CSEdWeek (December 8-14, 2014)

Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) takes place December 8-14, 2014 to coincide with the birthday of Admiral Grace Hopper, a pioneer in the field of computer science who was born on December 9, 1906. CSEdWeek was first recognized in 2010 when the 111th Congress passed House Resolution 1560. The goal of CSEdWeek is to introduce students to computing and show them that the world of technology is for everyone.

Computer science is often present in informal curricula but is absent from mainstream education. Additionally, according to Code.org, "25 states still don't allow students to count computer science courses toward high school graduation." These facts impact all students, and especially girls.

As noted in one of NCWIT's most popular resources, 'Girls In IT: The Facts,' "girls comprise 56% of all Advanced Placement (AP) but only 19% of AP computer science test-takers."

Exposure to computer science is critical, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor predicts that in the coming decade some of the best and highest-paying jobs will be in IT. For these reasons and more, CSEdWeek provides an opportunity to introduce students to computer science, using fun and engaging activities.

Corporate America, Your Future STEM Professionals Aren’t Attending Career Fairs Anymore

Like the Western black rhino, hieroglyphics and video stores, college career fairs may soon be a relic of the past - particularly when it comes to recruiting software engineers.

Undergraduate enrollment in computer science programs continues to rise impressively, growing by double digits year-over-year. Pair that with the fact that employer demand for computer science majors is very steep - with CS majors earning some of the highest starting salaries in the country - it's obvious that computer science and engineering knowledge is more valuable today than ever before. So why are universities and employers alike scrambling to keep up? Why is it seemingly so difficult to find skilled developers?

Read the rest of this TechCrunch article.

Google Computer Science Summer Institute

Google Computer Science Summer Institute is a program focused on increasing the enrollment and retention of computer science students, particularly those historically underrepresented in the field. The program is open to high school seniors, and features a 3-week interactive curriculum which provides students with a practical introduction to computer science (HTML, CSS, Javascript, App Engine, and more) that culminates in the creation and presentation of an application students have developed in small teams.

CSEdWeek Twitter Conversation Information

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation encourages all of our donors, supporters and blog-readers to take part in a 45-minute national conversation on the critical issue of K-12 Computer Science education via Twitter. This unique Twitter conversation takes place on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 6:00pm ET as part of Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek).

A national panel of thought leaders in the field will be tweeting with the hashtag #CSEdWeek, driving conversation around important issues and answering questions. Participants will include technical professionals, industry thought leaders, faculty, K12 educators, students and more!

Computer science fuels the future—help us fuel the conversation.  We need to 'win the future' in the information technology industry ... and computer science education is a part of the winning solution. You can learn more at http://csedweek.eventbrite.com

National Science Foundation Publishes Computer Science Newsletter

CSEdWeek is here and the National Science Foundation, in support of the celebration, announced its rollout of CS Bits & Bytes, a biweekly newsletter highlighting innovative computer science research aimed at high school teachers and students.

NSF will release CS Bits & Bytes biweekly, beginning on December 5 and continue publication through the end of the 2011/2012 academic year. NSF hopes that educators and parents will use CS Bits & Bytes to inspire students to engage in the multi-faceted world of computer science, to become not just users but creators of technology, and to develop the abilities to utilize computation skills, no matter what their interests.

I encourage all BDPA-Blog readers to subscribe to the NSF publication. If you'd like to receive their newsletter, please send an email to listserv@listserv.nsf.gov with the text of the message as follows:


subscribe csbytes
for example: subscribe csbytes Eugenia Robinson

Computer Science Education Week (December 5-11, 2010)

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) encourages all of our supporters to find a way to get engaged in the upcoming Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek). CSEdWeek 2010 is a call to action to raise awareness about computer science education and computing careers. CSEdWeek is endorsed by the U.S. Congress and designated as December 5-11, 2010 in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Hopper (December 9, 1906).

CSEdWeek aims to:

• Eliminate misconceptions about computer science and computing careers.
• Communicate the endless opportunities for which computer science education prepares students in K-12, higher education and careers.
• Provide information and activities for students, educators, parents, and corporations to advocate for computer science education at all levels.

Why Computer Science?
Computer science is ubiquitous; it touches everyone’s daily lives and plays a critical role in today’s society by driving innovation and economic growth. The field is shaping the future by solving some of the world’s grandest challenges and creating today’s most exciting innovations. Computing related jobs remain strong despite the nation’s extraordinary economic challenges.

Why Computer Science Education?
Computer science education is essential to:

• Expose students to critical thinking and problem solving.
• Instill understanding of computational thinking for success in the digital age.
• Train students for computing careers that are exciting, plentiful and financially rewarding.
• Prepare students to tackle the world’s most challenging problems.

Yet as the role and significance of computing has grown, the teaching of computer science in our K-12 education system has dramatically declined. There is insufficient innovative computing curricula for students at all levels; few students have the opportunity to study computer science in an engaging and rigorous way; there is a lack of ethnic and gender diversity among those who do take computer science courses; and teachers have few opportunities for professional development and certification in computer science education.

Join In! Everyone can participate:

• Take the CSEdWeek pledge! Register your support and share your plans to celebrate at www.computinginthecore.org.
• ‘Like’ CSEdWeek on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CSEdWeek and join the conversation.
• Blog, tweet, and post to spread the word and raise awareness.
• Use the #CSEdWeek hashtag.
• Celebrate CSEdWeek in your BDPA chapter, school, club, or workplace.
• Visit http://www.CSEdWeek.org for other suggested activities and resources.

Sponsors and Partners
CSEdWeek is a collaborative effort of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), National Science Foundation (NSF), Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT), WGBH, Computing Research Association (CRA), Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology (ABI), Microsoft, Google, SAS, Intel, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

CSEdWeek is an activity of Computing in the Core, a non-partisan advocacy coalition of associations, corporations, scientific societies, and other non-profits that strive to elevate computer science education to a core academic subject in K-12 education.

Next step is yours.  Will you be engaged with CSEdWeek this year?

'Computer Science Education Act' Seeks More Tech-Savvy Graduates

"We're not getting enough young people involved in this course of study," Sen. Bob Casey, Jr., D-PA, said during a rollout of the Computer Science Education Act at the Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy, a public magnet school in Oakland, Pennsylvania. He was co-sponsor of a bill that he hopes lawmakers will take up as they rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The bill that Sen. Casey introduced would offer competitive grants to states and schools to beef up their high school computer science offerings. More than 140,000 computer science jobs become available each year, but fewer than 40,000 people graduate each year with bachelor's degrees in the subject, according to the Joint Economic Committee, a U.S. House-Senate committee.

Read more...

Celebrate Computer Science Education Week (Dec 4-10)

There are too few African American students graduating with computer science degrees. BDPA and its supporters work hard to prepare high school and college students for success in the Information Technology industry. One way that we can all help is to support CSEdWeek 2011, taking place December 4-10. This is a week-long celebration of computer science education.

In today's world the impact of computing and the need for computer science education in our schools is more important than it's ever been! Find out more and don't forget to Pledge Your Support to CSEdWeek and let them know how you are celebrating the week. One way that all local BDPA chapters can help is to share information about computer science degrees at their upcoming program meetings or in their upcoming newsletters.

Parental and community encouragement can go a long way to leading children to a comprehensive education that will prepare them for the future. In today's world, that education must include computer science, as computers are everywhere. But how many of us understand how computers work, or how they help us solve some of today's most complex challenges?

Computer science explores these questions. Use CS Unplugged to explain to students how computers work, and at the same time, how computers help them address critical mathematics and science concepts from number systems and algorithms to manipulating variables and logic.

The BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) encourages all of our readers to hold an event celebrating CSEdWeek in your area! Are you wondering where to start and how to plan it? CSEdWeek has a toolkit to help.

BETF is proud to note that the 2011 CSEdWeek Vice Chair, Ruthe Farmer, is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the National Center for Women and Information Technology was a guest earlier this year on the BDPA iRadio Show.

Do you plan to 'get busy' with CSEdWeek this year?

Are African Americans Surging in Computer Science?

Soulclap to Booker Rising for pointing us to this Science Careers article --From MySciNet.

"A report released last week by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) found that first-time enrollment in science graduate programs increased last fall even as graduate enrollment across all disciplines -- including nonscientific ones -- dropped slightly. But the study's most intriguing number was hidden beneath the headlines: 33.6%. That's the reported percent increase, between the fall semesters of 2009 and 2010, in the number of Black and African American students entering math and computer science graduate programs.

More about Blacks and computer science: "Despite the substantial uptick, the number remained small: just 981. 'We're looking at fewer than 1000 students total,' says Nathan Bell, director of research and analysis for CGS. 'It doesn't take a lot of gain numerically to result in a large percentage increase.' Still, that's an extraordinary increase, he says. 'It is a big jump among a small number of students.' Such a large percentage change, he says, is unlikely to be random."

This is a great sign for BDPA stakeholders. We have to redouble our efforts to get K-12 students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses. Then we have to triple our efforts to get those same students college scholarships so that they can study computer science after they graduate from high-school. Then we have to quadruple our efforts to encourage college students to participate in regional and national BDPA IT Showcase events so that they can be empowered and encouraged to get Ph.D. in computer science or other hard sciences.


BDPA can make a difference if we each do our parts. Don't you agree?

Empowering Leadership Alliances Seeks High School Students of Color Interested in Computing Fields

In conjunction with Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), the Empowering Leadership Alliance (ELA) is starting an initiative to reach out to high school seniors interested in computing fields before they matriculate on their respective university campuses.

ELA is an NSF-funded program that engages underrepresented minority (URM) students in computing disciplines at research institutions in a nationwide network composed of leading universities including Rice University, UC Berkeley, and UT Austin.

Their mission is to increase the number of students from groups with long-standing under-representation that receive undergraduate and graduate degrees in the computing disciplines.

We are asking BDPA members and supporters to inform minority seniors who are interested in pursuing computing-related fields about EL Alliance.  Ideally they should register with the online EL Alliance registration form.

After students register, they will be contacted by ELA staff who will invite them to:

• Ask questions about computing or classes or university academic life
• Participate in university student-led teleconferences where college students would answer the high school students’ questions,
• Be matched with a current college student,
• Participate in mentoring teleconferences, among other possibilities.

We think that CSTA and EL Alliance can help bridge the fragile pipeline from high school through college and graduate school so that our nation can benefit from these future minority leaders in computing. If you have any questions about the EL Alliance, please contact Alice Fisher.

Program Directory of STEM Projects Around the Nation

The Computer Science Collaboration Project (CSCP) Program Directory lists organizations and programs that focus on motivating underrepresented youth to pursue careers in computer science.

The purpose of the CSCP Program Directory is to help organizations and individuals network, share resources, and collaborate on computer science related projects. The Directory contains Program descriptions, resources available within each organization, Program or organization needs, and contact information. Submitted entries undergo review and verification prior to publication.

Register your Program today: http://www.cscproject.org/index.php?q=pd/newprogram.

Computer Science Scholarship at Jackson State University

Jackson State University is giving out a 4-year scholarship worth up to $10,000 per year for eligible student willing to major in computer science as part of their Students Promoting Interest in Computing Supported by Educational Scholarships (SPICES) program.

SPICES Scholarship contact person is Dr. Loretta Moore. She can be reached on (601) 979-2105.

The deadline for applications is June 30, 2010.

View more documents from Wayne Hicks.

Kudos to long-time BDPAer Wendy Wonsley for sharing this information with us!

National Computer Science Education Week

The U.S. House of Representatives recently designated December 6–12, 2009 as Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) in recognition of the transformative role of computing and necessity of rigorous computer science education at all levels.

The CSEdWeek website launches the week of Dec. 6 to be a hub for computer science education resources and social networking.

The development of CSEdWeek is a joint effort led by Association of Computer Machinery with the cooperation and deep involvement of the Computer Science Teachers Association, the Computing Research Association, the National Center for Women & Information Technology, the Anita Borg Institute, the National Science Foundation, Google, Intel, and Microsoft.

Huge Drop Off in African American Computer Scientists Impacts BDPA Membership Levels

Membership levels have been dropping in BDPA over the past few years. Part of the reason for the decreased membership is simple -- large segments of the U.S. population are not considering careers in IT. Few students are enrolling in computer science courses, and a dwindling number of those are African American. [SOURCE]

There has been a “huge drop off” in the number of computer scientists entering into the workforce since 2000, said Jan Cuny, the program officer at the National Science Foundation who oversees efforts to broaden participation in computing.

Seventy percent fewer students have majored in computer science since 2000 according to Computing Research Association data. The Higher Education Research Institute has determined that only 1% of students are majoring in computer science.

"At the graduate level, however, non-resident aliens become a major factor while minority enrollment in general plummets to very small percentages," according to Anthony Chow, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

These statistics impact BDPA in a very direct manner. If we hope to live up to our mission of advancing the careers of African American in the IT industry from the classroom to the boardroom ... then we need to get busy at the 'classroom' level in a much more direct manner.

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts high demand for programmers. Its Occupational Handbook for 2006-2016 lists computer application software engineers as the fourth most in-demand occupation due to "increased applications of emerging technologies" and the growing complexity of businesses. Software engineers for systems are listed at number 25.

BDPA leaders at local and national level understand that this trend is not a good one for people of African descent in America ... our nation will be unable to produce enough students for the jobs that are out there if large segments of the population do not participate in computer science-related careers.

Retention of African American employees is another issue. Nearly half of all people of color leave technology jobs to enter other occupations, said National Association for the Advancement of Colored People vice president Deborah Bey. We have seen this trend within BDPA. Our inability to maintain high member retention in our 45 BDPA chapters is partially because our members are leaving the IT industry.

Isolation is a key factor for a higher attrition rate among African Americans. Our members continally tell us that they enjoy BDPA because of our networking opportunities ... our members cherish it when they can associate with people that have similar backgrounds and interests.

"If someone is the only woman or minority in a company, they will often not attract a peer group or informal mentor as easily as someone who is part of the majority", said Teresa Dahlberg, director of the Diversity in Information Technology Institute at UNC Charlotte.

BDPA Education & Technology Foundation (BETF) funds Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program that targets K-12 students. However, BDPA's strength has been at the high school level. Perhaps it is time for us to work a little harder to impact on our youth in elementary school.

"Many women and minorities are being turned off in the fourth and fifth grade before they even know what computer science is," the NSF’s Cuny said. "There are a number of things women don't understand about computing; they think they are insolated in front of a monitor."

I'm only aware of one BDPA chapter ... Richmond ... that is actively engaged with elementary school students. They use the First LEGO project to interact with these young people. Won't any of the other 44 BDPA chapters consider implementing this program within their 2010 SITES program?

The decrease in computer science majors is a national problem. It is time that Corporate America take some ownership of these negative trends for Blacks in technology. Corporations need to make stronger efforts to attend BDPA conferences on a regional and national levels. Our foundation would love to create scholarship and internship opportunities that match talented BDPA students with interested corporations. Eli Lilly and Company funds scholarships thru our foundation ... and it is no accident that they were named the 'Best Company for Blacks in Technology'.

"Mentoring and networking opportunities are important tools for retaining minority employees, in addition to training and skills-building to build confidence," Dahlberg said. She also suggested allowing new hires to explore different positions within an organization.

One of the ways the NSF is working to counteract declining enrollments is by providing opportunities for students, and it is partnering with local nonprofit and national organizations, said Cuny. The NSF has bridge programs to transition high school graduates into computer science majors at college, as well as programs to motivate undergraduate students to remain in the field.

The NSF's K-12 programs focus on informal education designed to spark student interest in computing by showing how computers can solve problems through creating and manipulating rather than being used as tools, Cuny added.

It is also working to infuse computer science in middle school and high school curricula, advocate computational thinking, and introduce a new Advanced Placement course for computer science. That effort, though, is being hampered by a shortage of computer science teachers, she said.

"There are few computer science teachers in the country. Many have degrees in other fields, especially business," Cuny said. The NSF has set a goal for 10,000 more computer science teachers by 2015.

Dahlberg participates in an NSF-sponsored program called the STARS (Students & Technology in Academia, Research & Service) Alliance. STARS mentors high-achieving computer science students at 20 colleges and universities in the southeastern United States, and has them talk to high school students, she said.

The program is also attempting to give businesses access to qualified computer science students in schools near them. BETF and BDPA Charlotte have both worked with the STARS Alliance. It is another program that should be aggressively explored by BDPA chapters co-located with the 20 colleges currently in the program.

"The National Science Foundation has many studies and projects to increase number of minorities and women in the field," said the NAACP's Bey. "It's not that there's not something being done…there's just no magic pill."

BDPA needs to be at the forefront of dealing with this issue. BETF is willing to work with any interested chapter to obtain funding that is related to increasing the number of African American students that are encouraged to follow-up on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies and careers.

What say u?