Omaha. Somewhere in middle America

Thursday, July 12, 2018

What is the state of teaching computer science in the US? We went to the Computer Science Teachers Association annual conference in Omaha, Nebraska to see what we could learn from them... and they from us. The numbers of courses are increasing, as are the number of States offering them. Specialist teachers are in short supply, support and resources often hard to access. Sound familiar?

As the Counting Crows lyric describes it, Omaha is “somewhere in middle America”. In fact, it couldn’t really be more central if a midpoint is taken from east to west and north to south.

So why did we go there? Well, the 2018 CSTA (Computer Science Teachers of America) conference was held in central Omaha in July and that was a good enough reason to visit for us.       It is still early days for the USA in terms of Computer Science integration. Courses are being increasingly offered in schools across most states and their value towards students’ graduation points is also being more widely appreciated state to state. However, only 18 of the 50 states provide any funding or training for Computer Science teachers and they are feeling similarly anxious about the delivery of these courses as those teachers in the UK faced, with almost identical change on our side of the pond. The similarities don’t stop there. Teachers trained in almost any subject except Computer Science are being asked to deliver courses in it. They have limited resources to support them and they haven’t a network of knowledgeable colleagues to consult. 30 states are developing Computer Science certifications for teachers without which they cannot teach the subject. Whilst this will help with training and confidence, there is already a national teacher shortage in the US and this isn’t likely to improve this situation.

The CSTA aims to help change that in a way that CAS has done so for teachers in the UK. The organisation has a rapidly growing membership too, which is all helping to build a support network for teachers feeling out of their depth with new content. CSTA has set out a list of standards, or curriculum points, that many states have adopted already and many others have used as the basis for their own versions. That said, most states (now 36 in number), at best require only that CS goes on the school menu, not that it becomes statutory. Persuading students to take the course is another matter though students who take these courses have been very receptive and positive over what they are learning.

Despite a varied set of skills in their standards, the focus, for many organisations across the US aiming to support progress, has been overwhelmingly on coding and physical computing. There is a wealth of practical and engaging solutions for learning to code, particularly through gaming and robotics. This does highlight a significant imbalance in the resource coverage of the other 80% of Computing principles that have largely been left unsupported. Networking concepts, cybersecurity and ethics for example are given almost no attention and teachers “are left to figure them out for themselves” to quote one teacher from Illinois.

The UK has had its problems with implementing Computer Science, but we are getting there, and most teachers in the UK that I speak to seem to agree that despite an enormous uphill struggle with a steep learning curve, they have enjoyed learning the new subject. America is doing things slightly differently, perhaps more gradually, but the challenges remain remarkably similar. If there is anything that we can do for our American counterparts, we should help. I am sure that they will help us in our joint cause too.

And if you are wondering what Omaha is really like, it’s absolutely charming and a gem of the prairies.

Rob Heathcote 12th July 2018