SIGCS is the Special Interest Group for Computer Science of ISTE

ISTE grew out of the Oregon Council for Computers in Education (OCCE) and the Northwest Council for Computers in Education (NCCE). I participated in both of those groups and actually witnessed the founding of NCCE and ISTE (makes me way cool, huh?). In those days, computers in education mostly meant programming. Much has changed!

Today, ISTE is about using computer-based technology to teach other stuff and, to some extent, teaching students to use technology effectively. I expect it is the premier organization for computer education. Seems to me, however, that they often seem to be doing
computer education   not   computer  education.

However, ISTE does allow SIGCS to exist and occasionally throws us a bone. For that we are grateful. Its URL is http://iste.org/

SIGCS (the Special Interest Group for Computer Science) of ISTE (the International Society for Technology in Education) is the only national group I am aware of that focuses on general high school computer science.

The major activity of SIGCS is the production of a journal. The Journal of Computer Science Education (JCSE) is published quarterly and is moving to electronic distribution of the quarterly issues and an annual print publication (this is the current plans, we hope it works that way). SIGCS also

• organizes a strand of sessions addressing CS at NECC
• through the efforts of some of its members, been instrumental in organizing the first two Computer Science and Information Technology Symposiums held in conjunction with NECC.
• hopes to significantly increase the communication and cooperation of all those interested in high school computing

Currently I serve as Chair of SIGCS and as the interim editor of the Journal of Computer Science Education.