The Computational Thinking Summer Conference is excited to announce Artificial Intelligence professor Randy Goebel as the keynote for this August's conference. The University of Alberta is recognized as one of the top 3 Artificial Intelligence institutions in the world. Come hear Randy talk about A.I., its place in our society and its future impact. Randy is an enthusiastic speaker, excited to share his perspective to teachers of students at all grade levels.
For only $11.00, teachers get 2 and a half days of computational thinking and computer science PD including streams targeted to Elementary, Junior High, Senior High and French teachers. Lunches are provided.
Edmonton Area CS Teachers Shared Resources Name Change
The resources folder has been renamed to CSTA Alberta shared resources to improve across province sharing.
Update the Demographic survey!
The demographic survey is used to know what everyone is teaching and who to reach out to when help is needed. Please fill it out at least once a year so information reamins up to date.
New Exec for CSTAAB
President - Mickey Killoran Vice-President - James Chow Secretary - Scott Blenkorne Treasurer - Janice Parsons Southern Alberta Representative - Margaret Jones Northern Alberta Representative - Matteo Hee Post Secondary Representative - Maria Cutumisu
Society Status?
It is being worked on! Forms have been submitted and we will keep you updated. Very little should change.
Website Groups?
I have been working on using some of the new features of the website to help with resource sharing and community building. So far I have created an IB group and a Northen Alberta Group (although I have only added a few people to this one). Try them out and let me know if you like or hate them.
My students have really taken to codinggame.com. I've found the speed, shortest code, and reverse challenges have forced them to really think about the problems they are solving and the design decisions they make.
How did you get involved in computer science and computer science education?
I excelled at math and physics in high school - scored in the top 2.5% of the US on PSAT exams. So I was looking for a way that I could make a career out of it. I took a job with the City of Edmonton in their tax department, used their software and thought I could make it better. (the arrogance of youth) I took my B.Sc. with Software Design. I worked as a summer intern with Jonathan Schaeffer (now Dean of Science) and then went on to work for the Office of the Auditor General, as a System Analyst, Database Designer, Project Manager and finally as an independent consultant. I had children, one of whom had learning disabilities, and my husband worked out of town, so I transitioned out of the paid workforce into the world of moms and community volunteers. I spent 12 years volunteering in the local elementary school, teaching preschool, coaching sports, running tournaments, etc etc. When my eldest got to high school, I felt that I was ready to start a new career. I looked at University and debated the after degree or a Masters degree. I applied to the wrong Master's degree and was rejected -- so I looked into getting an after degree in Education. They looked at my transcript and were not at all sure I could qualify to teach anything in high school. I went with Math and technology. I got my first temporary contract teaching Math and Photography. I made a backroom swap, a Graphic Arts course for a Computer Science 20/30 and that was the beginning of teaching Computer Science for me. The first day of the classes was my first time programming in Java.
What do you like about your current program and/or what are you hoping for the future?
I love that I can teach Computer Science all day every day, without the distraction of other courses. I love taking students from knowing little about computers to being confident that this is a career for them. I have had couple of students who are planning to teach CS as a career - I would love to be their mentor teacher.
Is there an interesting project, idea, tool, resource, etc that you would like to share with the group?
I like working with Greenfoot because it is a Java library that allows students to explore object oriented programming with some helper classes but mostly they have to do the work themselves. Conway's Game of Life was fun, elegant and simple to do in Greenfoot.
