Computer Society of Macedonia

Mile Jovanov, PhD Faculty of Computer Science and

Engineering, Skopje,

Macedonia

• on the initiative of a group of professors at the Institute of Informatics, FNSM, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje,

• in the year 2000

• continued with the activities previously performed by the former Mathematical and Computer Society of Macedonia

Formed:

• Computer science teachers (high schools and elementary schools), information technologists & lecturers at the Universities in Macedonia

Members:

• introduction, popularization and promotion of informatics and information technology and its application,

• encouragement and introduction of informatics in all areas of the society, especially in the education,

• organization, implementation and participation in informatics competitions for pupils and students

• …

Among the main

goals:

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Computer Society of Macedonia

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People

Event 2

Event 12

Event 89

Event 1

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Me

Professor at the Faculty of the

Computer Science and Engineering in

Skopje

President of the CSM (2009 - )

President of BOI

(2014-2017)

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Government advisor on

the ‘300000 Tablet’ project

PS & SS curricula in Informatics

We usually talk about algorithmic programming contests

A perfect opportunity for pupils to introduce to the art of programming and

create a very solid background for becoming engineers in informatics

International Olympiads in Informatics

The idea proposed to the General Conference of UNESCO in Paris

First Olympiad in 1989

Each participating country typically sends a delegation of 4 pupils

Balkan Olympiads

in Informatics

CSM is the main organizer of competitions in informatics for both SS and PS pupils

Every year, contestants go through many levels of competition until the best are selected

23 Regional Competitions (HS)

26 National Competitions (HS)

19 National Olympiads (HS)

8 National Competitions (PS)

Competitions in informatics

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Challenges in the Organization of the Competitions

• Computer Society of Macedonia, is a non-government, non-profit organization.

– the organization of the competitions is based solely on sponsorships from companies, educational institutions, and sporadically from donations based on application in some calls for projects

• Having in mind the low finances, CSM has to find as cost-effective as possible way for the following steps

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Engaging pupils in the competitions

• We have to spread the information among the pupils and keep them informed

– We have concluded that the best way to do that is to build and maintain a ‘community’ of competitors, and let them collaborate throughout the whole year

– we also use some more traditional methods, e.g. contacting and informing the schools, contacting the computer science teachers, but there are obstacles in that regard too

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Motivating teachers and schoolauthorities

• The most important thing

– motivate the teachers to inform and mentor the pupils

• With years of our experience, we have found that the

– computer science teachers, mainly, do not want to spend extra time for tutoring gifted pupils

– the greatest reason for this is that they are not familiar enough with the curriculum of the programming competitions

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Motivating teachers and schoolauthorities

• The best solution consists of two things:

– Provide online materials, training and q/a support for the pupils, in every stage of their training for the competitions, and

– Inform the teachers for this convenience and put additional pressure directly through the pupils

• The school authorities can also be an obstacle for the participation of the pupils

– mostly with ridiculous reason in mind like not spending money for the trip of the pupils to the contest venue

– On this issue, we can only hope on the pressure of the pupils and the teachers on them12.05.2015 10

Keeping the participants informed, and ‘in condition’

• Publically present the information for the next steps in the competitions (dates, rules, procedures, results, etc.) in order to directly inform the pupils

– the most reliable way to spread information (opposite to informing through the teachers )

• The greatest challenge of all is to motivate pupils to constantly prepare (work on solving problems) for the competitions, with public sets of tasks that can be solved at any time

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MENDO (http://mendo.mk)

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MENDO as a Training System

Interest in the competitions

YearRegional

CompetitionNational

CompetitionNational

Olympiad

2010 55 45 23

2011 118 68 19

2012 209 95 21

2013 290 118 21

2014 341 101 21

2015 ~450 93 25

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Results of Macedonian Teams at International Contests

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Results of Macedonian Teams at International Contests

Number of medals won at IOI, BOI and JBOI in the last 4 years

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0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

2009 2010 2011 2012

IOI

BOI

JBOI

01234

Curriculum activities

6. Informatics (72 hours)

7. Informatics (36)

7 or 8. Projects in informatics (72)

8 or 9. Programming (72)

I. Informatics (72)

II. Informatics (IT) (72)

III. Programing languages (72)

IV. Programing languages (109)

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3. Computing (72)

4. Computing (72)

5. Computing (72)

6. Informatics (72)

7. Informatics (36)

7 or 8. Projects in informatics (72)

8 or 9. Programming (72)

I. Informatics (72)

II. Informatics (IT) (72)

III. Programing languages (72)

IV. Programing languages (109)

Additional events

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CiiT 2015, scientific conference in informatics– Over 100 participants

– 20 countries

– April 2015

IOI workshop 2015: On the new international curriculum in Informatics for the elementary and high school

– 18 participants from different countries around the world

– April 2015

Workshop 300 000: Best practices of implementing use of tablets in schools

– April/May 2015

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Additional events

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