NSF CCSC Computer Science Education Showcase

Harvey Mudd College, Claremont CA

Investigators

Abstract

The NSF Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) Computer Science Education Showcase will expand the NSF SIGCSE Showcase to a set of regional conferences, with the goal of increasing the diversity of institutions and communities represented in the DUE portfolio. Over the years, NSF has funded numerous Computer Science Education (CS Ed) projects through various programs. Each has the potential for significant national impact on CS Ed. In recent years NSF has sponsored a showcase featuring these projects at SIGCSE, the premier CS Ed conference. This showcase has provided a vehicle for project principal investigators (PIs), NSF DUE program officers, and attendees to interact. It is widely believed that the showcase is a successful dissemination vehicle for NSF-sponsored projects. Due to lack of travel funds, many in the CS Ed community find it difficult to attend SIGCSE, and instead participate in one of ten annual regional conferences sponsored by CCSC. CCSC was created for the betterment of computer-oriented curricula in two-year and four-year colleges and universities across the nation and to improve the use of computing as an educational resource for all disciplines. While CCSC and SIGCSE communities overlap, the CCSC showcases have the potential to reach a population of computer science educators that are often otherwise overlooked. The showcases address the national concern about diversifying participation in STEM by potentially increasing the awareness of NSF CS Ed-related programs among institutions and communities with fewer resources, and subsequently the volume and breadth of PIs submitting proposals each year to DUE programs. Over two years, the NSF CCSC Showcase project will stage showcase exhibits at CCSC regional conferences to perform outreach and to feature select NSF Computer Science Education projects by providing travel support for project PIs who will disseminate their work. This will enable the PIs to reach an audience that complements SIGCSE. The project will track the numbers of CS Ed projects presented, computer science educators exposed to the projects, attendees at each showcase, attendees who plan on implementing the ideas disseminated at each Showcase, attendees who plan to submit NSF proposals in the future, and attendees who request to be considered as a NSF reviewers. The goal is to establish the viability of the CCSC Showcase as a dissemination vehicle and as a vehicle for developing a stronger Computer Science curriculum.