>> With Computer
Science Education
Week coming up in December,
we know that now is the time
to think about ensuring that
your school system not
only offers Computer
Science courses,
but that they are inclusive
and invite diversity.
Doug Bergman, head of
Computer Science at
Porter-Gaud School
in Charleston, South Carolina,
and author of the book,
Computer Science K12:
Imagining the Possibilities,
is here with us.
You may not teach
Computer Science,
but Doug has
some amazing ideas and
tips for how to
evolve your classroom
to increase student
engagement and ensure
that it supports a diverse
population of students.
As you hear Doug share how he
has changed the way he teaches,
I know you're going to
connect to his ideas so
you can bring some of these
teaching practices
to your classroom.
And of course, as you
listen to him, don't
forget to put those questions
in the comment box.
We'll have a chance to ask him.
So Doug, thank you so much.
We're excited to have you.
>> Good morning. Shout out
to my friends in
Charleston, South Carolina.
So, yes. Yeah, let's talk
about diversity and inclusion,
and the engaged Computer
Science classroom.
Now, I'm probably going
to take a little bit of
a different twist than maybe
you're expecting me to,
so just bear with me.
So, I'm going to start
out and probably shock
many of you and say the world
doesn't really need
more computer scientists.
What? Right? What?
So, but what we do need
are our artists and
nurses and accountants
and firemen
and real estate agents and
small business owners and
fitness experts
and marketing directors
and restaurant managers.
We need people who
understand and who are
invested in the many
many industries
out there in the world,
but we need them to bring
along this tool set and
this mindset called
Computer Science.
So that they can go into
the fields that they have
passion for that they understand,
and they can use Computer
Science as a tool to address
and perhaps even solve some of
the problems in those industries.
I think that recognition or
realization is probably
the number one thing we can do
to address diversity and
inclusion in the world.
So, when a student looks in
a Computer Science classroom,
he or she's looking to
try to see if there's
someone that they can connect
with in that classroom.
If they only look in there
and see one type of person,
the student's not going
to walk through the door.
Okay. You're also only
going to attract
one type of student.
Okay. So, why does that matter?
Why does having an inclusive
and diverse population in
your Computer Science
classroom necessarily
make for a better Computer
Science experience?
So, that's a fair question.
So, let's look at what
we're talking about.
So diversity is color, gender,
religion, maybe size and race,
lots of types of diversity.
Inclusion is
a little bit different.
So, inclusion is
talking more about
ways of thinking and perceiving.
Interest, talents,
attitudes and motivations,
and lifestyles,
and even cultures.
These are the elements
that are part of
your students in a
classroom like that.
That kind of
classroom is going to
be asking different questions.
Your students are going to
be approaching
practice differently.
They're going to be interpreting
the directions and
the instructions
for the project differently.
They'll be collaborating and
helping each other differently.
So, ultimately, in
a Computer Science classroom,
they're going to be
coding and designing
and programming differently.
So, everything
about the classroom
is different when you have
students who are different.
Embrace that, okay?
So, different people connecting
with Computer Science in
different ways is exactly
what inclusion is.
Technology is at the backbone
of pretty much every industry
out there. All right.
All the products and all
the industries out there are used
by an extremely
diverse population.
Shouldn't the people who
are designing and making
those products reflect
the same people
that are using those products?
One way of thinking
about this is,
Computer Science isn't
for one type of person.
We have to make sure
our Computer Science programs are
attractive to people
who have lots of
different types and lots
of different capabilities
and levels and interests
and backgrounds.
If you build Computer
Science programs where
you target only your hardcore,
high tech guru, that's all
you're going to attract.
Now, those kids are awesome
and you're going to
do some crazy things
with those kids,
but that's a very
small percentage
of your student population.
So the other 90 percent
aren't necessarily
thinking about
Computer Science as
something that they
might interact with.
There's your target. All right.
So, I think right now
what you can do is say,
"Yeah, that's that's something I'd
like to see in my classroom."
So, something we can
do is just start to build
a different type of classroom.
Okay. So, in that classroom,
our students who haven't
necessarily thought about
Computer Science as
something that they can
be successful at...alright...
so you need to provide,
we need to provide a place
where they can start to develop
this connection because it
doesn't exist yet. All right.
So, a place where
they're safe and free
to explore, experiment, struggle,
figure things out, see
some succeeding
and some failures,
but without the fear of failure.
Okay. So you'll see
different types of
students starting to see
the value of Computer Science.
This is your diversity.
So when people who are not
naturally attracted to
Computer Science start to
connect because of
your classroom,
you're expanding
your reach, right?
So this is your new
type of student.
This is your inclusion.
One of the students
in my freshman class,
when she finished
a project (she'd written
several hundred lines of code in
a language called Python)
and I remember in
her reflective piece,
she said something
along the lines of,
"After getting it wrong so many
times and then you get it right,
that is such a great feeling."
I know you can
relate to that one.
So actually it's a
couple of years ago we
started using Flipgrid as
a really cool and easy way
in the classroom
to get video feedback
from the students.
And I wanted to show you
what that looks like.
I'm over here, and actually
one of our students, Haley,
is a wonderful person and
she talks a little bit about
her experience in my classroom.
>> Hi, I'm Haley and
I'm in 10th grade,
and for as long as
I can remember,
I love to design and
I love to create.
Whether it be painting
or pencil drawing,
I just really love to create.
Ever since I found
Computer Science,
I found a place where
I could channel
all of my creativity.
Although what we we do in
Computer Science and
the projects that we do in
Computer Science take up a lot
of work and a lot of time,
just this fact that I have
the freedom to choose
what I create and seeing
my ideas come to life doesn't
make it feel like work at
all, it just makes it fun.
>> So that's the kind
of student I get every
day in that classroom.
I love her.
So, how do we do this?
What's the strategy? Here it is.
Your classroom must be engaging.
That's it. It's that simple.
That's the key.
The world of technology out there
that your students
are experiencing
outside the walls
of the school is
an interactive and
dynamic and fresh world,
and there's a cool energy
around the technologies
that you're using.
Okay. So, make sure that
our Computer Science classrooms
reflect that same spirit.
>> Okay. Students should be
connecting with your class
in a variety of ways,
because you have a variety of
students, who think differently.
So, keep it fresh,
keep it different.
Multimedia. Multi-sensory.
Let them connect
with your project
or your topic or your technology
in ways that you can't
necessarily in the classroom.
They're going to get
code and programming
in the classroom.
When they go home at night,
I want them to maybe look
at jobs in the industry
related to the project
we're doing.
Maybe some cool technologies
on the horizon,
maybe something in the history,
maybe they interview someone,
maybe they read an article
or read a story,
search a blog, post
something on a forum.
Research current events related
to the topic that you're doing.
Watch a newscast on TV.
They loved Ted Talks.
Our students lead
and participate in
discussions every week
about technology.
We have speakers
from the industry
all the time through Skype
or guests in our classroom.
But what happens is
when you do that,
when the students come
back in the classroom,
they had this new higher level
of connection and
a different type
of connection they had before,
and that translates directly into
their own Computer Science
experience in the classroom.
They start to see how
Computer Science might actually
help them connect with the things
that they're interested in.
So, what we found works,
and reaches a lot of
different students,
is when I am not at the front
of the classroom leading.
We let the student learning
be what drives class.
All right?
Not the lecture, not
the textbook chapters,
not the worksheet, not the test.
Students are not inspired
because of the upcoming
quiz on Tuesday.
They are motivated by
their own ideas. All right.
Hear me out on this one -
Computer Science cannot
be a passive experience.
Your students can
learn on their own.
They want to learn on their own.
They don't mind working hard.
They don't mind struggling.
They don't mind
figuring things out.
Dr. Grant in
Jurassic Park taught us,
"T-Rex doesn't want to be
fed. He wants to hunt."
All right. I love that phrase.
So, we found that
the project-based environment
is the best of all worlds.
Your students can
learn the content,
but they can relate
that content to
the real world as well
as their own experience.
They can learn
the Computer Science skills
through that project.
Now, the projects
of course can have
an umbrella under
which the topics
fall. In our game design
programming section,
students don't just create
any random game,
they're creating
games at address a
social cause or
maybe a world issue.
In our app design section,
we're not just creating
any random app.
We're creating an app for
someone who might have
a disorder or a disability or
maybe a medical condition.
In the VR section of
the class that we do,
the students might
choose to create a world
in which they're addressing
people who have phobias.
So, when a student can
choose their projects,
they invest in it
because it's their idea.
More often than not,
they're going to go far
beyond any expectations you have,
any expectations they have...
your rubrics, because they
want to see their idea come to
life exactly as they
envisioned it in their mind.
That choice is like gold in
the Computer Science-engaged
classroom. It's like magic.
It's like you're throwing out to hook,
you setting a hook and
you're reeling them in,
except they're being reeled in for
their own reasons,
not my reasons.
So, something to think about
that might seem insignificant,
but I think it's hugely
valuable and this conversation is,
in your classroom that you have,
you've got your posters,
your newspaper articles, and
your student work all over...
make sure that that is
reflective of the population
and of the inclusiveness
you're trying to embrace
in your classroom.
And when you give examples to
explain something in class,
make sure the names and
the job titles and the scenarios
and the descriptions
are reflecting
the diverse population
you're trying to embrace,
so that it's attractive to people
who are different than you.
Something that I
feel tremendously
important about... we've heard
other people
mention this today,
make sure your students
can get out of their seats.
Most students are not
experts in Computer Science.
Not yet.
But especially early
on when they're
still developing that connection,
collaboration is
such an important part
of building a Computer
Science connection.
Having regular peer-to-peer
sharing and critiquing
and students helping each other.
That list students see
that even though there's
other students in
the classroom or
maybe different than they are,
they're also going through
a very similar experience:
that exploration,
the experimentation,
the struggling, the
succeeding, and the failing.
That atmosphere is going
to promote collaboration.
What you're going to find
in this environment is that
the engagement factor skyrockets.
In that electric atmosphere,
the learning increases.
So, your goal now is to
figure out what kind of projects,
what technologies
will your student
population respond to.
I promise you as you
start to figure that out,
you're going to see a wide
variety of students start to
walk through your doors that
haven't walked through before.
So, I'm hoping something
I've said today
will spark some
cool conversations
back in your communities.
Thank you so much
and I look forward to seeing
all of you in the cloud.
>> Oh, my God - Doug,
thank you so much.
I just feel so lucky. I've
known Doug since 2011,
when I was also teacher
and got to know him
back then. And I just
have loved watching you
and your class grow
over the years.
I also was really blown away
by Haley expressing that,
it's her passion for art,
>> Yeah.
>> design that is what drives her
then to go into Computer Science
and I think that's really key.
It's not those kids
that are like,
it doesn't have to
be the kid that you
stereotypically think of
as a computer scientist.
So, thank you and there's
a few things, thank you again...
a few things I want to
show you all online,
on that same Hack the
Classroom speaker
page at the bottom.
I want to point out
a couple of resources.
The first resource is
at the top of the page,
and it's the Infuse
Computational Thinking
in your classroom.
Whether you teach kindergarten
or AP Chemistry or music,
you can infuse
computational thinking
into your classroom.
So, that's a great course to take
a look at to start
thinking about that.
The second thing I
want you to take
a look at is if you've never
done problem-based or
project-based learning,
the second link down is
a course on just that.
So, take a look at how to- what
is problem-based learning,
how can you incorporate
it in your classroom?
Because that is huge. You heard
it in multiple stories today,
that it's that engagement
that excites students.
The last thing I want to say,
if you want to hear from more of
Doug's kids at the very bottom,
there's a link to that Flipgrid.
So, you can hear from
more of his students on
why Computer Science
is so engaging.
So that's to get
you started there.
Earlier in our broadcast,
Jim talked about and
encouraged all of
you to join Twitter,
and I know most teachers
really haven't done that yet.
I really want to encourage
you to do the same.
When I joined Twitter back
when I was an educator,
I had no idea what I was doing...
totally I felt like I needed
one more piece of social media
like I needed a
hole in my head.
I was really grateful that I had
a colleague that
show me the ropes,
and I'm going to give
you a couple tips.
The key to a successful
Twitter journey
is to begin by following people
who share similar ideas
and who can inspire
you with new ideas.
All of our speakers
today are on Twitter,
and I suggest that if
you haven't done so,
follow them. I am inspired
by them daily with
the tweets they share.
The next step, as Jim mentioned,
is to actually participate
in a TweetMeet,
where you can learn
from and connect
with other like-minded educators.
We monthly have a TweetMeet
on a different topic.
Each TweetMeet has educators as
the host who really
dig into that topic.
And again it's a great way
to find more people to
follow, to connect globally.
And everyone in there -
like the one of
the things I love about
my MI Expert program is
we truly are a global
tribe of teachers
here to support and
learn from each other.
