tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18677687.post1992139479467040056..comments2024-03-27T15:13:24.764-04:00Comments on Computer Science Teacher: Computer Science Education Predictions for 2015Alfred Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05575057876858763822noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18677687.post-81038816494068428092015-01-04T15:34:27.531-05:002015-01-04T15:34:27.531-05:00Hey Alfred - nice list.
I thought about commenti...Hey Alfred - nice list. <br /><br />I thought about commenting here but it started to get a little long.<br /><br />I put up my comment on my site: <a href="http://cestlaz.github.io/2015/01/04/predictions-2015.html#.VKmjUa3d-Ak" rel="nofollow">http://cestlaz.github.io/2015/01/04/predictions-2015.html#.VKmjUa3d-Ak</a>Mike Zamanskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15069276938781711576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18677687.post-37151672075642356372015-01-04T14:41:14.392-05:002015-01-04T14:41:14.392-05:001. Need more states and schools offering CS so thi...1. Need more states and schools offering CS so this can happen.<br /><br />2. Python vs Java. After teaching both I can see the rational for both. Python for the normal, rational teachers. Java for the absolute psycho cases that have MAs in CS and figure all their students should want the same. (This is a totally unbiased opinion.)<br /><br />3 and 4. I do not get the AP thing at all. Many colleges do not accept AP credits. We have gone to offering dual-credit courses. Cheaper, more flexible, and gives direct college credit.<br /><br />5. I completely agree on Chromebooks. Great for schools with a limited IT staff where all they want the kids to do it browse the internet and use the limited Google Apps. For many schools this is all they want, but many schools have a very limited vision of technology and where the kids have to be in order to satisfy the needs of the future. Paying $200 for hardware to run a free browser seems a bit odd. (Again, no bias here.)<br /><br />Here is what I hope to see happening.<br />1. BYOD becomes the primary computer in the schools. Kids learning to use their own devices so they can carry the knowledge out of high school.<br /><br />2. A computer course of some kind becomes required for graduation. More kids would need this than that Geometry course.<br /><br />3. 1 to 1 becomes not a policy but an assumption. <br /><br />4. School IT departments support what is needed, not what is convenient.<br /><br />Here is what I see happening.<br /><br />1. CS continues in limbo because schools do not want to spend the time to revamp a 100 year old curriculum.<br /><br />2. Continued whining about budget limitations while school superintendents continue to make a six figure income. (This is a local issue in the public schools in my area.)<br /><br />3. Teachers with twenty years experience still consider laptops in the classroom an intrusion. Beginning teachers still have no idea on how to manage a tech classroom because their university prep is twenty year behind the times.<br /><br />4. I continue to be a pessimist but fight to be an optimist. I see CS as a bottom up revolution in education. The kids and the teachers have to show the schools what is needed to meet the future.<br />Garthnoreply@blogger.com