Sunday, January 01, 2017

Computer Science Education Things I’m Watching in 2017

What is going to be big in 2017? It’s always hard to tell but there are several things I think I need to keep an eye on this year. (Note: Last year’s things to watch is here.) Some of the things are repeats from last year. They are still developing. Others are things I’ve seem more of last year with indications that they are moving forward. What will you be watching this year?

Computer Science for Everyone - This moved along very well in 2016 with huge support from the White House. Will the new president be supportive? I don’t think anyone knows. Fortunately there is a lot of movement in the states and Congress seems to see CS education as a bipartisan issue. I am hopeful that progress will continue but it is something those of how care about need to be active in making happen.

Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles – This really took off in 2016. What I am most interested in seeing is how well the various big name curricula do in terms of test results. The other thing I am watching for is teachers who get really innovative on their own in teaching this course. I’ll probably be teaching it for the first time in the fall of 2017 so I’m hard at work figuring out how I will teach it. Lots to watch.

Expanding CS Education Before High School – I’m seeing more and more interest in K-8 computer science. Code.org has been instrumental in promoting this with training and curriculum materials. Bootstrap has been growing in middle school (BTW if I were a middle school principal or math teacher I would really be looking at Bootstrap – seriously – math and computing is a way that works and is fun? ) The #CSk8 twitter chat is growing by leaps and bounds. All of the new state standards are looking at K-8 as well as high school.  We’re on a roll here. I can’t wait to see how it continues to develop in 2017.

Making and CS – I have been trying to figure out how to categorize this topic. Initially I was going to call it Internet of Things. IoT for short. That was a big surprise this year. Several professional development events I attended had session labeled Internet of Things. They were all over subscribed. What is IoT? That definition seems to be fuzzy. I tend to think of it as smart devices that are  internet connected. Things like the web enabled cameras I use to keep an eye on my family’s vacation home. They are smart enough to let me know when they see people rather than just motion. Or programmable thermostats like Nest sells.

What I am seeing at workshops makes me think more of what I associate with Makerspaces though. Smart devices but not necessarily internet connected.

How ever you see IoT I see a lot of interest in using or making smart devices. People are interested in programming things other than pixels on a screen. And they don’t just mean robots, though those are still popular.

So I think we’ll see people taking advantage of cheap computers, simple sensors, and basic communication tools to make and program interesting things. I’m not sure how much this will penetrate the school day though. So far a lot of the activity seems to be afternoon and weekend “extra” programs and special events. I can see this fitting into AP CS Principles for one thing. And it has the potential for cross curricula projects. I’d love to see CS classes build things for science classes for example.

All in all I see great potential for making computing more interesting to new groups of students.

So what are you expecting to see and learn in 2017?

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