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PUMP-CS Professional Development Planning for 2019-20

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Business & Information Technology teachers have served a significant role to expand curriculum connections to computer science instruction both directly in the their classroom and in support of local teachers to integrate cross-discipline concepts in other academic areas. The message below was drafted by Marquette University professor, Dr. Dennis Brylow, who leads PUMP-CS professional development activities in Wisconsin.  Questions about professional development workshops at Marquette University can be directed to http://www.mscs.mu.edu/~brylow/.

This past summer and in the coming academic year the PUMP-CS Project has sponsored Exploring Computer Science (ECS), Computer Science Discoveries (CSD), and Computer Science Principles (Code.org CSP) workshops for teachers, and we are planning for a pilot Project GUTS program coming online this year. In the past, we have centered much of this work on the Marquette University campus in Milwaukee, but starting with CSD, we have begun to branch out to other parts of the state, including Eagle River, Green Bay, and Wausau. This work has only been possible because of great partners in those locations, including amazing folks at CESA 7 and NWTC, Wausau Schools and NTC, and Northland Pines School District, as well MTEC for our new CS alternative licensure pathway.

In the coming month, we will begin planning where to expand next year's CS PD workshops for grades 6-12 in Wisconsin for summer 2019 and the 19-20 academic year. If you or someone you know would like to be a part of this preliminary planning, please get in touch with me in the next week. We're particularly keen to identify CESAs, other higher ed institutions, and school districts interested in partnering with us to bring CS professional development to regions of the state that have had little prior access. Our aim is to reduce the travel burden on participating teachers, while also building local capacity to support CS in all of the K-12 grade bands. Incredible progress in CS is happening all over Wisconsin, but there is still much to be done.

In other news, we expect to open teacher applications for most of our 2019-20 grades 6-12 cohorts in December. Know someone you'd like to recommend for one of these professional development  racks? Please refer them using the online Recommendation Form.