Computer science advocates and educators are invited to the first statewide meeting of the Texas Alliance for Computer Science Education (TACSE) in Houston, Texas on October 14, 2015.  This ECEP-funded event will be held in conjuction with the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. In keeping with the Grace Hopper theme of expanding and diversifying the computing profession, the TACSE networking event will feature an outstanding panel discussion titled “Expanding the Computer Science Pipeline.”

Through five ECEP-sponsored professional development workshops in Massachusetts, teachers from across the state and New England reinvigorated their teaching practices with new techniques and curricula. Some participating educators were novices in the field of computer science, and were looking for guidance in introducing the subject. Others were focused on inspiring students who may have been turned off to computing in the past. With offerings involving video game programming, bio-simulations, and robotics competitions, teachers learned a variety of innovative approaches –and had a lot of fun in the process.

Leaders from 8 U.S. states and territories gathered in Charlotte, NC to share their efforts to bring computer science to underrepresented students in schools and colleges at the ECEP alliance annual meeting on Aug. 15, 2015. Several state organizations were represented, including the Alliance for California Computing Education for Students and Schools (ACCESS), Computer Science Education in South Carolina Steering Committee, Massachusetts Computing Attainment Network (MassCAN), and the Texas Alliance for Computer Science Education (TACSE).

Teachers and others interested in improving computing education in their states heard about efforts in three states and then discussed what they could do at home during the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Conference in Grapevine Texas on July 14, 2015. ECEP held a session “Changing Computing Education in Your State,” that drew some 30 attendees from 14 states.

From its initial four states, the ECEP Alliance grew to include representatives from 11 states and territories by the end of May 2015. Four new states came on board that month (Maryland, New Hampshire, Texas, and Utah) to join the others states (Alabama, California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, and South Carolina).

The NSF Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) alliance is providing workshop and “seed” funds to expand computing summer camps at colleges, universities, and high schools across the United States. On December 13, 2014  ECEP co-PI Barbara Ericson hosted a workshop in Santa Clara, CA on how to start and run financially self-sustaining computing summer camps. Thirty-eight professionals from 35 different institutions and 9 states attended the workshop, either in-person or remotely.  Participants learned how to start or expand a computing summer camp for 4th-12+ grade students, saw the equipment and tools that can be used in camps, and learned how …

ECEP has awarded funding to support efforts in South Carolina, Maryland, Texas, and Puerto Rico that will improve educational efforts in computer science in those states. As part of its mission, ECEP Alliance invited members to apply for mini-grants to support statewide and systemic change, expansion of computing education pathways, and broadened participation.

Two new reports on issues of diversity in STEM credit ECEP and co-PI Barbara Ericson with contributions.
 
In February 2015, Advancing Equity through More and Better STEM Learning was released by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. The 32-page report includes chapters on computer science education, women in STEM, and gaps in educational opportunities for students of color. The creators of the report interviewed Barbara Ericson, ECEP co-PI, and quote her in several places. Among its recommendations for national, state, and local policymakers, the report includes “States should also work collaboratively with …

In April, ECEP and CAITE sponsored a pilot series of free virtual professional development webinars to “train the trainers” for computer science PD providers in Massachusetts.  Webinars were one-hour in length and led by Barbara Ericson, ECEP Co-PI and Director of Computing Outreach and Senior Research Scientist at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. Twelve educators from 8 districts in Massachusetts (Framingham, Holyoke, Groton, Reading, Waltham, Winchester, Worcester, and Wellesley Hills) participated in the live webinars. Each webinar was recorded and available for viewing later.

Twenty-eight students and faculty from 12 states braved Boston’s February weather to attend a panel session organized by ECEP at the Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing 2015, titled “State-level Computing Education Reform for Diversity.” The panel featured leaders from California (Debra Richardson), Massachusetts (Rick Adrion), and Georgia (Mark Guzdial) sharing what has worked, what has not worked, and how different state systems require different strategies. Moderated by Renee Fall, the session asked participants to gather in regional and state groups to meet others from their own state and share information about reforming computing education at home.