Second Year DCCE

Project Introduction

The idea is to gather Georgia high school teachers and undergraduate faculty together in a series of monthly meetings to discuss computer science education and to document and share knowledge about teaching and student learning in introductory Computer Science courses.

From our work with “Georgia Computes!”(http://www.gacomputes.org), we know that many high school and undergraduate teachers are interested in what happens at the other level and are looking for the opportunity to improve their teaching in computer science. In DCCE, participants will have the opportunity to talk with one another and to work together to document, review and reflect on your own classroom teaching through the shared production of course portfolios.

The course portfolio, well known as a method for advancing teaching practice and improving student learning, is a set of documents that "focuses on the unfolding of a single course, from conception to results" (Hutchings, 1998). Course portfolios typically include a course's learning objectives, its contents and structure, a rationale for how this course design meets its objectives, and the course's role in a larger degree program. Importantly, the portfolio also includes evaluations of student work throughout the term, indicating the extent to which students are meeting course objectives and the type and quantity of feedback they are receiving. Each participant in the project will construct a course portfolio for a course that they teach.

We are expecting results to include a peer-reviewed course portfolio from each teacher, enhanced understanding of how high school and undergraduate computing education can work together, and ultimately better teaching and improved student learning.

We will meet Saturdays (every 4-6 weeks) on the Georgia Tech campus, starting in late October, 2009.

What it involves:

If accepted, each participant is expected to commit to:

Attending all the DCCE Saturday meetings (including full-day and half-day meetings, around 40 hours in total within a year).
Completing a course portfolio for your introductory Computer Science course.
Reading a small number of papers that will help in carrying out the goals of the project.
Undertaking a peer observation of another participant, as well as being observed by another participant in turn.
Reading and critiquing portions of other participants' portfolios.

Reasons to participate

Successful participation in DCCE is expected to offer professional development for participants, as well as community development for Georgia Computer Science teachers.

Benefits to Participation
- Professional development: As consistently reported in the research literature, staff creating course portfolios state that the critical reflection involved in portfolio construction results in significant and lasting changes to the course and to their own subsequent teaching.
- Community development: Although a culture of peer review and discourse is common within research communities, it is rare among teachers as teaching most often happens in isolation, "behind closed doors". As we document our own work and review each other's, we overcome insularity and secrecy and are able to identify knowledge and best practices, which can be developed and shared as community resources.
- Documentation of practice: In a course portfolio, participants will have a persistent, peer-reviewed, documented deliverable that can be shared with others both inside of, and external to, their home institution.
Community Benefit
By bringing high school and university level instructors together, each will have the opportunity to "peer into" the other's community. In last year's DCCE one of the most valued benefits was learning of the overall curriculum available within each environment. By sharing experiences, techniques, and approaches to teaching this often difficult course, a community of engaged and focused educators can emerge.

Please note:the DCCE does not:

Aim to generate a courseware repository;
nor is it a workshop for developing materials.

Participant Cost

There is No COST for particiaption in this project: travel costs, hotel rooms for the night before a meeting as needed, lunches and breaks at meetings will be covered by the grant from the NSF CPATH program.

Application Instructions

Application deadline for the second year DCCE is Friday 25th, September 2009.Application Details

Last modified 31 August 2009 at 4:53 pm by lijun