TAG Workshops

  TAG workshop activities – provide teachers with state-of-the-art
    materials, pedagogy, and practices to

• Attract more and diverse students to high school and college computing programs

• Learn how to influence the perceptions of students, parents, guidance counselors, administrators, and other teachers on the importance of their courses and the opportunities they provide

• Share strategies, practices, and good ideas for teaching computer science

• Explore activities for gaining the interest of all students

• Interact with national experts on teaching and diversity practices

• Form a network of like-minded people for ongoing curriculum discussion and development

  Available support for organizing and running a workshop

  Testimonials

• “ In my twenty-two years of teaching, your workshop was the most beneficial in addressing my needs [as] an educator. ...The number of female students.... increased by 50% ” ‒ 2009 participant

• “After completing course selection we have enough students for the first time in four years to run an AP level Computer Science.” ‒ 2008 participant

• After trying active recruiting for the first time, one teacher enrolled 64 students in his CS AP course and noted it was “by far the biggest I have taught in AP”. More students wanted to take the course but he had to turn them away due to space constraints. At the same time, the gender composition of his class rose from his typical 12% girls to 31% girls. Another indication of this teacher’s effectiveness with his female students is that three of the girls from his class won this year’s regional NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Awards, a competitive honor granted by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). ‒ 2009 participant

  Sample outcomes

• 100% actively try to recruit girls and minority students into their computing classes

• 86% succeeded in recruiting girls into their computing classes

• 81% succeeded in recruiting minority students into their computing classes

• 85% succeeded in recruiting more students into their computing classes

  Questions and next steps

  Sponsors

• University of Virginia Department of Computer Science

• University of Virginia Department of Science, Technology, & Society

• University of Texas, at Austin

• NCWIT — National Center for Women & IT

• CSTA —Computer Science Teachers Association

• National Science Foundation BPC grant 0739254

  Previous workshops

2012	University of Virginia Tapestry 2012 Workshop Department of Computer Science Charlottesville, VA June 26 – 28, 2012   University of Pennsylvania Tapestry 2012 Workshop Department of Computer Science University of Pennsylvania July 11 – 13, 2012 Philadelphia, PA North Carolina State University Tapestry 2012 Workshop North Carolina State University Department of Computer Science Raleigh, NC July 18 – 20, 2012 University of Nebraska Tapestry 2012 Workshop Department of Computer Science Lincoln, NE July 23 – 25, 2012 Michigan State University & Oakland Universty Tapestry 2012 Workshop Departments of Computer Science East Lansing, MI August 1 – 3, 2012 College of Saint Scholastica Tapestry 2012 Workshop Department of Computer Science Duluth, MN August 6 – 8, 2012
2011	University of Virginia Tapestry 2011 Workshop Department of Computer Science June 27 – 29, 2011 Charlottesville, VA Tennessee Tech Tapestry 2011 Workshop Department of Computer Science July 5 – 7, 2011 Cookeville, TN UDo.CS at University of Delaware 2011 Workshop Department of Computer and Information Sciences July 26 – 28, 2011 Newark, DE
2010	University of Virginia Tapestry 2010 Workshop Department of Computer Science July 6 – 8, 2010 Charlottesville, VA
2009	University of Virginia Tapestry 2009 Workshop Department of Computer Science July 14 – 16, 2009 Charlottesville, VA
2008	University of Virginia Tapestry 2008 Workshop Department of Computer Science July 8 – 10, 2008 Charlottesville, VA