Seven Education faculty members attended the Maryland Higher Education Summer Computer Science (CS) Intensive Workshops, sponsored by the Maryland Center for Computing Education (MCCE), at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, from July 18-20.
Beth Kobett, Professor and Dean of the School of Education, Lisa Moyer, Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Education programs, David Nicholson, Professor and Chair of Undergraduate Education programs, and adjunct faculty members Janel Frazier, Ann Horn, Courtney Koerber, and Larry Sizemore attended. The goals of the workshops were to learn about the ideas, successes, and challenges of others who have integrated computer science into preservice education, discover how Maryland districts are integrating computer science in the classroom, engage in hands-on computing activities, examine existing computer science, engineering, and cybersecurity resources for primary and secondary content areas, early childhood, and special education, and create actionable plans to reach all future educators with customized resources to meet the needs of specific courses in collaboration with colleagues.
The daily agendas included breakout sessions on topics such as using puzzles, robots, logic and unplugged activities, coding using Micro:bit and CodeJoy, Computational Thinking in different grade levels and subject areas, interactive lessons, using Scratch Jr to teach pedagogical strategies, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and data science, equity of access and current research in CS education.
Team time was provided each day for institutions to brainstorm and plan ways to add Computational Literacy and Computational Thinking into their preservice programs. At the end of the workshops, a gallery walk allowed participants to post and share their results with colleagues.
The workshops provided an excellent opportunity for connecting and collaborating with colleagues, building understanding of how to teach computer science to support diverse students across K-12, and offering ways to incorporate CS/CT knowledge into preservice programs to prepare our future professional teachers.
Pictured above (left to right, bottom row): Lisa Moyer, Beth Kobett, Janel Frazier, Ann Horn, (top row): Larry Sizemore, Courtney Koerber, David Nicholson