WeTeach_CS: Strategies for Effective & Inclusive Computer Science Teaching

The University of Texas at Austin’s WeTeach_CS program trains K-12 educators to improve access to high quality CS experiences for a broad and diverse range of students. WeTeach_CS is the K-12 professional development component of the EPIC (Expanding Pathways in Computing) group at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). 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. The initial focus of WeTeach_CS was Texas but with the publication of online resources, educators from across the world are now utilizing WeTeach_CS professional development materials to improve their practice and diversify their enrollment. Since 2015, Texas has seen a 124% increase in enrollment of females, a 154% increase in underrepresented minorities and a 156% increase in economically disadvantaged students enrolled in HS CS courses. The Strategies for Effective and Inclusive CS Teaching is a facilitator led online course designed to support cohorts of teachers focused specifically on broadening participation in CS courses.  Topics addressed include unconscious bias, stereotype threat, computing for social justice, and research-based strategies for recruiting and supporting diverse students in CS. The course is approximately 6 weeks long and course completers will earn 24 hours of CPE credit from UT Austin. The course, which is hosted in Canvas, is a combination of independent asynchronous work for teachers and six synchronous cohort meetings of approximately one hour. CISE PI’s could use this course to meet their K-12 BPC goals with teachers involved in their CISE projects. UT Austin can provide a trained facilitator for your project for a fee or you can identify a local facilitator to go through UT Austin’s facilitator training to lead your own section of the course. Details about the course and syllabus can be found at https://utakeit.tacc.utexas.edu/effective-strategies-V2/.