C4C@Mobile CSP Immersion Week

College Of Saint Scholastica, Duluth MN

Investigators

Abstract

The College of St. Scholastica requests funding to expand a summer 2017 professional development program for teachers--Mobile CSP Immersion Week--to include a 2.5-day workshop for school counselors. School counselors can have a large influence on the participation of underrepresented students, enrolling them in computer science courses, exposing them to computing careers, and guiding them in this course of study and job preparation in their post-secondary lives. The workshop will leverage the Counselors for Computing (C4C) program developed at the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). In the past, Mobile CSP has provided C4C kits and webinars to teachers completing the Mobile CSP professional development course, with the goal of having the teachers engage their school's counselors as allies in the effort to broaden participation in computing. With this workshop, counselors will join their Mobile CSP teacher colleagues for distinct, and also shared, professional learning. The expectation is that schools will be more effective in broadening participation in their CS classes when a team of professionals are working together as a common effort. The workshop will encourage counselors to complete at least 5 follow-up activities, and to carry out events within the 2017-2018 academic year in the five-state Midwest region. Evaluation of the conference attendees (both Mobile CSP teachers and C4C counselors) will be used to determine effectiveness of the training as well as, when applicable, what effect attending professional development together has on recruitment activities at local schools.