced to diverse areas of computer science, such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interfacing just to name a few. A course in programming alone won't prepare them for the world of work.

Florida might be wise to take a page from the ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science, and organize the computing courses to allow students to learn the core concepts they require first, and then to explore the various specializations the discipline offers. Taking this approach, the majors might be listed as :

Computer and Communications Technology
Computer Applications
Computer Science: Introduction
Computer Science Analysis and Design
Special Topics in Computer Science:
graphics and design
robotics
networking

This kind of organization would be far more likely to ensure that students learn what they need to learn and that the system of majors remains flexible enough to serve Florida schools over time.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 02:17 PM | Comments (2)

November 28, 2006

The Pitfalls of Corporate Sponsorship

All educational associations would be wise to pay attention to the roasting the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is taking right now over its refusal to distribute a video on global warming to its members.

The controversy has arisen over NSTA's refusal to distribute 50,000 free DVD copies of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". In a recent Washington Post article, the film's producer, Laurie David, reported receiving an email refusal of the free teaching materials from the NSTA indicating that acceptance of the DVDs would place an "unnecessary risk upon the (NSTA) capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters." Also in the email, NSTA claimed that it did not want to offer a political endorsement that distribution of the film might imply. The problem, says David, is that NSTA has shown no such qualms about accepting more than $6 million in funding from Exxon Mobile, which has an alternative but similarly political end in mind when it comes to dealing with issues of fossil fuels.

Whether you personally agree or disagree with the NSTA's decision, this situation is sadly indicative of the tightrope all educational associations walk. The fact is, associations such NSTA, CSTA, and NCTM are increasingly stepping in to fill the huge educational gaps that other institutions have abandoned. We are doing the research, and creating the learning materials, and providing professional development for teachers. And doing all of this take money.

You might be surprised to learn that for most educational associations, membership fees account for less than 20% of the operating budget. That means we have to find the money to do all the good things we do from someplace else. There are only so many National Science Foundation grants to go around, so all of us, not just NSTA, rely on some form of corporate sponsorship.

To date, CSTA has been blessed with wonderful sponsors and we are very proud of the things we have accomplished together. Like most organizations, we focus on finding projects that are clearly in support of our mission and of benefit to our members. We also look carefully at the practical and moral implications of our choices. In truth, we have had to turn money down for projects that would imply CSTA support for a given product because our Board feels strongly that this is the right thing to do.

Whether right or wrong, I feel sorry for the good folks at the NSTA today. They have spent many years trying to do good things for teachers with far fewer resources than they need. The politics of scarcity gets us all eventually.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 05:37 PM | Comments (1)

November 17, 2006

International Perspective on Girls in the Sciences

The Financial Times reported recently that females are more likely to study Information Technology if it involves problem solving, team work, and creativity. One of the Israeli daily newspapers has also just published research which finds that girls studying computing get slightly better grades than boys, though not significantly higher. They aslo get higher grades in physics and math. The problem, however, is that in computer science and physics, only about a third of the high school students choosing to take these courses are girls. Approximately the same picture is seen in higher education in Israel and elsewhere. Why is it so? Have you an ideas? Any solutions?

Judith Gal-Ezer
CSTA Director for International Outreach

Posted by cstephenson at 07:25 PM | Comments (3)

October 27, 2006

A Rant About Salaries

I am beginning to wonder if we will ever successfully address the issues around improving computer science education as long as we fail to grapple with the issue of teacher salaries.

In every conversation I have had with people from business and industry and government, there is a genuine concern with ensuring that we have knowledgeable and well-trained professional teachers in the computer science classroom. Teacher pay, however, is the 800 pound gorilla everyone seems determined to ignore.

In most states, high school teachers now require an undergraduate degree in some area of specialization as well as a teaching certification that takes an additional one to two years to achieve. In many states, provinces, and countries, licensed teachers are also required to write (and pass) praxis exams in their academic area and to maintain a level of on-going professional development. And none of this even takes into consideration what they actually face in the classroom (for example critical shortages of resources, lack of professional respect, large class sizes, students of widely varying abilities to name just a few).

And what do they get for their troubles? Not much. Here is a chart of salaries for high school teachers.

Median Salary by State or Province - Job: High School Teacher (United States)

And here is a similar chart for computer programmers/analysts (often considered the bottom rung of the conputer science jobs ladder).

Median Salary by Job - Computer Programmer / Analysts (United States)

My guess is that until we bring these two more into line (start paying computing teachers what they are worth) great teachers with computing skills are going to continue to find it very difficult to justify their choice to teach.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 02:14 PM | Comments (7)

August 08, 2006

What if Alabama Led the Way?

Last week I spent a great day at the University of Alabama at Birmingham talking to computer science faculty and local high school computing teachers and administrators about working together to improve K-12 computer science education (see http://www.cis.uab.edu/programs/hsws/ for more on the workshop).

During what turned out to be a wide ranging discussion, Alabama Teacher of the Year Cameron McKinley asked some interesting questions:

"What if Alabama decided to lead the country in improving K-12 computer science education? Could this happen? What would it mean for the state and its students?"

Our discussions during the day touched on many so called "local issues". Certification for CS teachers in Alabama is a mess. As Amber Wagner explained, there is no certification for computer science, so computer science teachers have to write the praxis exam in an area that has no computer science content. This is a story I am hearing from CSTA members all across the country.

Jeff Gray of the University of Alabama at Birmingham talked about how student misconceptions about computer science as a discipline and as a career destination are driving students away from computer science at a time when companies cannot find enough qualified workers to fill the jobs available in the computing field.

And we all admitted that computer scientists in general do a terrible job of explaining our field and why it is so exciting. How many student, for example, really understand that the most exciting breakthroughs in the sciences and even in the humanities require computer science expertise? How many students are even aware that computer science makes the gadgets they love possible? Too few!

What would it take for Alabama to address these and other issues and so become a national leader in K-12 computer science education? First it would take vision and committed leadership at the highest political levels. Fortunately Alabama has "an education governor" so that is a good start. Next it would take the commitment of educators on multiple levels. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Computer Science Department is ready. The folks from the Faculties of Education are getting ready. The teachers I met are very ready.

It would take an unwavering long-term commitment to creating a state-wide computer science curriculum and providing the resources to support it. This would require a plan for on-going professional development for all teachers and a campaign to help students understand the opportunities that are available for them in the computing field. These are things that CSTA would be happy to help with.

Business and industry would have to step up, offering financial and other support. Not just the high tech companies, but the industries that hire 80% of the computer science graduates to keep them up and running, such insurance companies, banks, the auto industry, and the health care industry just to name a few.

Of course, something would have to be done to fix the certification mess. And just maybe, teachers would be paid a livable wage.

What kind of place would Alabama be if it did these things? Alabama would be a place where all students have the opportunity to acquire the computing knowledge and skills required to survive and thrive in this new global economy, Alabama's booming high-tech and medical industry would have access to the skilled workers it needs to drive innovation and economic prosperity. And a world of career opportunities would open up for this and future generations.

Wouldn't it be a great thing? I believe that it is a possible thing.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 05:49 PM | Comments (2)

July 23, 2006

Expanding Communication

In my new role as CSTA's Publications Committee Chair, I have spent the last week thinking a lot about communication, specifically about what types of communication make an organization work and what types of communication our members might want.

Right now, CSTA communicates with its members (you) in a couple of different ways. This blog is great for letting you know what we are thinking and working on. The CSTA Voice is great for sharing articles, highlighting trends or best practices in CS education, and informing you of new research or upcoming events. Our current focus, however, is finding an effective interactive tool for communicating more immediately and directly with our members and helping our members connect more easily with each other.

My favorite form of communication is face to face. Unfortunately with 4500+ members spread across the globe its kind of hard for all of us to get together in one place at one time. And even then I believe that a formal "program" would be needed to help introduce people, connect people who are interested in the same topics, and start to build a community of our members.

One of our primary tasks when producing a community is interaction. How can those who have questions ask them? How can those who have knowledge share it? How can the leadership of the organization share important membership benefits and receive candid feedback about them? And how can we as a leadership understand what is most important in your little corner of the world?

I am working on some ideas, but I would love to hear yours. Please comment on this post, even if it is just encouragement to say that you are interested in an interactive tool.

Leigh Ann Sudol

Posted by cstephenson at 11:04 AM | Comments (2)

June 27, 2006

Poster Perfection

Four the last four months, CSTA has been working in partnership with ACM-W and the American School Counselors Association to create a classroom poster to help promote computer science and information technology, especially for young women and minority students. One of the things we have learned is that sometimes it is more important to do something necessary and good than something everyone agrees upon.

The poster (which can be printed standard paper sized, or as a 2x3 ft. or 3x4 ft.classroom poster) is intended to help students make the connection between their interests and abilities and the many fields of computing that are part of computer science and information technology.

Our work began with a small committee. Bettina Bair and Gloria Townsend (ACM-W), Michelle Hutton (our middle school computing teacher), Brenda Melton (our guidance counselor) and I met with our designer Beth Scandalios to brainstorm our poster message and work through some design options. Beth then created six poster designs (one of which was exactly what we asked for and the other five which were even better). From there, Beth and I got it down to three choices and then the whole committee reviewed and critiqued those choices. People selected the elements they liked best and made new suggestions for further revisions which helped Beth create a final design.

During the design phase, we also asked for advice from folks outside the committee. Leicia Barker from the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) provided us with a number of very valuable suggestions that we incorporated into the final poster design. I showed the poster design to a number of colleagues in other associations and to the CSTA Board of Directors and the CSTA Advisory Council. Bettina also took the design to the NCWIT meeting and we received feedback from a number of university folks. And Tracy Camp (who wrote the germinal research paper on the pipeline crisis) gave us great feedback and support all the way from New Zealand where she is working this year.

We also tested the poster design with teachers and students. The test group involved students in four classrooms (two middle schools, two high schools, two independent schools) and an online feedback site that involved both high school and university students.

The response to the poster was overwhelmingly positive, but that is not to say that everyone agreed. In fact, there were differing opinions on just about everything. The teachers who reviewed the poster were really pleased that the young woman was dressed "like our kids dress", but a couple of the university folks were concerned that some schools would find the tank top inappropriate. One person did not like the "IT is all about me" headline, but Michelle's response was "If they are in middle school, believe me, it really is all about them and they know it. That is what makes this such a catchy headline." And you will never believe how much time we spent discussing whether it should be "IT is" or "I.T. is"!

Our goal, however, was to get this poster ready for the upcoming conference season, so that we could get it in the hands (and classrooms!) of real teachers. And to date, conferences across the country have offered to distribute the poster to their attendees. These include the National Educational Computing Conference hosted by ISTE, the American School Counselors Association annual conference, the Grace Murray Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, and a number of other folks who are offering great workshops for computer teachers.

The truth is, we could have spent a lot more time and a lot more money trying to hone our poster so that everyone would love it, but I am not sure we ever would have achieved that goal. Even though every single person who gave us feedback really wanted the poster to be a success, people's tastes and expectations are very different.

So, you might say that in the end we sacrificed complete consensus for getting something into teachers' hands right now, because the problem is right now and it is getting worse. We need immediate interventions to overcome students' beliefs that computing is not the field for them, that it does not welcome them and help them make important contributions to the world.

We really hope that you like the poster. We are proud of it. We hope that people will put it in their classrooms and offices. We hope that students will take notice. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to help us make it better.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 02:02 PM | Comments (1)

June 09, 2006

Sometimes Even Bad Things Are Good To Know

From an organization's point of view, a good survey is a wonderful thing. I don't just mean surveys that tell you good things are wonderful, but that any survey that gives you solid data can be a useful tool for getting a member's eye view of how you are doing and what you could be doing better.

In May we finished the first CSTA Member Satisfaction Survey. This survey was designed to provide very detailed information. We asked our members to rate every benefit and service CSTA provides and to tell us what other benefits would be of value to them.

As soon as they were available, I looked at the quantitative results and they were most informative. It has only been in the last week, however, that I have had time to delve into the qualitative results and they are a virtual diamond mine of new insights.

Here are some of the good things that I learned:

• Our members are making surprisingly extensive use of the ACM Model Curriculum. They are using it to build, revise, and evaluate state level, district level, and school level computer science curricula. They are using it to convince administrators and principles about the importance of supporting K-12 computer science programs. They are using it to support their own research. They are using it to evaluate their own teacher certification requirements.
• Our members are very glad that CSTA exists and are making increasing use of the resources we are providing (when they have the time!).
• Educators at all levels of the educational system belong to and support CSTA and K-12 computer science education.
• Far more researchers than we expected are using our research data to either support or inspire their own research efforts.

Here are some of the valuable things we learned about doing better.

• The Welcome to CSTA email we send out to our members to let them know about their benefits is not reaching all members. We suspect that firewalls and filters are to blame, but we need to find a more effective way to get this information to folks.
• We need to provide some kind of facility that lets interested members get breaking information from CSTA and to interact more effectively as a community without filling up people's spam folders.

These are important issues that the CSTA Board is now looking at thanks to the folks who completed our first Member Satisfaction Survey. Thank you for your input and insight. Thank you for continuing to support CSTA.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 05:54 PM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2006

What To Do About CS Teacher Certification

Anyone who takes the time to follow this blog knows that one of the most challenging issues we face is the current lack of standardized teacher certification requirements for high school computer science teachers.

The saga of CSTA's involvement in this issue is long and complex. Suffice to say that all of our early research told us that computer science teacher certification in the U.S. is a complete mess and all of the members who have written to us about this issue (via email, articles in the CSTA Voice, and comments here on the blog) agree with this assessment.

Here is how the current mess breaks down:
* some states have requirements for teaching computer science
* some states have NO requirements for teaching computer science
* half of the teachers in any given state know whether or not there are requirements, the rest do not
* some states with requirements demand that teachers have taken or taught courses that do not exist
* some states classify computer science under business, some under math, some under science, and some under vocational technology
* some people responsible for computer science teaching requirements at the state level do not know what computer science is
* many just don't care

Before CSTA can make any recommendations on how to improve the situation, we have to have more solid, research-based data. So, for the last months we have been collecting the computer science teacher certification requirements for each state. The biggest challenge has been to find someone who actually admits to being responsible in each state. The second biggest challenge has been trying to explain to whoever is in charge that we are not talking about K-12 technology use standards. We now have data from all but 14 states and we are working hard to get them to respond. Even once we have all the data, though, I wonder what it is we can do to fix this mess.

So here are my questions for you.

1. Do you think we should have a national high school computer science certification requirement that would apply in every state?
2. Would your state actually opt in to such a program?
3. Should computer science be classified as a science, math, technology, or business specialization?
4. Should there be a single national praxis test that could be used to ensure sufficient subject content and teaching mastery to support certification?

I would love to know what you think.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 05:28 PM | Comments (16)

April 18, 2006

Let's Celebrate Computer Science Education at our School

As I was walking past our school library this week, I noticed that this is Latin week. During the school year at Lake Highland Preparatory School we celebrate many events that have to do with different disciplines and I'm sure your school must as well. So, I was thinking that we should do something school-wide to celebrate Computer Science Education.

As a member of the Faculty Advisory Board for Microsoft Corporation, my first thought was to send this group an e-mail and ask them what we should be celebrating and when. Daryll McDade, who manages our group and is in charge of supporting computer science education for Microsoft, suggested a Grace Hopper day celebrating her accomplishments in the computer science field and gave me a link to the Seattle Girls' School. For the past four years, this school has celebrated Grace Hopper with a luncheon focused on visionary women in math, science, and technology.

After further research, I discovered that in 1994, Dr. Anita Borg and Dr. Telle Whitney organized a conference called The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. This conference, held every two years, celebrates the continuing achievements and contributions of women in computing. The first conference was held in Washington, D.C. and over 450 people attended. Last year, this conference had 900 participants and highlighted the impact and history that women have made, are making, and will continue to make on technology and innovation.

More research led me to a group of woman called the Hoppers which was started by Theresa Stowell and Teri Schiel who were both engineers for Microsoft Corporation and gathered women programmers together to form a group that would give Microsoft women a forum to discuss some of the challenges they confronted in the workplace.

Today, Hoppers has more than 1,600 members across every Microsoft office in the United States and overseas. Any woman who works at the company and supports the Hoppers charter can be a member, regardless of job title or employment status (permanent, contractor, vendor, intern or part-time). Microsoft funds Hoppers and contributes to its scholarship fund.

As computer science teachers, we know of the accomplishments of Grace Hopper and it seems fitting to honor this pioneer on her birthday which is December 9th. Unfortunately, this day falls on a Saturday this year but we could celebrate it on Friday the 8th as Computer Science Education Day.

Student activities could include an essay contest on the life of Grace Hopper or perhaps a contest for posters which could be displayed around school. In any event, Computer Science Education needs to be recognized and I ask that you join me in celebrating Grace Hopper on December 8th 2006.

Brian Scarbeau,
Computer Science Department Head
Lake Highland Preparatory School
Orlando Fl
bscarbeau@lhps.org
http://sws.lhps.org

Posted by cstephenson at 10:56 AM | Comments (2)

March 24, 2006

Just the Facts

While it has been great to see the computing media/business media coverage of ACM's new Job Migration study, I worry about how much of the important information in this report is actually filtering down to students.

The most pervasive misconception about computer science, especially among students and their parents, is that there are no longer any job opportunities in this field. Media coverage about offshoring has played a major role in spreading this misinformation. My hope is that media's coverage of the Job Migration study may help undo some of the damage that has been done.

Contrary to what many people now believe, employment in IT in the U.S. is at an all-time high. As ACM President Dave Patterson noted in a recent column in Communications of the ACM (February 2006, 49(2), pp. 41-41) it is even higher than it was at the height of the dot-com boom. Contrary to the situation in other industries (think manufacturing!), annual job losses due to offshoring have been no more than 2-3% of the U.S. IT workforce.

As Patterson also indicated, there are also several types of IT work that are not likely to be offshored, including:
* Work that has not been routinized
* Work that is critical to a company's control over its own operations
* Work involving data security, data privacy, intellectual property, or proprietary information
* Work that relies on a combination of application-domain knowledge and IT knowledge.

Beyond the information about jobs in the IT sector, ACM's report raises some interesting ideas about curriculum which should be of direct interest to K-12 computer science educators.

Keeping students competitive in this new global IT economy is going to take more than drilling programming concepts into their heads. Our students need to become better problem solvers, to be curious, innovative, and creative. They need to see the connection between what they are doing in the classroom and real problems in the real world.

We also need to think seriously about making the so-called "soft skills" an integral part of our curriculum and our pedagogy. Students need to build team work and communication skills, and also to develop cross-cultural understandings that will allow them to function as citizens of this new world.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 01:36 PM | Comments (1)

March 22, 2006

New and Old Ideas About Computer Science

If anyone happened to ask me, I would say that the biggest problem we face in all of computer science education right now is addressing misconceptions many people hold about our discipline, both as an educational endeavor and as a career path. Recently, however, I am beginning to see efforts by respected computer scientists to address this challenge head-on.

In an effort to address the misconception that computer science is programming, Jeannette Wing, the head of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University has taken on the thorny issue of what computer science is and is not.

In a recent issue of the Communications of the ACM (March 2006, 49(3), pp.33-35), Wing puts forth the opinion that computer science is really the study of computational thinking (what can be computed and how to compute it) and that computational thinking is a fundamental skill, not just for computer scientists, but for everyone because it involves solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior.

Computational thinking, Wing argues, has the following characteristics:
* It is about conceptualizing, not about programming
* It is about how humans solve problems with the aid of computing devices
* It draws on both mathematical and engineering thinking to build systems that function in the real world
* It is about ideas that touch everyone's lives
* It is everywhere

When we think about computer science in this way, the realm of possibilities for doing interesting and important work is shown to be limitless and the idea that computer science is sitting in a cubicle all day worrying about 1 and 0s is suddenly shown to be, as one student said to me, "so ago".

Posted by cstephenson at 12:16 PM | Comments (1)

March 17, 2006

Working More Effectively Together

If our experience at the recent SIGCSE Conference in Houston is any indication, we are on the verge of a major positive shift in the relations between K-12 computer science educators and our colleagues at the college level.

To be honest, relations between high school and post-secondary computer science educators have always been a little fractious. University folks have bemoaned the fact that students coming into their classes are not adequately prepared for the rigor of the discipline at the college level, and high school teachers have complained that the university folks have no idea of the environment in which K-12 people teach or their desperate need for information and support.

Over the past few years, however, there has been something of a sea change. More and more colleges and universities have established outreach programs to the high schools, providing teachers with much-needed opportunities for professional development and mentoring. The success of CSTA's JETT program (over 60 workshops held nation-wide) and the booming interest in our TECS workshops are also proof of the willingness of colleges and universities to step in and step up, using their own resources to build bridges and support community.

On March 3, Robb Cutler (CSTA Chair) and I had the opportunity to give the plenary session at ACM's SIGCSE Conference. Our goal was to provide our post-secondary colleagues with a better understanding of the challenges that K-12 teachers face, and to suggest new and improved ways that we can work together to address the issues confronting computer science education along the pipeline.

The fact that SIGCSE so generously allotted us a major session at this highly respected conference is, in and of itself, indicative of not just a shift of consciousness among post-secondary educators, but a major pledge of support for CSTA's efforts to promote and support computer science education in K-12.

The response to this session has also opened our eyes to the incredible potential of stronger ties and real partnerships between CSTA and organizations that have long supported post-secondary computer science education. A number of ACM's SIGs have offered to work more closely with us on key issues. Some pretty important people have also come forward to volunteer their time and expertise.

Our task now is to find ways to harness their incredible abilities in support of our common goals. The issues that we share all along the educational pipeline are complex and challenging, but this growing realization of our common interests and goals and, more importantly, this commitment to working in harmony rather than in isolation, are important and exciting.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 02:21 PM | Comments (1)

March 16, 2006

Computer Science for all Students?!

We have known for hundreds of years that chemistry provides the building blocks of our world. Pick up the item nearest to you and you will find that it was made with chemistry.

Computer science provides the building blocks of our increasingly technological world. After you put together the silica, etch it with acids, and treat it with other chemicals, you use computer science to make it do cool things. Where would my daily run be without my mp3 player? Where would my friendships across the country be without the wonder of free wireless internet at the local cafe? These were made with computer science.

Introductory chemistry is (fairly) straightforward; as a society we believe chemistry is valuable for students to understand. Of course we don't expect all our students to become chemists, but we want adults in our society to know about chemistry in order to be competent individuals who can cook, use common household products safely, and make informed voting decisions. It isn't until the second year in college with organic chem that it becomes an intensely challenging "weed out" course. And it isn't until medical school that we truly force our students into intensely challenging conditions, in part because "that is the way we have always done it."

Why is it, then, that computer science has adopted an attitude more like medical school than introductory chemistry? Why don't we provide an accessible and fun introductory course that gives students the building blocks of the discipline? It seems that we teachers have the attitude that the way we learned computer science was through programming, and it was hard, and that is how we should teach.

I would like to see a new model, one where computer science is accessible to all students, where it is a standard part of the core curriculum, and where it is fun! This is part of why I am so excited about the Level 2 curriculum outline and the whole ACM Model Curriculum for K12 Computer Science. But it will take more than the new curriculum - teachers have to use fun tools and games like Sudoku and role play to engage students. We can make computer science accessible without dumbing it down if we just try.

Michelle Hutton
CSTA Equity Chair
Girls' Middle School

Posted by cstephenson at 02:38 PM | Comments (2)

February 24, 2006

ACM Shows Us Why the AP Numbers Matter

Sometimes, if you wait long enough, new information comes along that helps you see things more clearly, or at least in a way that helps you gain perspective. For some time now I have been procrastinating on a blog response to the AP Report to the Nation, but a major report, released by ACM, has helped me find a way to articulate exactly why the AP CS results are so alarming.

The number of students writing the computer science AP examinations is continuing to decrease. In 2001, 23,422 students wrote either the CS A or B exam. By 2003, the number had dropped to 21,745. By 2005, the number of students writing the APCS exams had declined to 19,021. While one might argue that the percentage of the decline from year to year is not extreme enough to cause profound concern, the fact that there is a continuing pattern of decline clearly is.

This pattern tells us that students are loosing interest, they don't think computer science has educational or employment value to them, or they do not have time to take AP CS because they are too busy taking AP courses in all those other disciplines. This worries me a great deal. But I have been putting off writing about it in fear of receiving the seemingly inevitable comment that there is nothing to worry about because all the jobs are being "outsourced" anyway.

This is why I was so happy to read ACM's new comprehensive report called Globalization and Offshoring of Software. This report, developed by a team of internationally recognized computer scientists, industry leaders, labor economists, and social scientists, finally gives us a coherent, balanced, and rigorously researched view of the increasing globalization of the software industry and what this means for countries who want to maintain their technological edge.

The report notes that globalization trends in the software industry have been fueled by rapid advances in information technology as well as government action and economic factors. What it also found, however, is that, despite intensifying competition, offshoring between developed and developing countries can benefit both parties.

The study cites data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which indicates that more IT jobs are available today in the U.S. than at the height of the dot com boom. This trend is evident despite a significant increase in offshoring over the past five years. In fact, U.S. IT employment in 2004 was 17% higher than in 1999, and the BLS data reveals that IT jobs are predicted to be among the fastest-growing occupations over the next decade.

So what does this mean for educators? The report also tells us that IT workers and students can improve their chances of long-term employment in IT occupations by acquiring a strong educational foundation, learning the technologies used in global software, and keeping skills up to date throughout their careers. In other words, they can ensure a better future for themselves by learning computer science. The brightness of the future for individuals, companies, or countries, rests on their ability to invest in building the foundations that foster innovation and invention.

Meeting this commitment begins with K-12 education. It requires us to improve computer science education in K-12. We must do a better job of helping students understand that there are opportunities open to them, that computing is the mechanism by which the greatest problems of this century will be addressed, and that they need to begin building their skills now, because the future is always closer than we think.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 11:48 AM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2006

CSTA Launches New Virtual Binder

With everything else they have on their plates right now, it is almost impossible for K-12 computing teachers to keep up with all of the research about computer science education that might be relevant to their classroom practices. In fact, just finding material that is relevant to K-12 is a considerable chore.

One of the major benefits of CSTA membership, however, is access to the CSTA virtual binders - a collection of top-notch, classroom relevant articles culled from ACM's huge Digital Library.

So far, dedicated volunteers from the CSTA Board of Directors have put together three binders and the newest one, on Careers, just went live this weekend.

There are now three CSTA virtual binders, each covering a different topic: Careers, Equity, and Teaching Strategies. Each binder provides full-text access to up to 15 articles pulled from the very best professional and educational computer science journals.

CSTA members can access these binders directly from the CSTA website (csta.acm.org) by clicking on K-12 Virtual Binders in the Resources section on the left column. Once you get to the binders page, click on

Login for e-binders

and you can access the binders directly using your ACM Web Account. (CSTA members who have not done sor yet can simply follow the instructions to set up their free ACM Web Account.)

The CSTA Membership Committee, under the direction of Charmaine Bentley, has been spearheading the creation of the virtual binders, and plans are underway for at least three more themed binders to be developed over the next few months. If you have some ideas about good topics for new e-binders, please post a comment here and let us know!

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 02:54 PM | Comments (1)

December 31, 2005

Did you know? Membership Resources

On the CSTA website, two of the benefits listed for CSTA individual membership are access to:

* free online training courses available through the Sun Academic Initiative, and
* the Career Resource Centre, ACM's source for career articles, job board, and career assessment tools.

Links to both of these resources are available from the CSTA website (left side under Professional Development). Entry into either of the areas may at first seem intimidating, but the effort will be well rewarded.

Whether your exploration in the Career Resource Centre is through the career assessment tools or through the articles available, the investment in time will provide information that should be of use to you and to your students.

This is even more evident for the courses available from the Sun Academic Initiative. When registering, for any of these excellent courses, ranging from "Fundamentals of JAVA" to topics in Distributed Computing Concepts and more, the savings become readily apparent. These lessons are fast-paced, easy to understand, and more than justify the cost of CSTA membership.

Please, avail yourself of these benefits, and let us know how else we can be of service to you, the most important resource of CSTA, our members.

Charmaine Bentley
Membership Chair

Posted by cstephenson at 05:46 PM | Comments (3)

December 26, 2005

My Year in CSTA

Like many, during the holiday season I consider the many things I have to be thankful for. High on my list this year is the CSTA. It is hard to believe the organization is only a year old!

So many exciting things are happening at all levels. Perhaps the most exciting thing to me is the creation of local chapters! What a great chance for local teachers to get to know each other and feel less isolated. I am so pleased for each area that had a person willing to step up and organize a meeting; I hope more chapters will form this year.

Being involved with the CSTA provides many opportunities: to learn about the status of CS education far beyond the local community, to think about best practices in teaching CS, to begin creating the change we want to see in the world. Personally, being on the board has provided numerous opportunities. Most important: the chance to work and become friends with some smart, dedicated, interesting individuals. One truth I have found about participating with this group is the more involved I am willing to be, the more I get out of it. I am so glad I was willing to take the leap to be more than "just a middle school teacher"!

I hope you will think about filling out an application for a position on the Board of Directors or volunteering to help on one of the committees. If you're a computer science teacher or just interested in K-12 computer science education and you aren't a member, why not join now?

Michelle Hutton
Equity Chair

Posted by cstephenson at 12:03 PM | Comments (1)

December 16, 2005

A Big Shout Out to Sun

I have never been much of a hardware geek. I like my computer to do what I want it to do with as little fuss as possible, but beyond that, I probably do not pay as much attention as I should. Sometimes, however, when something especially good happens, even I must acknowledge that hardware is a beautiful thing.

Since the day CSTA was first brought into being by ACM, we have been working on the dream of an online resource that would provide teachers with access to a rich repository of teaching and learning materials for K-12 computer science education.

Toward this end, a small but dedicated committee of volunteers has been collecting resources being developed at JETT (http://jett.acm.org/) and TECS (http://tecs.acm.org/) workshops across the country, developing a classification scheme based upon the Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science, and preparing the existing resources for entry into the repository. This Spring we achieved a major project milestone with the unveiling of our new user interface which was created by students at Villanova University, under the direction of Dr. Lillian Cassel.

The web repository is being built using DSpace, a highy-customizable open source repository facility created at MIT. The CSTA repository utilizes the standard Dublin core metadata so that the material it contains will be harvestable by other major repositories such as the National Science Data Library.

The really big news, however, came just a couple of weeks ago when Sun Microsystems Vice President Greg Papadopoulos (a member of the CSTA Advisory Council) offered to provide the equipment upon which this new repository will reside and all future development will be carried out.

And here is what Sun provided:

Sun Fire V210, 2 x 1.34Ghz UltraSPARC IIIi, 4 x 512MB DIMMS, 2 x 73GB Drive, 4 x 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, ALOM Remote Manager, Single PCI Slot, 1PSU & Java ES & Solaris 10 pre-installed.

Localized Power Cord Kit North American/Asian

X-Option - Internal DVD-ROM Drive Slimline, for Sun Fire V210 and Sun Fire V240.

1GB Memory Expansion Kit (2*512MB) low-profile DDR PC2100 or faster registered ECC DIMMs for use in Sun Fire V210, Sun Fire V240, Sun Fire V440, Netra 240, Netra 440, Sun Blade 1500 and Sun Blade 2500.

Internal 146GB 10K Ultra 3 SCSI HDD, 3.5" x 1" drive with barrier plate

Solaris 9 CD-ROM media kit (latest release). SPARC Platform Edition.

Thanks to this most generous donation from Sun, the CSTA web repository is closer to being a reality than we expected. Our plan right now is to have it up and running and available to all CSTA members by the summer!

Thank you, Sun, for helping bring us so much closer to our goal!

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 12:18 PM | Comments (2)

December 05, 2005

Everybody Needs a Little Inspiration

Anyone who does not believe that teaching computer science is a tough job has never faced a row of student faces day after day or tried to keep all of the hardware and software actually functioning. And that does not even begin to address the increasing stress that all teachers are facing. So every once in a while, it is important to reflect upon what matters and why what you do is important.

Today our CSTA Equity Chair, Michelle Hutton, sent me a student course evaluation that she has been keeping since 2002. Here is what the student had to say:

"I've learned not to be afraid of computers. I've learned some of the fundamentals and code of CS. I've learned that learning computer science is a process where you need to learn one thing before you move on to the next. Once you have mastered a concept, creating something you're proud of can be easy & fun."

Even if they do not say it quite so well, my guess is that all of you have students who have felt the same way, and who, if not immediately then some day, have realized the importance and usefullness of what you are trying to teach them.

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)

November 18, 2005

Correctness and Finishedness

As a certified soft touch, I'm constantly running into the problem of students asking for extensions on their work. It is hard to deny a motivated student additional time to keep working on a problem rather than admitting to failure.

I think this may be more of a problem in CS than in other classes. In most classes, it is fairly straightforward to tell when a problem is finished and fairly difficult to know if it is correct without the answer key. In math, if I have an answer to the equation, I'm done, whether or not the answer is accurate. In humanities, I know if the paper has said what I have to say and whether I hit the page count, whether or not I was blowing hot air or completely wrong about the causes of WWII.

In CS, students have the golden test - does the program run? Until it will compile without errors and fulfill some approximation of the requirements, it is clearly not done. For a dedicated student who is used to working until the work is complete, it can be difficult to learn when to walk away, especially when the grade depends on the assignment. The difference between an overlooked missing semicolon and a significant logic error can be indistinguishable to a novice.

How can we better support our students in learning when to give up, when to persevere, and how much time to allot for assignments?

Michelle Friend Hutton
Equity Chair

Posted by cstephenson at 10:15 AM | Comments (1)

November 08, 2005

Sudoku Puzzles and Computer Science

I have to admit that I'm a bit of a Sudoku addict. Rarely has a morning gone by that I don't play one or two of the many on-line versions of Sudoku that are available across the internet.

If you've somehow missed the Sudoku craze, it is a very simple number puzzle. You are given a 9x9 grid with some of the squares filled in with numbers between 1 and 9. Your job is to complete the grid so that each number from 1 to 9 appears once in every row, once in every column, and once in each of nine 3x3 subgrids.

For example, in the above grid, you can confidently put a 5 in the shaded box. Here's why. You need a 5 somewhere in the second column. Because there's already a 5 in the top-left and bottom-left 3x3 subgrids, the 5 must go in the middle-left subgrid. And in the middle-left subgrid, the 5 has to appear in the fourth row. (As a good teacher, I'll leave it to you as an exercise to figure out why!)

To solve a puzzle, you fill in all of the empty squares by process of elimination. Depending on how many squares have already been filled in for you, this can be very easy or very hard.

So what does this have to do with computer science?

The other day I was talking with some fellow Sudoku fanatics when one of them mentioned that her daughter was particularly good at solving these puzzles. She said, "My daughter has this innate ability to recognize the patterns that occur."

And then in her next breath, she said, "I wonder what sorts of careers would use that talent."

Bingo. (The exclamation, not the career.)

"Has she considered computer science?", I asked.

"Computer science? Gosh no. The last thing my daughter wants to do is to sit in front of a computer screen all day."

Naturally, this was my opportunity to tell her about what computer science really is. It's not just programming (though a typical computer scientist does some of that as well). Rather, it's about problem-solving and algorithmic thinking. The pattern recognition skills her daughter has in Sudoku will serve her well as a computer scientist.

Finally, the thrill we Sudoku-lovers get when we finish a challenging puzzle is the same excitement I get when I solve an algorithms problem that has been particularly vexing. That satisfaction is what makes computer science so enjoyable.

While I'm not sure that my friend's daughter is going to rush out and sign up for a computer science course, I feel fairly confident that she'll at least consider the possibility the next time she has to sign up for classes. It's conversations like this one that will help people to understand what computer science is and help to strengthen the role of computer science in K-12 education.

Robb Cutler
President, CSTA

Posted by cstephenson at 05:57 PM | Comments (6)

October 20, 2005

Cheaters Never Prosper, Or Do They?

I read a very interesting article about student cheating in Communications of the ACM recently that reminded me that finding ways to subvert the system is still very much a part of the mindset for many students and led me to wonder how much effort we can and should put into discouraging it.

I never really thought very much about cheating among computers science students until the late 1980's when I was working in a computer science department at a very large university. When discussing this issue, the faculty tended to fall into two camps: the "perpetrators should be punished" camp and the "boys will be boys" camp. What surprised me, however, was that more of the faculty tended to fall into the latter than the former group.

What I found particularly irksome was the opinion among these folks that somehow computer science students were different or should be treated differently than other students in the university. Being a fine old institution, our university had a history of being particularly harsh in matters relating to plagiarism. A student in the English department caught passing off a couple of borrowed sentences as her or his own in an essay would be publicly disgraced and dismissed from the program and from the university. Why should the case be different for computer science students?

Keep in mind too, that this was back before the days when we began to look at our teaching methodologies in light of industrial practices relating to software development. There was no groupwork as part of the curriculum. There was just stealing, and the magnitude and creativity behind it was almost staggering. In those days people trooped off to the Computing Center to run and print their programs. Printouts were stolen with great regularity. Some students became seasoned dumpster divers, rifling through the cast off paper in the garbage for bits of useable code they could steal.

Sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures. In order to curb what he perceived as a growing tendency toward "unofficial collaboration" one colleague of mine adopted a particularly successful strategy called "one cheats, two fail". When he found duplicate code on individual assignments, he called both students into his office and told them that both of them would fail unless the copier confessed. Both students were humiliated, the student who did the original work learned to protect it more carefully, and rough justice was often administered to the cheater who refused to admit to the act.

In the 1990's I also worked for an educational publisher and I would frequently receive email from students posing as teachers requesting copies of textbook teacher guides so that they could have the answers to the class assignments. Over time, I developed an almost uncanny ability to spot the pretenders. Usually it was their appalling grammar.

These days, students simply comb the Internet for snippets, applets, or entire applications to submit as original work. Some folks still defend this as justifiable on the basis that code reuse is a highly efficient and effective use of programmer time. Others remain vigilant.

How about you?

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 06:03 PM | Comments (3)

September 09, 2005

When the World Intervenes

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own challenges that it is hard to extend our focus beyond our immediate concerns. For some reason, though, just when we are buried about as deeply as we can be in the issues of the moment, something comes along and hits us over the head and reminds us of the limitations of our viewpoint. This summer there have been two events that have brought this home to me in a profound way.

On June 28, I took part in a special panel session at NECC focusing on international perspectives on high school computer science curricula. This session, chaired by CSTA Curriculum Committee Chair Anita Verno and sponsored by the National Science Foundation, is part of a larger project to help us find successful models for developing and implementing a national computer science curriculum.

The panel featured several speakers from different countries, each of which had already begun implementing a comprehensive curriculum for computer science. Anita spoke about CSTA's efforts to support the ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science, Dr. Judith Gal-Ezer discussed Israel's highly successful CS curriculum, Jackie Martin described Scotland's national curriculum, Mike Chiles addressed South Africa's new national curriculum, and I spoke about the comprehensive curriculum implemented in Ontario, Canada, in 2000.

As each speaker addressed the implementation phase of her/his curriculum development process, it became increasingly clear that countries who were further ahead in this effort than the United States had discovered several key factors that needed to be in place in order for the curriculum to succeed. These included a reasonable implementation time line, access to adequate resources (functioning hardware, support materials, textbooks), and professional development for teachers.

All of these are important considerations for CSTA to address as we attempt to improve computer science education. But something else happened at the presentation. Mike Chiles, the Director of Information and Technological Services at the Western Cape Education Department in South Africa, reminded us, in the gentlest of ways, of the cost of focusing too closely on our own concerns. South Africa, he explained, faces a unique challenge in its efforts to ensure an adequate supply of trained computer science teachers. The HIV/AIDS pandemic raging across Africa is taking the lives of so many teachers, and so many technically skilled people in business and industry, that it is not possible to find enough teachers for the classrooms. And then it hit us, speakers and audience alike. It is not just some "them" dying in a far away place. It is "us." Teachers are dying. And I do not know what to do.

And now, we have a similar reminder much closer to home. A part of this country lies in ruins, families lost, homes destroyed, children, adults, and even pets displaced and afraid, their lives in tatters. This hurricane and its aftermath are testing as at our most foundational level, and in a country as generous as this, I do not believe that the people will be found wanting.

In Texas, everything is big, including the hearts of its people, and our friends at TCEA are already putting together a Task Force to help schools get their technology back up and running. This is the right thing to do. To offer what it is we know how to do best in the service of others. And I have promised TCEA's Executive Director Ron Cravey (cravey@tcea.org) that CSTA will be there to help in any way that we can.

Right now, there are important things that you can do. Donate money to the Red Cross, to the Salvation Army, to the Humane Society, and to the many organizations that are tending to bodies and souls. Organize something in your school, your community, or your city. And when we let you know how you can help us help them, please answer our call.

There are things we can do to help and doing something is always better than doing nothing. Find a way to show how thankful you are for all that you have by helping those who now have nothing.

Resources:
www.unicefusa.org
www.tcea.org
www.redcross.org
www.salvationarmyusa.org
www.hsus.org

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2005

Finding Funding

Over the last twenty years, I have had the opportunity to work with many professional associations for teachers, both in Canada and the U.S. and one thing that has always amazed me is how hard these organizations must work to survive, and how many of them manage to do so.

Interesting research from Australia indicates that professional associations for teachers exist in a perpetual state of needs exceeded by resources. In an effort to provide as many benefits and services as possible to their members, they stretch themselves to the fiscal, intellectual, and emotional breaking point. While large associaitons may have the benefit of a greater pool of membership revenues, the reality is that very few have enough membership revenue to cover their expenses. They depend on their volunteers and they depend on external sources of funding.

External funding can take many forms: government grants, foundation grants, corporate support, or contracts for service to some external body. In all of these cases there is a bargain to be made, something that the funding organization wants in return, something that will require association resources (staff, volunteers, equipment) to produce. The best possible projects involve getting funding to do something that the association wants to do for its members anyway. These projects are high mission. Some, however, require doing something that is not much value to the membership, but brings in considerable money. These projects are high revenue. There are also moral questions to be considered. Just because someone will pay your association money to do something, does not mean that you should do it. It may not be in the best interest of your members or their students. Associations are in a constant struggle to balance these considerations.

Because CSTA has been in existence for less than a year and we provide members with free membership for their first year, we have no membership revenue yet to speak of. Instead, we have relied on the generous support of our parent organization (ACM) and many of its members who became charter donors to CSTA (honored on our website). The Special Interests Groups of ACM (under the auspices of the SIG Governing Board) have also made a significant financial commitment to helping CSTA address critical issues in K-12 computer science education. In these ways, ACM has provided the support we needed to get us going and to help us begin building the kinds of funding relationships associations need for long-term viability.

So far, with the help of our fabulous volunteers and mentors, we have done a pretty good job of beginning to build these relationships. IBM and Microsoft have become Gold Level Sponsors and have provided funding for new resources and for professional development events. We are also now in discussions with Sun Microsystems and CISCO. The Sloan Foundation provided funding to pilot six JETT (Java Engagement for Teacher Education) workshops and helped us to get this highly successful nation-wide project off the ground. The College Board has supported us in more ways than we can count. And two separate branches of the National Science Foundation have provided funding for multiple projects that we believe will have a profoundly positive impact on K-12 computer science education. All of these organizations have helped us significantly in our first year.

It is important for our members to know that ensuring CSTA's long term economic viability is a balancing act and we try to be very careful. We work hard to identify potential sources of funding and to design worthwhile projects. Our Board of Directors makes sure we stay on track. They keep our mission before us and the best interests of our members always in the forefront of our considerations.

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 03:03 PM | Comments (2)

August 17, 2005

Designing Really Smart Computers

Sometimes I wonder if we are so enamored of technology and of our abilities to manipulate it that we are simply incapable of making sensible judgments about it.

I must begin by confessing that I do not love technology. I am not a toy person. It is not the gadgets that thrill me, but what I can do with them to make myself a more productive, more knowledgeable, or more interesting person. Anything that gets in the way of what I am really trying to accomplish at any given moment just annoys me.

This may be why I just do not get excited every time another feature-bloated piece of software comes on the market. Most of the time I would rather have an application that does a few things really well than some mammoth megabyte monster that does everything at the ultimate level of complexity.

Sometimes I think that the developers believe that if they keep us busy trying to figure out how to use the next new thing, we will not have time to realize that we expect far less of our computing technologies in term of ease-of-use than we do of just about any other technology in our lives,

I remember a lecture given by Bill Buxton at ACM 1 during which he compared his experiences in the public restrooms of the airport to his experiences with his office computer. Why, he mused, was a toilet in Chicago, with whom he had no previous relationship, capable of acknowledging his entry into and exit from the room and of taking the appropriate action, while his office computer, with whom he communed several hours each day, was incapable of any such thing?

Maybe as teachers responsible for educating the next generation of people who will build the tools, we can start to change the way the we all look at and use computers. Maybe we can begin by encouraging even our best students to view technology with a critical eye, to think about designing from the user's perspective, to see the world's users as diverse and deserving of technology that truly makes their lives easier.

The field of Human-Computer Interaction is rich with questions and ideas that need to be explored. If we open this world up for our students, maybe we can begin to break down the geek tradition. If we encourage all of our students, especially those who would never dream that computer science is for them, to ponder the hard questions about ease-of-use and simplicity and elegance, maybe we can open the doors to new ways of thinking about, designing, and using technology. Maybe we can begin to build computer technology that is at least as smart as an airport toilet.

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2005

A Little History and a Next Big Step

In 2002, with the impending transition of the AP exam from C++ to Java, ACM's K-12 Education Task Force (the precursor to CSTA) launched an ambitious partnership with the College Board to address the immediate and pressing need for high school computer science teachers to learn Java. With the very active support of ACM's then-president Maria Klawe and Gail Chapman of the College Board, the Java Engagement for Teacher Training (a.k.a. JETT) program was born.

JETT was conceived as more than a one-shot pd event for teachers. It was seen as a way of providing valuable, relevant skills upgrading for teachers while engaging colleges and universities across the country in the process of building on-going mentoring relationships with local high school teachers.

JETT began with a dedicated Steering Committee of representatives from the College Board, the K-12 Task Force, and four pilot test sites (Columbia, Duke, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Tufts University). A needs assessment was developed and sent to all secondary computer science AP Teachers to help the organizers understand the teachers' specific needs relating to the learning and teaching of Java. The results of this assessment were then used to create a series of learning modules around which local JETT host sites would organize their workshops.

A set of criteria was also developed to ensure that attending teachers received relevant and appropriate instruction. In addition to the Java modules, host sites were also required to include learning opportunities relating specifically to equity issues, with the goal of improving awareness and providing strategies to better engage under-represented students. They were also required to involve AP Computer Science Curriculum Consultants in the planning and delivery of the workshops.

Being a JETT host site required a considerable amount of effort and some funding. While ACM/CSTA provided assistance with promotion, registration, evaluation, and identification of the AP College Board Consultants, the host sites had to submit an application that was reviewed by the Steering Committee and were required to cover all the on-site costs. Despite the effort and costs involved, more than 50 universities and colleges across the U.S. have now served as JETT workshop host sites (some multiple times).

Although the number of attendees has varied greatly from site-to-site (depending on the relative strength of the local AP community) without exception, the sites have received glowing evaluations from teacher attendees and many have gone on to build strong mentoring and recruitment partnerships with local teachers. Last year, at the request of our now ACM president David Patterson, CSTA conducted a long-term evaluation of the JETT project and we were delighted to discover that 86% of the attendees indicated that they had learned and were now using new Java strategies as a result of attending a JETT workshop.

But what about the rest of the teachers, those who are teaching essential courses in computer science foundations at the pre-AP level? Where do they go for much-needed professional development?

Since January, our Professional Development Committee has been working on a new initiative—the Teacher Engagement for Computer Science (a.k.a. TECS) project. Like JETT, TECS involves colleges and universities in the provision of relevant professional development and community building for local high school computer science teachers. Starting in September, five host sites (CSU Chico, CUNY, Neumont (formally Northface) University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the University of Pennsylvania) will be launching our program with six pilot TECS workshops. Once again, they will be making selections from among a set of recommended learning modules developed by the CSTA Professional Development Committee under the direction of Chair Fran Trees. This time, they will also have access to learning materials designed specifically for these modules by CSTA teacher volunteers.

JETT and TECS exist because of a large number of dedicated educators and staff. ACM and the College Board have provided unwavering support over the years, our original pilot sites helped us create an effective and efficient model, our JETT coordinator Jennifer Wroblewski has coaxed, coordinated, and charmed her way to a powerful and prolific network of dedicated host sites, and our host partners have given generously of their time, funding, good works, and good will.

Thanks to all of you for your hard work and dedication to providing professional development for computer science teachers. It would not have been possible without you!

For more information on the JETT workshops: http://jett.acm.org/

For more information on the TECS workshops: http://tecs.acm.org/

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 04:00 PM | Comments (1)

August 02, 2005

The Power of Partnership

At this moment I am sitting in a meeting room in Portland OR surrounded by one of the most motivated and skilled work teams that I have had the pleasure of working with. This team consists of three teacher volunteers from CSTA (Margaret Butler from St. Francis High School in CA, Joon Yee Chuah from L. B. J. High School in TX, and Anita Verno from Bergen Community College in NJ) and three curriculum specialists from IBM (Jane Balin from CA, Cheri Borchardt from TX, and Bunny Taylor from GA). Our task, for the next four days, is to produce three brand new resources for computer science educators.

This project came about as a result of discussions we began with Robin Willner of the IBM Foundation many months ago. IBM was interested in working with CSTA to address the needs of K-12 computer science educators. One of the things that we agreed on very quickly was that teachers need access to more and better resources to improve student learning and also to allow them to continue to enhance their own teaching skills. And so, with funding from the IBM Foundation and help from several IBM resource people, we assembled a collection of learning materials that IBM had already created and put together a team. Our goal is to produce three new classroom-ready resources that address specific learning outcomes identified in the ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science Education.

We began our meeting yesterday with each team member presenting an in-depth review of the example resources and a proposal for new resources that could be created. When the presentations were complete, the entire team decided that we would begin with three major themes and build a new resource for each that would draw on, enhance, and add to the original materials, The themes chosen were: principles of web design, object oriented programming, and project-based learning. The team divided into three work groups and by the end of the day each work group had produced and presented its project plan.

From now until Thursday afternoon, the groups will be working frantically to achieve their ambitious plans. The entire team will then come back together and each group will present its new resource for review and feedback. The resources will then be distributed to pilot schools who will continue the feedback loop to help us ensure that they are truly useful for teachers and students. Finally, the resources will be made available free of charge to teachers by both IBM and CSTA.

I think that this project is an excellent example of how professional organizations such as CSTA and major industry partners such as IBM can work together to do good things for education. We did not go to IBM hat in hand asking them to just write us a check. We asked for much more. We asked for a relationship. We asked them to share the time and expertise of their employees and consultants. We asked them to listen to teachers about what kinds of resources would be truly useful to them. And of course, we also asked IBM for staff and financial support. And here we are in Portland.

This is the true power of partnership, the power to bring people together, to create something new and useful, to share a commitment to teachers and students.

CSTA is a fairly new organization as educational associations go, but we believe in partnerships and we believe in our ability to work with companies such as IBM and Microsoft (who provides funding for our Computer Science and Information Technology Symposium). We know that there can be pitfalls to these relationships (being perceived as being under the influence of any one vendor) but we try to be sure that we begin with a shared understanding of our mutual goals and limitations. We know that the issues we need to address are too big for any one organization to take on alone. We need support from all levels of education, from industry, and from state and federal governments.

We know that supporting K-12 computer science is the key to future technological innovation and economic viability, and we are hoping that as more people come to understand this, they will join us in this partnership. It is truly a win-win opportunity.

Posted by cstephenson at 01:53 PM | Comments (2)

July 25, 2005

Getting Out the Message

Since CSTA first came into being last September, we have been aware that one of our biggest challenges would be getting out the messages.

First we worked on defining who we are, which problems we are trying to address, and why we believe that CSTA is the organization to address these issues.

Here is how we currently define the challenges we face.
* The number of computer science teachers is decreasing overall, particularly within the high school and middle school grades. This means that fewer college students will be enrolling in computer science courses, and fewer graduates with computer science degrees are going on to earn their Ph.Ds.
* Minority students are dramatically underrepresented in K-12 computer science coursework. For example, less than 3% of AP Computer Science students in 2004 were African American.
* Women are underrepresented in computer science.
* Computer science is at a crossroads. A renewed focus on educational standards and accountability, particularly in English and math, has forced many schools to take resources away from computer science and other non-core courses.

And here is why we think CSTA is the right organization to address them.
* CSTA offers members access to curriculum standards, professional development, and other cutting-edge computer science resources that have not previously been available.
* CSTA provides a voice for K-12 computer science educators, representing their interests at all levels of the educational system and with the state and federal authorities whose policies impact educational content, practice, and funding.
* CSTA helps makes the case for computer science by pointing out its vital place in the world.
* CSTA works with teachers to build a community of educators who will offer each other the support, guidance, and resources they have sorely needed. Many computer science teachers are alone in their schools with no other staff in their line of work.
* CSTA provides a bridge between high school educators, university educators, and the high tech industry. This bridge enables these groups to share information about what students need to learn in their K-12 years to be ready to go into computer science majors in higher education and into computer science careers.
* The key resources provided by CSTA for teachers are the Java Engagement for Teacher Training (JETT) program and the Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science. With these and other materials to be developed, CSTA will be the source for information for computer science teachers and others interested in the field.

Next, we had to begin getting the message out. We have tried a number of ways to let teachers know that we exist and that we need them to help us build this community. Sometimes we have done this in fairly traditional ways. For example we have sent out information by email and direct mail, made conference presentations, and spoken to teachers at the many professional development events we sponsor (the JETT workshops and the Computer Science and Information Technology Symposia). Sometimes we take a more lighthearted approach, as exemplified in our tension-releasing squishy CS Rocks rocks.

We have also begun reaching out to key organizations that share our interests and concerns. To date we have held productive meetings with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Software Business Association, the Business Roundtable, and the folks working on the Teacher Quality Bill. We have also done interviews with key people in the media who are both knowledgeable about and interested in our issues and this has resulted in some excellent articles about computer science education.

Outreach and advocacy are just a part of what CSTA does, but it is a key element and we need to keep doing it.

We also need you to help us get these messages out to the people who count in your world: parents, principals, administrators, school district superintendents and others.

I would love to know what you have been doing to promote K-12 computer science. Let me know by posting a comment about the most ingenious method you have used to get out the message about computer science education. I'll even send the person who posts the best on their own CS Rocks rock.

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 11:22 AM | Comments (7)

July 15, 2005

Entering the Forbidden Forest of Teacher Certification

So many issues affect computer science education these days that sometime it is hard to know how best to apply our resources (people, time, and funding). In addition, some issues should come with a big sign that says "Go back" or "Abandon hope all who enter here" or "Don't even think about it." Teacher certification is one such issue.

Two years ago we surveyed 5000 high school computer science teachers as part of our on-going commitment to begin tracking pre-college computer science education in the U.S. One of the questions we asked was "Does your state offer certification for high school computer science teachers?" We tabulated the results nationally and determined that 46% of the respondents answered "Yes" and 54% answered "No." This appeared to be a reasonable response all things considered. And then we looked at the answers by state, and we discovered that the pattern was the same, with approximately half of the teachers saying their state does offer certification for high school computer science teachers, and half saying it does not.

Our Research Committee decided that we had made a mistake and set out to correct it. One year later we surveyed 15,000 high school computer science teachers, and this time we were much more careful about how we posed the question. We divided it into two parts: asking "Does your state consider computer science a certified teachable?" and "Are you required to hold this certification to teach computer science in your state?" Once again, the answers within individual states came back with approximately half of the participants responding "Yes" and half responding "No."

After much gnashing of teeth, the CSTA Research Committee decided that either teachers are extremely confused about the teacher certification requirements for their states or that policy awareness and enforcement varies so much from district to district that no conclusive answer is possible. If we could not even get a consistent research-supported picture of what is happening with teacher certification for computer science, how were we ever going to begin working on finding ways to make it more consistent nationally?

Recently, Ben Felller of the Associated Press wrote a terrific article on high school computer science education that included mention of CSTA. And so I began to get questions via email. And what were most of the questions about? That is right, teacher certification! More specifically, folks were finding it incredibility difficult to get useful information about the teaching requirements in their states.

Over the last few months, our Standards and Certification Committee has been consistently contacting State Departments of Education and collecting information about their high school computer science teacher certification requirements. So far, about half of the states have replied, and the committee continues to work on the rest who have not yet responded. Once the committee has all of the information in place (or at least as much as it is ever going to get), the plan is to find a consistent way of categorizing the information provided by each state and to collect it all together in a searchable database that will be available to all CSTA members. As you can imagine, this is going to take a considerable amount of work, and we are still looking for good volunteers to assist with the project, but we are hoping to have the database ready within six months.

This is just one of the many current CSTA projects. Teacher certification, like most issues, is complex and full of potential sources of conflict. But it is important, and in the end, we hope these efforts will provide valuable information for our members.

Chris

Posted by cstephenson at 10:41 AM | Comments (23)