CSTA membership has grown very quickly, from 0 members in 2005 to over 5300 members today but we know that there are still many teachers we would like to reach and we simply cannot find them. We can use market data companies (and we do) but we know they are only touching the surface of our community as well.

The situation is made worse by the fact that CSTA is often called upon for research and the one question we just cannot answer with any certainty is “How many CS teachers are there in U.S. high schools anyway?”.

For people like Carrie, the situation is just as frustrating. She has a number of computer science teaching jobs available and no way to advertise and fill them.

There are a number of reasons this problem exists. I think one of the primary difficulties is that, because there is no certification for computer science teachers in many states, no one keeps track of them at the state level or nationally. And until someone does, they remain invisible to the system as a whole.

Setting up some kind of careers board may seem like a potential solution but there are several issues (cost, liability, and verification just to mention a few) that make it prohibitive for associations to get into the job posting business. We have thought about it, but there is just no evidence that it would be of sufficient value to the majority of our members to make it worthwhile.

In the short term, the best we can say is, if you are a certified teacher looking for an online computer science teaching position with a virtual school, you can complete the Insight Schools application at:

https://edzapp.com/applicant/loginprivate.aspx?origincode=22748

or contact Carrie at

teachers@insightschools.net

And if you are not yet a CSTA member, contact me at:

cstephenson@csta.acm.org

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director, CSTA

According to CSTA President Robb Cutler, the Membership Satisfaction Survey is a key element in the association's strategy to ensure that it continues to expand its membership benefits in a way that best serves the needs and interests of its members."We depend upon our members to tell us what is working for them and what they need, and the survey is one of the most effective ways of collecting this information", said Cutler.

As an incentive for members to participate in the online survey, CSTA randomly selected one member who completed the survey to receive the raffle prize. This year's prize, a Flip Video Camera, has been won by Ken Gittins, a teacher in Highlands Ranch, CO.

Cutler says the results of the survey will be used by the CSTA Board of Directors and staff to determine how to improve existing member benefits and what new benefits will be developed in the next two years.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Here are two new addition to our podcast collection that you can check out at:

http://csta.acm.org/Resources/sub/Podcasts.html

The CSTA Web Curriculum Repository
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 7 min.
Interview Location: ACM Sigcse 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008
Joe Kmoch, Milwaukee Public Schools

The CSTA Web Repository is a dream come true for busy CS teachers. To promote the sharing of resources among members of the community, CSTA developed a searchable database of K-12 CS instructional materials, lesson plans, and other resources that have never before been collected in one place for use by all CS teachers.

While anyone may browse the repository by curriculum classification or search by keyword, title, author, or publication date, only CSTA members may download the actual resources.
Teachers who wish to contribute original materials, for which they have the copyright, are encouraged to submit.

In our visit, Joe Kmoch describes what you’ll find in the Repository, how to get to it, and how to contribute your own teaching materials. Be sure to visit the CSTA Web Repository to jump-start your next teaching lesson and please consider sharing your good ideas with your colleagues at http://csta.acm.org/WebRepository/WebRepository.html.

The Computing Educators Oral History Project with Vicki Almstrum
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 10:30 min.
Interview Location: ACM Sigcse 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008
Vicki Almstrum, University of Texas at Austin:

Vicki and her colleagues are venturing into uncharted waters and the result of their work has the potential to impact an entire generation of young women curious about how their life might unfold as a computer scientist. The Computing Educators Oral History Project is a growing collection of audio interviews with women computing educators. "This endeavor will eventually create a body of narratives to serve as role models to attract students, in particular women, to computing; it will also serve to preserve the history of the female pioneers in computing education."

In our visit Vicki describes the impetus for the project and explores ways that teachers might use the interviews to create teaching opportunities for retaining and supporting individuals at all stages of the pipeline. The interviews are available at www.ceohp.org.

Pat Phillips,
Editor, CSTA Voice

The 39th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education provided a wide selection of technical sessions and opportunities for teachers to network and to learn. The topics ranged from innovative strategies for increasing classroom diversity to hands-on techniques with applications and curriculum. I love the excitement of SIGCSE, the opportunities to catch up with friends, and the discovery of new and innovative teaching strategies. I managed to catch up with a few presenters and participants who I thought you would value hearing from.

Check out our growing CSTA Snips podcast collection and listen in on these new conversations about teaching and computer science at:

http://csta.acm.org/Resources/sub/Podcasts.html

Using Mario Brothers to Teach Inheritance Concepts with Terrence Mason and Bruce Johnston
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 8 min.
Interview Location: ACM Sigcse 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008
Terrence Mason and Bruce Johnston, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Bruce and Terry have a goal in their CS1 course to reduce the “excitement deficit” found in many beginning computer science courses. In our visit they describe how they use a familiar computer game to teach inheritance concepts and to reduce that deficit. The project worked so well that students were heard cheering at their own programming successes. Now that’s something to look into!
While inheritance is generally a difficult concept for beginning students to master, it remains an important CS concept to teach for the utility and power it brings to CS. The familiarity of the game functionality enables students to more easily comprehend the topic, identify objects, and construct the inheritance hierarchy. More information is available at http://www.cfkeep.org/html/snapshot.php?id=27944194178976

Teaching Students about Electronic Privacy with Flo Appel
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 9 min.
Interview Location: ACM Sigcse 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008
Florence Appel, Saint Xavier University

Why is it most important for educators to teach about privacy issues? How do educators teach these concepts? How do we get our students to value their privacy? And how do we teach them to balance their privacy and security with convenience? As I listened to Flo, I found myself thinking that her words were valuable not only for me professionally, but also personally, as I deal with these modern-world issues. She describes how public spaces including the internet impact students, invade privacy, and ultimately, impact personal security. Recommended resources for parents, teachers, and students are available at the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov/kidzprivacy/).

Pat Philips
CSTA Podmeister

The College Board has said that it will be "focus[ing] their efforts on improving and supporting the AP Computer Science A program, which will be enhanced during the next five years to better represent a full-year, entry-level college computer science sequence."

To that end, they have formed a "AP Computer Science Course and Exam Review Commission responsible for developing and enacting comprehensive research among colleges, universities, and secondary schools to identify how best to keep the AP course and exam current and reflective of the ever-changing discipline of computer science."

CSTA is well-represented on this commission and will do its best to meet these goals.

While we don't know what the future will hold for the AP curriculum, we now have a seat at the table and we'll keep you posted as we move forward.

In the meantime, given that we are soon only going to have a single AP CS exam, what do you think that exam should cover? In other words, what are the essential concepts that the course must include?

Let us know what you think!

Robb Cutler
CSTA President

Jane recently blogged about a professional development program that she created, centered around her top 25 e-learning tools. I highly recommend going to the site and working through the activities for any of the tools you are unfamiliar with. Some of them, like Firefox, are things you probably already use, but Jane highlights some of the extra functionality of the browser as well as some useful extensions.

The tools are divided into categories including: Keep Yourself Up to Date, Manage Your Own Productivity, Set Up a Blog, Website and/or Wiki, Share Content with Others, Build Content and Share it with Others, Bring People Together, and Develop and Manage Courses.

To start a little discussion here please tell us what your favorite e-learning tool is (whether or not Jane agrees)? I use many of the things on her list and I think Google Reader has drastically improved my ability to find new and useful things as well as be aware of what is going on today in education. I used to have to go to 20-25 web pages first thing in the morning to see what the latest headlines were, who posted something new on blogs I read, and forget about trying to find new research as its published. Now with Google Reader, I go to one place and get EVERYTHING. It is separated by the feed (where it came from) so I can pick and choose what I want to read when I have time. It truly has changed the way I interact with the Internet on a daily basis.

No matter how small or how large leave a comment and share your favorite e-learning tool here.

Leigh Ann Sudol
CSTA Communications Chair

I love the excitement of SIGCSE, especially the opportunities to catch up with friends and the discovery of new and innovative teaching strategies. I managed to catch up with some of the presenters and participants who I thought you wouldd value hearing from.

Please listen in on the following CSTA Snipits podcasts.

A GridWorld Quickstart with Ann Shen
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 9 min.
Interview Location: ACM SIGCSE 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008

Ann Shen, The Bishop Strachan School:
Case studies expose students to large programs, enabling them to understand the importance of design and good programming style while encouraging teamwork and active learning. The AP GridWorld case study provides a graphical environment in which students can experiment with different types of objects and observe how programming changes will affect the behavior of those objects. It is significant that the test results show a smaller score difference between males and females on the case study questions than non-case study questions. In our visit, Ann describes this learning tool, compares and contrasts it to the previous AP case study, and gives teachers suggestions for using it in their computer science classroom.

CyberCivics with Jeanna Matthews and James Owens
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 8.5 min.
Interview Location: ACM SIGCSE 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008

Jeanna Matthews and James Owens, Clarkson University
CyberCivics was developed as a novel computer science outreach program, designed to introduce diverse groups of talented high school students to hands-on activities that reflect the myriad ways in which computing technologies directly impact their everyday lives. The cyberCivics program integrates hands-on computing experiences with the study of contemporary social and political issues. One such curriculum, focused on electronic voting and was used with a high school AP Government course. Jeanna Matthews and James Owens describe the philosophy behind this approach and give suggestions of how to implement in the classroom. They are pleased with how it reaches a larger, more diverse and more academically prepared group of students. The materials are available at:

www.clarkson.edu/projects/cybercivics.

Listen to these and many more Snipits podcasts at:

http://csta.acm.org/Resources/sub/Podcasts.html

Pat Phillips
Editor, CSTA Voice

Once upon a time, students could obtain this Basic Technology credit through a variety of courses. Several of these were introductory Computer Science or programming classes. A few years ago, Maryland lawmakers decided that only one set of standards should apply, and someone (a special-interest group) ensured that those standards excluded every class except those taught by Technology teachers---think middle school science repackaged with some construction activities.

I work in Montgomery County, which is one district that fought this change until the bitter end, which came this year. As I look through this year's enrollment numbers, I see my Advanced Placement Computer Science numbers down. These are cyclical and the drop isn't all that alarming when I consider the drop in the introductory programming course, which is devastating. The trend is clear: unless something is done our programs will virtually disappear from all public schools in Maryland. It's that simple.

Personally, I've devoted the last 5 years of my life to effecting change in the only way that a mere classroom teacher has at his disposal. I've created a great program, I spend my summers writing curriculum, developing new courses that integrate CS with other content areas, etc. I have loyal students who spread the word. I have even more who attend prestigious universities. I have a good working relationship with my Administration who believes that these courses do offer genuine value and have been willing to work with me to keep them in their building. I've obtained three certifications and now find myself faced with the prospect of unemployment within the next two years if this trend continues (and it will).

I will, of course, obtain another certification during this time. I think that I'll teach Mathematics. I like it, even if the students don't. The thing is: once I lose that AP program, I doubt that I'll ever go back and teach it. The ramp up, dealing with ETS audits, educating Administrators, parents and students about Computer Science, the countless hours writing curriculum, the time spent in out-of-the-building activities, etc., are just too great given the meager payoff---unemployment.

Tom Reinhardt
CSTA Member

* The game industry is now larger than the music industry. It became larger than the movie industry about 4 years ago.
* Making a game can cost 30 million dollars and many years of development.
* There are many different types of games from 2D arcade-style games, to role playing games, to first person shooters, to web-based games, to movement games (like the Wii), to serious games that try to help people change their behavior.
* Game developers need to know about networking, artificial intelligence, machine learning, physics, parallel programming, and more. Games also need artistic and creative people who can create compelling and fun experiences.
* I was glad to see more women and minorities than I had expected, but still the majority of the attendees were white males.

Some of the ways people are using games in CS education:

* as a few assignments in introductory computing courses. Kelvin Sung
* as a context for early computing courses or AI courses. Wanda Dann, Alice Project, Douglas Blank
* as a platform for learning computing concepts by having the students play games Tiffany Barnes
* as a course on game design for non-majors to try to draw them into computing Dianna Xu, Jim Whitehead
* as a degree program centered on games Michael Zyda and DigiPen
* using the flight simulator 3D world as the basis to improve global STEM education David Gibson

Overall, many of the talks were about fairly new initiatives with little evaluation. Many of the talks expect to offer more results in the following year. Some of the results that I found interesting were:

* Students didn't like doing just the hard back-end of a game Kelvin Sung. They want to be creative and not just program. Kevin Bierre
* Some students were discouraged because creating games is much harder, time consuming, and more tedious than they thought. Women are much less likely to want to make first person shooter games than men. Dianna Xu
* Some students are highly motivated by the context and come early and have to be thrown out to make room for the next class. This context appeals more to men (80%) than to women (20%). Jim Whitehead

In summary, it seems that games can serve as a context for some computing courses. Games courses and degree programs can attract more students to computing courses. But, one concern is that women are not as attracted to this context as men. There was a call for the creation of a game platform that was easier to use for computing education purposes.

For more information on this conference see https://www.msadgd08.net/Main.aspx.

Barb Ericson
CSTA Board Member

As summer approaches and opportunities for professional development abound, we'd like to hear about the professional development experiences that truly made a difference in your life. CSTA is the proud sponsor of many professional development opportunities (csta.acm.org/index.html), and hearing from you will help us in planning memorable, maybe even life-changing, opportunities.

So in the spirit of sharing, let me tell you my story of life-changing professional development. I began my professional life as a home economist. In one of my first years of teaching, I attended a professional development event and listened to what we called way back in the early 80s, a "futurist." I have long forgotten the person's name, but the message was loud and clear: "Technology will change the lives of families in ways you cannot imagine. Those who prepare now for the technological future will have the opportunity to impact that future."

I was so excited about the stories of smart devices, ubiquitous communication, and unbelievable opportunities, I barely slept for days. Within weeks, I reenrolled in college, figured out how I was going to be part of the exciting new world I had heard about, and announced to my fellow (and very skeptical) teachers that I was going to become a CS teacher!

Lo and behold, the future that I heard such wondrous things about is here and my life was changed forever because of a professional development event.

Please tell us about the impact of your professional development experiences.

Also, take a look at CSTA professional development offerings.

Get ready for life-changing experiences.

Pat Phillips
Editor, CSTA Voice

After significant declines in the number of students writing the computer science A and AB exams in 2003, 2004, and 2005, it is good to see that the upward trend that began in 2006 is continued in 2007, with the number of CS text-takers increasing from 19,601 last year to 20,113 this year.

Even more importantly, AP CS has made some positive gains in the representation of both young women and minority students among the 2007 test-takers. Many of us in the computer science field have been profoundly concerned about the under-representation of young women and minority students in our discipline and we are thrilled to see an improvement in both these areas. The increases are not large, but they do indicate that organizations such as CSTA are making progress with their equity outreach efforts.

The number of females taking the computer science A and AB exams jumped 2% from 15% in 2006 to 17% in 2007. The percentage of Latino and Hispanic students (among the worst represented considering the overall size of this population in the U.S.) increased from 6.2% to 6.5% and the percentage of Black and African American students show a similar improvement from 3.4% to 3.7%. Unfortunately, however, even these gains represent less than an average of one additional student per group in each state.

While these increases in no way indicate that the challenge of making the discipline and the industry more representative have been won, they are an sign of progress. So many of us have been working to find ways to better engage underrepresented student populations: by providing better information about careers, providing more equitable access to AP courses for students, and by finding ways to teach that better engage all students. We have a long, long way to go, but it is so good to see that our efforts are beginning to have a concrete, measurable impact, even if it is not enough.

Are there things happening in your school or district to support the improved participation of young women and minority students? Please share your successes and failures with us. This is one challenge we are all going to have to face together if we are really going to make computer science more equitable.

Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director

This was the topic of a recent blog posting by Dan Reed on his Reed's Ruminations blog (http://hpcdanreed.typepad.com/reeds_ruminations/). Here is some of what Dan had to say.

I believe we must rethink our computing education approaches in some deep and fundamental ways. First, as researchers and technologists we seek to reproduce students in our technical image, failing to acknowledge that most of our students will not develop compilers, write operating systems or design computer chips. Rather, they benefit from training in logical problem solving, knowledge of computing tools and their applicability to new domains.

All of this suggests we should create multiple educational tracks that emphasis the disparate aspects of computing, layered atop a smaller, common core. Of course, I could be wrong - I often am.

To read the full blog entry, you can go to the CRA blog at:

http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000657.html

It is well worth the read.

Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director

It is with an incredibly sorrowful heart and tears in my eyes that I must report that the teaching profession and the world has lost a wonderful human. Within the past two days, Dave Wittry while training for a triathlon became distressed while swimming. A fellow swimmer was able to get Dave to shore but rescue efforts to revive Dave failed and he was pronounce dead.

I had the privilege of working with Dave for several years at Troy High School and can attest to the fact that as helpful as he was to those posting question, he was order of magnitudes better in person.
I consider one of the greatest privileges of my life to have work and an even greater honor to have known Dave.

In addition, Dave's mom has asked anyone with pictures or stories to please email her at helen@helenWittry.com.

Computer scientists often get to work in similar fields. In fact, much of the high tech equipment used by both doctors and criminologists was developed with the help of a computer scientist.

In my time here at Carnegie Mellon University as a visiting lecturer I have had the opportunity to see computer scientists work on robotic surgeons A Miniature Mobile Robot for Precise and Stable Access to the Beating Heart), and using human computation in order to help computers make more books available to more people through the Internet Archive recaptcha.

I recently came across a website called Computing Life published by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. This publication focuses on highlighting the ways in which scientists use computers to increase our understanding of the human body, medicine and a variety of other topics. Take a look! Go and talk to you science teacher about a collaborative project – what can you help your school's students model?

If you have any great resources, or any collaborative projects you have done along these lines, comment here and share!

Leigh Sudol
CSTA Communications Chair

I think a recent article in Edutopia magazine is a start to addressing these questions. The article, Programming: The New Literacy compares the idea of programming to that of scribing. Author Marc Prensky reminds us that at one time written language was a skill that was reserved for only a few. When the need arose to communicate with written language, you needed a scribe to create the message and another scribe on the other end to decipher the message. How will programming be handled in the next century? Will be choose to simply pay someone else to do the job for us?

In a small way, programming is already in our daily lives. As Prensky explains, even VCR's need to be programmed. Do we do it ourselves or do we have a child do it for us? Children seem to have a natural curiosity and understanding for these tasks. They are the digital generation. Like, Toffler, Prensky notes the importance of learning one programming language and then moving on to another higher level language to accomplish tasks. This sounds like an example of learning, unlearning, and relearning.

Tell us what you think. What will literacy in the 21st century look like? How do you think Computer Science and programming fit into this idea of literacy?

Dave Burkhart
CSTA K-8 Representative