At the end of the year, it is customary to reflect upon what has been accomplished during the year. Since it is near that time I thought it might be a good time to reflect upon some of the things that CSTA as an organization has accomplished.
CSTA chapters are growing and continue to support CSTA members locally. Chapters are meeting regularly and planning meetings that are pertinent to their members. The CSTA Leadership Cohort has been instrumental in developing strong chapters. The number of chapters has increased this year as well as membership in CSTA.
In July, CS & IT, CSTA’s annual conference, showed a strong attendance even in the face of tough economic times. With assistance from Google, Microsoft Research and Anita Borg Institute, teachers had many excellent workshops to choose from. In fact, many teachers asked for the symposium to be extended to two days. The planning for next year’s event is well under way and it will be a three-day conference. If you have expertise to share, I encourage you to submit a proposal. Submittal information is on the CSTA website at:
http://csta.acm.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/sub/CSITSymposiaSite.html
CS Education Week, which is celebrated during the first full week in December, was very successful. The Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine and CSTA created 5 short videos that could be used during morning announcements or in individual classrooms to highlight the many opportunities computer science provides. CSTA also made available an audio announcement that could be used for schools that do not have video capabilities. One additional resource was a sports poster that CSTA made available to its membership which was also designed to draw attention to computer science.
I have only touched on a few of the accomplishments of our organization. None of this could have been successful without the leadership of our executive director, Chris Stephenson, and the many others that have devoted their time to each of these activities. This is the time to say thank you to all of those who have contributed to this organization and its accomplishments. But there is still more to do. We need to continue to work toward advocacy for computer science. For ideas about what you can do, read Shemeka Shufford’s recent blog posted on December 22.
Myra Deister
CSTA Board Member