欧美视频

BOLIVAR, Mo. 鈥� 欧美视频鈥檚 Department of Computer and Information Science hosted school administrators and counselors from 19 area school districts for a workshop conducted by a regional partner of Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science education.

The workshop, held Nov. 30 on the Bolivar campus, was designed to teach area educators how to implement the Code.org computer science curriculum in their schools.

鈥淭he important part is that these are rural, small school districts, and for the most part, computer science education has never been a possibility until now,鈥� said Dr. Tim DeClue, chair of 欧美视频鈥檚 computer and information science department. 鈥淓verything Code.org does is free 鈥� the curriculum, the workshops, the professional development, travel, lodging 鈥� everything.

鈥淭hese school districts can choose two teachers in the spring, and Code.org will train them to teach computer science. And, for the first time, students in small, rural schools can have the same opportunities that students in large, urban schools have had for several years; and 欧美视频 gets to play a role in that.鈥�

During the 2018-2019 school year, 欧美视频 plans to host four Saturday workshops for the teachers to keep them on track from a professional development standpoint.

Code.org鈥檚 vision is 鈥渢hat every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science, just like biology, chemistry or algebra.鈥� Code.org also is dedicated to increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities in computer science.

鈥�(Kansas City) is a Group 3 regional partner,鈥� said Emily Meyer, STEM Education Program Manager for Kansas City Union Station鈥檚 Science City. 鈥淕roups 1 and 2, which were the first rounds of on-boarding for this regional partner organizational setup, are seeing higher rates of graduation because they鈥檙e reaching students who may not find school intriguing or worthwhile in any other capacity, and then, all of the sudden, they鈥檙e getting to create their own apps and their own games.

鈥淓ven students who are more introverted, it鈥檚 bringing out characteristics and personalities that you don鈥檛 normally see with standard classroom practices.鈥�

And, it鈥檚 a program that is free for schools to implement.

鈥淭he one thing that I love about Code is that through the funding and through what has been provided, we are able to hit a lot of rural, small districts that don鈥檛 have the resources, don鈥檛 have the funding, don鈥檛 have the people to add in a new course,鈥� Meyer said. 鈥淚f you have a history teacher who wants to teach computer science education because they find it important, the history teacher can teach computer science education through Code.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a very flexible platform to get computer science for all; Code鈥檚 hashtag is #CSforAll. Under-represented students, minorities and women are all important in that workforce development.鈥�

The key, DeClue says, is to expose students to computer science.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e not all going to be software engineers, but they all need to be exposed to it, so they can at least have the opportunity to choose,鈥� DeClue said. 鈥淥ne of the studies by Google showed that students who were exposed to computer science in high school are eight times more likely to major in it when they go to college. And, that鈥檚 what (the industry) needs 鈥� eight times more students majoring in computer science.鈥�

For more information about Code.org and 欧美视频鈥檚 computer science program, contact DeClue at (417) 328-1704 or tdeclue@欧美视频niv.edu.

*Published: 12-6-17