Module 4
CS Professionalism

Timeline

Please note that this module is done in parallel with your work on the course project. It is expected that you will being doing two things at once.

  • Suggested Timeline
    • Sunday, July 9 - Friday, August 4
  • Final Deadline (all deliverables should be completed by)
    • August 4

 

Overview

I am going to argue that one of the most important aspects of being an educator is treating our jobs professionally and staying current with ideas and research in the discipline. 

We need to be open to new ideas and methods. 

We need to become a "reflective practitioner" who is willing to think about what we are doing, why we do it, and how we feel it translates to better learning for our students. 

We have to be willing to make mistakes but then learn from those mistakes and make it better the next time.

We have to ask ourselves if what we believe about teaching and learning is anecdotal or backed by facts (research) and evaluate how we respond as this information changes.

But, of course, to do this requires us to not only reflect on what is going on in our classroom, but in classrooms all around us.  It requires us to be professionals who participate in the process with other professionals.  And the challenge with this process is knowing where to find information about and from some of those other professionals.  It involves understanding the resources that are available to help us.

In this module I would like you to help me, and your peers, by generating a list of resources that we can use to keep current as educators and, more specifically, as CS educators. 

 

Activity #1 - Generating a list of General Pedagogical Resources

Identify at least three different organizations that provide information and/or resources regarding general pedagogical practice of teachers.  [Please note, this is about teaching in general. Not necessarily teaching CS. That's activity #2].

To get started, think about organizations you already follow.  These may be national, state, or regional.  They may be entirely online organizations, groups that hold traditional face to face meetings, publishers of resources, and even well informed bloggers who back ideas/opinion with facts/research.

But you also might look to find at least one organization/resource that is new to you.  One that you think will provide you some real benefit in the future.

For each resource you identify clearly indicate:

  • The name
  • "Contact" information (likely a URL but not necessarily)
  • What kind of information they provide to teachers
  • Ideally, at least one idea from the resource that use regularly or that particularly resonates with you.

The goal here is to draft a resource guide curated by the class members.  The summary that you produce should be something that one of your classmates or I could read and understand why me might want to care about this organization/resource.

Please use this form to submit your responses:

You can use this link to view the responses of your classmates:

 

Activity #2 - Generating a list of CS Pedagogical Resources

Repeat activity #1 looking specifically for resources related to computer science.   Follow the exact same process as outlined in activity #1

Please use this form to submit your responses:

You can use this link to view the responses of your classmates:

 

 

 

Assessment

None of this is evaluated for a final grade. I just think it is important