Wisconsin-Ready to Move on CS Certification, Curriculum and a

Statewide CS Organization

WMC Annual MeetingMay 3, 2012

Andy Kuemmel <akuemmel@madison.k12.wi.us>Joe Kmoch < joe@jkmoch.com >

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Why do we need an organization?

• Some reasons include:– Support group for the small number of teachers

statewide who teach courses or units in CS and IT– Support for teachers who face districts wanting to

eliminate CS and IT from the curriculum (eg, budget, interest)

– Better pursue and expand CS/IT activities state-wide (e.g., workshops, proclamations)

– Over 80 WI CS/IT teachers have attended this conference in recent years

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What’s Happening in WI?

• Semi-Annual reports of activities provided to CSTA• Since 2006 there has been a CS/IT strand at the WMC

Annual Math Conference• We had a national ACM/SIGCSE Symposium in March,

2010• CS Ed Week Proclamation for 2009 through 2011• Involvement with iFair events in Milwaukee• Involvement with national directions

– Involvement with APCS Principles and Exploring CS courses– Involvement with K-12 Computational Thinking initiative

(CSTA, ISTE, NSF)

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At the WMC conference...

• This year, Finch Robots, Alice, JavaWIDE, AP CS Principles pilot course and Computational Thinking are among the topics here.

• Previously there have been sessions on GameMaker, Moodle, Python, Robotics, Web 2.0, website creation, Scratch, Greenfoot, Fang, Karel, APCS curriculum, DPI certification

• These sessions are often well-attended.

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Recent National Imperatives-1

CS Explicitly in STEM. The Department of Education has recognized computer science as a science part of STEM. This is important for applying for funds related to STEM. < http://www.acm.org/public-policy/RTTT_i3_Funding_Memo_v2.pdf >

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Recent National Imperatives-2

Inclusion of Computer Science in the Draft of the Math Core Standard.

This statement by John White, President of ACM, relates to the inclusion of computer science in the set of standards being worked on by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association for use by all states once it is finalized in the next few months. < http://www.acm.org/news/featured/common-core-standards1 >.  

Cameron Wilson, Director of Public Policy for ACM, wrote a longer blog post with more context as to what this means. < http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/80686-computing-and-the-common-core/fulltext >

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IT, CS, CT, oh My!

• Traditional Definitions of IT and CS (and other related fields such as SE, CE, IS) are too narrow

• Broader definitions proposed for CS and IT – Computing Technologies (CT)?

• ACM Model CS Curriculum based on algorithm development and problem solving

• IT Career Cluster has 4 pathways

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Why Teach CS/IT in K-12?

• Workforce development issues• Higher levels of information fluency required

of workers• Current numbers of students in post-

secondary institutions involved with Computing are at historic lows

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Future Workforce(latest stats from 2010-2020)

• Expected Growth in jobs is very high in CS/IT and Engineering

• CS/IT (us dept of labor: 15-1100)

– 2010 actual: 3,426,000 – 2020 projected: 4,184,700

• Engineers (us dept of labor: 17-2000)

– 2010 actual: 1,519,000 – 2020 projected: 1,679,400

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Projected Percentage Change in Jobs from 2010 to 2020

• CS/IT, +22%, 758,800 new jobs– Software Developers & Programmers, +25% – Computer System Analysts, +22%– Database Sys Admins & Network Arch, +28%– Computer Support Specialists, +18%– Security Analyst, Web Dev, CS Res, others, +15%

• Engineers, +11%, 160,400 new jobs• http://www.bls.gov/emp/tables.htm

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Number of Job Openings due to Growth and Replacement through 2020 (in thousands)

• CS/IT, 1366.2 (758.8 growth + 607.4 repl)– Software Dev & Prog, 493.9 (314.6 gr + 179.3 repl)

– Computer System Analysts, 222.5 (120.4 gr + 104.1 repl)

– DB Sys Admins & Network Arch, 207.9 (130.6 gr + 77.3 repl)

– Comp Support Specialists, 269.5 (110.0 gr + 159.5 repl)

– Security Analyst, Web Dev, CS Res, others, 172.5 (83.3 gr + 89.2 repl)

• Engineers, 526.0 (160.4 growth, 365.6 repl.)

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CS & CE majors are in demand

2007 2009

Yes -5% -13%

Access to Rigorous CS is Diminishing

Schools offering introductory (or pre-AP) Computer Science courses, change from 2005 baseline:

Schools offering AP Computer Science courses, change from 2005 baseline:

2007 2009

Yes -8% -13%

Source: CSTA National Secondary Computer Science Survey

Source: CSTA National Secondary Computer Science Survey

That’s nice data, but so what?

*Slide is from Ed Lazowska The instructional practices and assessments discussed or shown are not an endorsement by ACM or the U.S. Department of Education.

Interest In Majoring in CS AmongIncoming Freshman

The instructional practices and assessments discussed or shown are not an endorsement by ACM or the U.S. Department of Education.

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Wisconsin IT/Computing Specialist Projections

• Through 2018 an increase of 5,570 new IT jobs (+9.8%) and about 10,200 replacements totaling nearly 15,770 job openings

• Growing include Computer Software Engineers (+17.4%), Systems Analysts (+9.3%), Network Sys and Datacom Analysts (+36.9)

• <http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/oea/employment_projections/long_term_projections.htm#long_term_projections>

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IT and STEM• Nationally

– job openings in IT through 2020 is > 1.37 million– Job openings in STEM through 2020 is > 1.42 million

• Wisconsin– Job openings in IT through 2018 is about 15,800 – Job openings in STEM through 2018 is about 18,700

• Conclusions:– We should add IT to our STEM initiatives– Not an IT vs engineering thing, but rather an awareness of

greater opportunities for family-supporting careers for our kids

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How did we get to where we’re at?

• Perceptions of CS/IT job market• Perceptions of the kind of jobs these are• Budget cutting• CS/IT courses deemed expendable, not

required, not mainstream• Results of schools reacting to NCLB

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How did we get…

• Lack of courses• Lack of trained and interested teachers• Lack of professional development

opportunities• Cost of teacher certification• Need for development of a national

curriculum similar to PLTW (including courses, prof development, marketing)

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Opportunities are there

• The projections for WI are almost identical to those of the nation (2020 = college graduation for this year’s HS freshmen)

• Need to get more students involved at younger ages

• Need to keep them on the right track• Need to have that “right track” for them to

choose and to continue through HS

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What to do?

• Ensuring students become proficient users of IT products and services (fluency)

• Committing to offer IT curriculum in middle and high schools

• Support faculty to become certified to teach IT

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Ensuring students become proficient users of IT products and services (fluency)

• Faculty models use of technology• Technology is integrated in all subject areas• Providing technology for communication and

collaboration • Ensuring access to technology• Allow for networking and social groups

related to IT • Encourage exploration and experimentation

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Committing to offer IT curriculum in middle and high schools

• Meeting DPI requirements as users• Creating pathways• Beyond programming

– Networking– Web/Graphic– Video/Audio– Simulation/Gaming/Animation

• Progressive emphasis:– Exposure– Usage– Concepts– Application

• Developing business/community partnerships30

Support faculty to become certified to teach IT

• CS Certification only relates to programming– Under review– More than programming

• Application Training • Industry Certifications – A+, Net+, iNet+ • Vendor Certifications – Microsoft, CISCO• MATC – classes for recertification and

professional development

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CS/IT and STEM• Programs and Activities that expose students to IT

and STEM careers• Ways in which companies and individuals can

support these through sponsorship and mentoring• The role schools and faculty play in supporting these

programs• Computational Thinking initiatives might be the “glu

e” that brings these two areas closely together

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Activities for Students

• In addition to PLTW and other tech courses, there are a number of programs aimed at exposing students to STEM careers

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Mentoring and Sponsorship

These programs offer companies the chance to sponsor activities and provide mentors to attract the workforce of tomorrow (and the interns of today)

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OutcomesWhat makes these programs great?

– Inclusion (promotes diversity)– Multidisciplinary (promotes exposure)– Teach soft skills (enhances employability)

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Forming a Statewide CS/IT Group• Chapter of CSTA (Computer Science Teachers

Association)• Chapter application submitted in late 2010;

temporarily tabled; we will resubmit– See proposed “Planned Activities” from the application;

are there others?

• We need your help, support and most importantly involvement to make this work.

• Please let us invite you to our WI-CSandIT-Teachers Google Group

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What Else is Happening?

• AP CS Principles pilot course being taught by Andy Kuemmel at Madison West and Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau at UW-Madison– Second phase of the pilot– Now including high schools paired with universities– Intended to be an introduction to Computer Science so it

is not just a programming course– Probably will be used as a predecessor course for APCS-A

which is the current Java-based course.– Andy has a session on Friday at 1pm in Bauer-Lightbody

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Is there more?

• Google-supported CS4HS at Marquette U July 23-25 – see flyer – we need your attendance and ideas– First efforts to make a difference in CS for Wisconsin

• To register – http://www.mscs.mu.edu/~brylow/pump-cs

• For suggestions or questions– Dennis Brylow, brylow@mscs.mu.edu

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All that and more?

• NSF Computing Education for the 21st Century (CE21) Program Solicitation– 10 person team including DPI, Marquette U, UW-

Madison, UW-LaCrosse and several high school people

– Submitted a 3-yr proposal called PUMP-CS– Would start Summer, 2013 with PD for Exploring

CS and AP CS Principles curricula– Begin work on WI CS Certification changes

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References and Contact Info

•Expanding CS Wisconsin wiki of resources– http://expandingcswisconsin.pbworks.com

•Andy Kuemmel, akuemmel@madison.k12.wi.us•Joe Kmoch, joe@jkmoch.com•Dennis Brylow, brylow@mscs.mu.edu

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