Center for STEM Education, The University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for STEM Education WeTeach_CS project trains K-12 educators to improve access to high quality CS experiences for a broad and diverse range of students. WeTeach_CS is increasing the number of CS certified high school teachers, increasing the number of high schools offering CS courses, increasing the number and diversity of students enrolled in CS courses, and expanding access to computational thinking, coding and programming experiences for all students in K-8. These outcomes are accomplished through both online and face-to-face professional development for K-12 teachers. This includes educators who are currently teaching CS as well as teachers who are pursuing CS certification or interested in integrating computational thinking, coding, or programming into their coursework in science, mathematics, or other subject areas. Professional development includes technical training in software applications such as Scratch and Java, hardware such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi, and basic computer science concepts such as data types, arrays, loops, data structures, etc. Non-technical professional development includes training in emerging topics in CS education such as AP CS Principles, K-12 curricula and resources, strategies for broadening and diversifying student participation in CS, and policies and funding structures that impact CS education. WeTeach_CS has also piloted hybrid teacher training/student CS camps to simultaneously serve both teachers and students in K-12. Initial efforts have focused on Texas schools and students through the establishment of Regional Computer Science Collaboratives that are building educator capacity. In addition to The University of Texas at Austin, institutions such as The University of Texas at Dallas, The University of Texas at Tyler, Texas A&M College Station, Rice University, Region One Education Service Center in the Rio Grande Valley and Region 18 Education Service Center in West Texas have received grants through WeTeach_CS to provide direct training to local cohorts of teachers working to grow their CS programs. In 2016-2017, WeTeach_CS is expanding our online courses to reach teachers across the nation, particularly in states that also require teachers to pass a CS certification exam such as the Praxis. The WeTeach_CS project is partnering with a variety of public and private organizations to achieve our collective goal of CS for All. Partners and funders include the Texas Education Agency, 100kin10, NSF’s Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance, Code.org, AT&T, Google, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, TechNet, CS4TX, and hundreds of teachers and school districts across the state. Since September 1, 2015, WeTeach_CS has served over 1,000 Texas educators representing 697 schools across the state.