Welcome and thanks: intros, next steps and background reading material

[Selena Deckelmann]

Hi!

Thank you everyone for taking the time to join and for talking with me
at DjangoCon this week!

If you could take a minute and introduce yourself to the group, that'd
be wonderful. Something like:

Hi! I'm Selena Deckelmann and I am a major contributor to PostgreSQL.
I have been hacking with Python for three years, previously I wrote
lots of code in Perl and a little in C/C++. I mostly work on press
releases, release announcements, coordination of projects and
conferences for PostgreSQL. I also speak at a lot of conferences. My
interest in computer science education activism was sparked by the
"Running on Empty" paper from the ACM/CSTA, and further fueled by
several books and papers I've read since then.

Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself to the group!

== What's coming next

My immediate plan is to get introductions through the Computer Science
Teachers Association to CS teachers in the states where we have open
source contributors (you) available to have a chat.

In that conversation, I'd like each of us to have a few questions
ready to ask the teachers. Draft here:
http://piratepad.net/teacher-connect-questions

Please contribute ideas for questions you'd like to ask a teacher!

== TODOS

I'm tracking stuff to do here:
http://piratepad.net/djangocon-nextsteps-task-list

At some point, I think we're going to want some central place to
collaborate from that's not a PiratePad. But, this is nice for now
because you can share, update etc without asking anyone for
permission.

Additionally, I grant everyone permission to change things as you see fit.

== My goals

I am trying to connect people from the open source community that care
about education -- like you -- directly with teachers.

I also have some policy goals -- I believe computer science should be
included "in the core" http://www.computinginthecore.org/
I also believe that computer science should be mentioned specifically
in national legislation about STEM education.

I'm interested in affecting policy at the state level, like lobbying
for state standard teacher certifications for computer science.

But have more hope to effect change at a local level -- connecting
with teachers, providing resources, maybe ways of getting in touch
with other computer science teachers, and ultimately discovering what
it is that computer science teachers actually need. Some of those
things might not be related to open source. I believe that a major
advocacy mistake has been made -- we've pushed open source software as
a solution in schools, without really understanding what it is that
teachers actually need.


== Background reading

To kick things off, there are some resources here:

http://www.chesnok.com/daily/2012/09/05/while-were-here-lets-fix-computer-science-education-djangocon-keynote-and-resources/

More resources related to the talk I gave at DjangoCon here:

http://piratepad.net/djangocon-keynote-selena-reading-list


--
http://chesnok.com

[Barbara Shaurette]

Hi there!  I'm Barbara Shaurette, and I've been working in Python for about five years.  Prior to that, it was PHP, some Perl, a little ActionScript, a touch of Ruby here and there.  Before entering software development, I was a primary school teacher (it was long before - my certification hasn't been valid for ... longer than I want to admit).  I've rediscovered my love of teaching by helping out with the Python Women's Workshops we've held this summer in Portland.  My interest in computer science education activism is much more recent - I didn't know much about the state of modern CS education in public schools before talking to Selena, and certainly not before her keynote this week.  But it's something that I'm both passionate about and feel that I can help with.

By the way, the CSTA has a conference!  At least they had one this year, which we've unfortunately already missed:

http://csta.acm.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/sub/CSITConference.html

They've got an archive of slides from this year's talks that presents an interesting picture of where they are:

http://csta.acm.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/sub/Images_and_Other_Pages/OtherPages/CSIT12Presentations.html

Also, did you know that you can join the CSTA for free as an individual member?  They're not just looking for computer science faculty, but also for "members from industry interesting in supporting computer science education and teachers".  :)  I think we qualify.  And I'm guessing it will be a great way to learn at a higher level what kinds of things they do and what they need.

http://csta.acm.org/Membership/MembershipInformation.html
http://csta.acm.org/Membership/sub/IndividualMembership.html

[Selena Deckelmann]

On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 7:23 PM, Barbara Shaurette
<barbara....@gmail.com> wrote:

> http://csta.acm.org/Membership/MembershipInformation.html
> http://csta.acm.org/Membership/sub/IndividualMembership.html

I just signed up!

Thanks for the links. I'd meant to follow through with it after the
last time I talked with Chris Stephenson.

I just ran across another member of their board who apparently worked
on a lot of the analysis and graphs for the "Running on Empty" report
-- http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~lsudol/policy.html

-selena

--
http://chesnok.com

[Preston Holmes]

On Friday, September 7, 2012 9:56:10 AM UTC-4, Selena Deckelmann wrote:

Hi!

Thank you everyone for taking the time to join and for talking with me
at DjangoCon this week!

If you could take a minute and introduce yourself to the group, that'd
be wonderful.

Hi I'm Preston Holmes <ptone> and have worked since 2004 at a small, private, progressive, independent non-profit K-12 school in Santa Barbara.  I've been using Python at work and recreationally for about 4 years, before that was a hodgepodge of PHP, Perl, bash, applescript etc.

I started at the school as a science teacher as my prior background was academic research in the field of neuroscience (comparative neuroanatomy of vertebrates), but since that first year have been primarily responsible for all things tech at the school.  I've done some limited intro to programming classes at the school, including some classes for 5-7 using MIT Scratch, and some 7-8 grade after-school programs with both JS and Python.

I'm chronically spreading myself a bit thin - so will have to try to be involved in this strategically, but look forward to what may come - and can certainly provide an environment to pilot some efforts.

-Preston

[Tim Dybvig]

Hi all,

I'm Tim, and I'm a product manager at a startup in New York.  I'm still getting up to speed with Python / Django -- I studied CS, which was mostly in Java, and have had a series varyingly technical roles at big companies (Accenture, HP) and another startup (Adimab, an antibody discover company).  I'm not a professional educator, but I believe strongly in what Selena was talking about, and try to pitch in on the mentorship side.  I was a mentor at the Year Up program in San Francisco, and am working with a good friend and math teach in the Bronx (he's in the Math for America program) to help develop is #TrendingNow class on tech, and put together an after school programs focused on tech education.

Similar to Preston I also have a tendency to be interested in too many things at once, but I joined as a way to at least understand what the community is talking about, and as a way to learn about good resources for the mentoring / instruction I can take on.

For what it's worth, Thomas Friedman had a good column related to this in the Times today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/opinion/sunday/friedman-new-rules.html

Selena, thanks for the great talk and for getting the group going!  Look forward to being a part of it, in whatever way I can.

Tim

[Selena Deckelmann]

On Sep 9, 2012 6:51 AM, "Preston Holmes" <pre...@ptone.com> wrote:
>

> I'm chronically spreading myself a bit thin - so will have to try to be involved in this strategically, but look forward to what may come - and can certainly provide an environment to pilot some efforts.

Thanks for joining! Trying things out is incredibly helpful. I have a meeting with a CS teacher Monday who has curriculum using the next version of pyjamas. I am hoping to figure out a good way of sharing curriculum. Any ideas or products you've seen for that?

-selena

[Selena Deckelmann]

On Sep 9, 2012 4:56 PM, "Tim Dybvig" <tim.d...@gmail.com> wrote:
> but I joined as a way to at least understand what the community is talking about, and as a way to learn about good resources for the mentoring / instruction I can take on.
>

Cool! Is there a way you think we should share those out? I could start a tweet stream, tumblr, pinterest etc. I fear a wiki cuz they look so bad :( But maybe someone here knows of a wiki that doesn't look like crap.

> For what it's worth, Thomas Friedman had a good column related to this in the Times today:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/opinion/sunday/friedman-new-rules.html
>
> Selena, thanks for the great talk and for getting the group going!  Look forward to being a part of it, in whatever way I can.

Thank you! And thanks for the link. Look forward to reading.

-selena  

[ragsdale.a]

Hi everyone! I'm Alex and I work in Houston, TX, on a product called Tendenci http://tendenci.com, a CMS that also handles event management, membership management, donations, and other things that are great for non-profits and membership groups. I've been working on the web for about ever and started contributing to Tendenci this year.

I'm very interested in education as a social justice issue. I want to see more ladies and minorities in STEM education and careers. I think the interest and aptitude is definitely there in these groups, especially in young people. But too often, the opportunities can be expensive or hard to find or family and peers are discouraging. I am very interested in improving computer science education for all groups and seeing all ships rise with the tide.

Thank you, Selena, for organizing the group and getting a jump on organizing questions and contacts!

[Julia Elman]

Hi Everyone! My name is Julia Elman and am a Designer/Front-End Developer located in North Carolina. I've been working with this title for a little over 10 years and truly love what I do. I started out writing HTML/CSS/Javascript while in college and continued to teach myself throughout the years. In 2008, I started using Django to build applications and started learning some Python too. In my current role at Caktus Consulting Group, I design and build Django applications and websites.

In the past few years, I have wondered greatly about Computer Science education in the public school system. I asked my old high school if I could observe their web design class. It was truly an eye opening experience on what the kids in these schools need in regards to the level of skill their teachers have. 

With that, I will be teaching an HTML5 class this November at a Teen Tech Camp located in the Triangle. It is the second tech class I will be teaching and am excited about this new opportunity for teens.

After hearing Selena's talk at DjangoCon, it inspired me to help contribute more. I'd love to share any curriculum I build, but would also love any advice from those of you who have more experience with teaching. I see this as a great opportunity and am excited to see what comes of this group.

Best regards,

Julia

On Friday, September 7, 2012 9:56:10 AM UTC-4, Selena Deckelmann wrote:

[Lacey Williams]

Hello, all!  

My name is Lacey Williams, and I work at the University of Texas. I've only been using Python/Django for about a year, and don't have much prior programming experience, but I'd love to be involved however I can be! I do have some prior experience working with children, though, and some substitute teaching experience. My workplace also relies heavily on pair programming and peer-to-peer teaching to spread the knowledge; UT has adopted Python relatively recently, so most of us are beginners, which allows us to learn together. 

I'd really love any ideas on how to be more involved in CS education in my own community, and how to get my workplace on board, as well. Being at a university, I feel like there must be some way to cooperate with another department in this, but I'm not sure where to start. Thanks! 

Lacey

[Katie Cunningham]

Hi!

I'm Katie Cunningham, a Python and Django developer for Cox Media
Group. I'm also the author of Accessibility Handbook (O'Reilly) and
Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours (coming from Pearson in 2013). I'll
also be teaching the class for teens at PyCon 2012, along with Lynn
Root, Barbara Shaurette, and Richard Jones.

My background is actually in Psychology and cognition, so while I love
coding, I have a certain empathy for the user and the learner. I try
to do as much as I can to help people learn Python. I figure it's a
good way to balance the scales for every time I made a freshman cry
during an experiment.

I'm currently trying to teach my son Python, but he still has summer brain.

Katie Cunningham

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[Annalee Flower Horne]

Hi everyone,

I'm Annalee Flower Horne, a Django developer for popvox.com. My husband is a game design teacher, which is sort of an odd mix of graphics, writing, and computer science--his kids learn to work in teams to put together games.

Before I worked for popvox I was a congressional staffer, so I know a little about the legislative side of education. I'm really excited about talking to some teachers about what we can do to make their lives better (and I'm hoping the answer is that we can build stuff).

-Annalee

[Tim Dybvig]

Cool! Is there a way you think we should share those out? I could start a

tweet stream, tumblr, pinterest etc. I fear a wiki cuz they look so bad :(

But maybe someone here knows of a wiki that doesn't look like crap.

Good question!  Let's maybe see how the group progresses and that could help us choose the best medium?  Although a Twitter stream is fairly low risk ;)