Nine hundred and forty teachers all around the country have their eyes on The University of Alabama this summer for an online course.
After receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation, Associate Professor of Computer Science Jeff Gray teamed up with the College Board, the Alabama State Department of Education and the A-Plus College Ready Program to train high school teachers from across Alabama on computer science involvement in the new College Board Advanced Placement exam.
“Google then asked us to take what we are doing in Alabama and broadcast it live over the internet to other teachers in other states and even countries,” Gray said.
Karen Parker, Education Program manager at Google, said Google has an interest in developing these computer ?science programs.
“The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that computing will be one of the fastest-growing U.S. job markets in science, technology, engineering and mathematics for the foreseeable future. However, the number of computer science degrees awarded by Ph.D.-granting institutions has been declining until recently,” Parker said. “We believe providing young people with early access to high quality computer science curriculum is key in reversing these trends.”
Parker said the Google Grant is given to universities for their dedication to computer science education.
“The funding supports their efforts to provide professional development training for local high school and middle school teachers. These teachers develop their own CS curriculum using real-world applications to engage young adults and spark curiosity for what is possible,” Parker said, “Dr. Gray’s course will help teachers all across the country get ready to teach the new AP Computer Science Course.”
With Google providing the funding for this Massive Open Online Course, or MOOC, Gray sought the help of the department of telecommunication and film and four graduate students in the department of computer sciences.
“We have 30 teachers here at The University of Alabama from all over the state of Alabama who are taking this College Board AP exam course, and over the next six weeks the same content is going to be broadcasted over the internet,” ?Gray said.
Gray said teachers coming to this course are not familiar with how to teach computer sciences themselves.
“They have to have what we call professional development to get them prepared and ready to teach the course,” Gray said. “Many of the teachers this past week have never programmed a computer before, and we are training them to do that and many other things that this new AP exam has in ?its curriculum.”
Gray said this program is not only helping improve computer science education but is also a way to get The University of Alabama the recognition it deserves.
“Teachers recognize and understand the opportunities we have at Alabama, and this helps them understand whether or not they can recommend their students to come here. We have one teacher who is in Germany, who’s teaching on a military base, and she’s teaching computer science to American students who are over there with their families,” Gray said.
Alabama State Department of Education Administrator Dawn Morrison said the department is highly involved with AP ?course work.
“We have a strong partnership when it comes to rolling out new AP courses for teachers. We provide input, feedback and collaboration with our partners over at A-Plus in terms of some of the training that they provide for some of the teachers,” ?Morrison said.
ALSDE Information Specialist Ed Crenshaw said he believes this program will be beneficial to the state of Alabama. He said that the ALSDE wants to do whatever it takes to ensure a successful future for the students in Alabama.
“Basically we want to make sure that every Alabama stu dent has the opportunity to be the best that they can be,” ?Crenshaw said.
