Software Design Course for Leading CS In-service Teachers

1. Software Design Course for Leading CS In-service Teachers Ofra Brandes brandes@huji.ac.il Tamar Vilner tami@cs.openu.ac.il Ela Zur ela@cs.openu.ac.il

2. The High School CS Curriculum • Rapid changes in CS curriculum • The Israel’s high school curriculum was designed between 1990-1993 and implemented in 1995

3. The Israeli CS High School Curriculum • The CS curriculum has two versions: 5-points, 3-points. • Each point represents 90 class hours.

4. The Israel’s High School CS Curriculum (cont.) • 3-units: • Fundamentals 1 • Fundamentals 2 • Several alternatives for different paradigm • 5-units: • The above 3-units • Software design • Several alternatives such as: computational models, Computer Systems and Assembly Language etc.

5. The Israel’s High School CS Curriculum (cont.) • The three units: Fundamentals 1, Fundamentals 2 and software design moved from procedural approach to OOP; • This talk deals with one aspect of this change, relating to the software design unit.

6. Object Based Software Design UnitThe Goals • To present the principles of a systematic approach to programming; • To teach basic concepts of complexity; • To develop abstract thinking; • To teach how to define data structures and abstract data types;

7. Leading Teachers The goals of the leading teachers course are: • To enhance the participants’ understanding of new topics and materials; • To strengthen the group as a professional community; • To foster leadership growth.

8. Object Based Software Design Course for Leading Teachers • 112 hours; • Prerequisites: • In-service teachers; • Previous knowledge of Java or C#; • To teach the unit during the current year; • To agree to guide a regional workshop.

9. THE STUDY We accompanied the leading teachers course by ongoing qualitative research in order to estimate the extent to which the team's goals for the course were achieved. The research questions refer to the course goals and to the team’s expectations.

10. THE STUDY Research Questions 1. Did the leading teachers gain an enhanced understanding of the unit contents? 2. Did we succeed in training the leading teachers to guide and direct regional pedagogical workshops for their peers? 3. Did the course succeed in creating a professional leadership of CS teachers who feel responsible to the CS teachers' community? 4. What factors in the course structure affected, positively or negatively, the fulfillment of the team's expectations?

11. Research Population The research population consisted of 25 teachers: • 17 teachers (68%) had a B.A. or B.Sc. in CS • 6 teachers (24%) had a B.Sc. in other sciences • Only 2 (8%) had a B.A. in other, non-scientific, disciplines. 17 teachers had a second degree (M.A. or M.Sc.) in various disciplines, such as CS, Education and others.

12. Teachers' previous knowledge of Java and C# Knowledge of C# Knowledge of Java

13. Research Instruments • Questionnaire no.1- The course participants were asked to complete a questionnaire before they started the course. The questionnaire contained questions about their background and their expectations of the course. • Questionnaire no.2- Another questionnaire was handed to the teachers at the beginning of the summer seminar, which ended the leading teachers course. This questionnaire focused on their attitudes and understanding of the concept of a leading teacher. • Two discussions - about the participants perceived benefits and achievements from the course, at the beginning and the end of the summer seminar. Those discussions were recorded by audiotape and later transcribed.

14. The First Categorical System From the first questionnaire, we collected 59 quotes, grouped similar quotes and then divided the leading teachers’ expectations into three main categories: • the individual aspect • the social aspect • the community aspect These categories were divided again into sub-categories.

15. The First Categorical System

16. The Second Categorical System

17. Results and Discussion • Enhanced understanding of the unit contents The leading teacher’s feeling at the end of the course was that their knowledge was extended and enhanced; • Guiding workshops 6 pedagogical workshops were conducted in different regions, guided by 13 of the leading teachers. Guiding workshops contributes to the knowledge, self-confidence and professional development of the workshop-teachers.

18. Results and Discussion (cont.) • Creating CS leadership • Contribute to the community by supplying answers to pool of questions and transferring an existing laboratory collection from JAVA to C#. • In one workshop, the leading teachers voluntarily double the workshop length. • Most of the leading teachers were active members in the Object Based System Design web-forum

19. Results and Discussion (cont.) • Factors affecting the course • The experience of guiding workshops; • The direct connections between the leading teachers and the team; • The existence of a support group among the leading teachers.

20. Conclusions • Before the course, the teachers were mainly interested in enhancing their own knowledge. • The course process led them to an understanding of the need for leading teachers. • They realized that they can serve as the needed professional CS leadership. • The subjective interest in the course had changed during the process to a communal one.

21. Conclusions (cont.) • The following factors can explain at least some of the achievements: • Social interaction between the teachers themselves; • Close interaction with the team developing the unit; • Practical experience in guiding pedagogical workshops for leading teacher colleagues.

22. Thank You!