Last week, the NSF brought together leaders of the CS10K effort to discuss potential online supports for teachers and students in computer science. Though the concept of “blended learning” is not new for either student learning or professional development, the boom of the current market working to leverage online computer science learning to “reach” large numbers of students is undeniable.
As participants at this meeting noted, there are differences in educational objectives when designing and teaching in dynamic, high-quality learning communities and when merely providing a one-directional “content delivery” of concepts without much attention to actual learning. We should not conflate issues of delivery platforms with those of good instructional design.
By the end of the meeting, I was convinced that online learning communities have great potential to support and extend professional learning, but ideally after teachers have an initial opportunity to participate in face-to-face professional development. This initial face-to-face experience builds the foundation for a trusting learning community amongst participants before transitioning to online interactions.
The CS10K Community of Practice, an online professional community for Exploring Computer Science and CS Principles teachers, offers a dynamic example of this type of online environment that seeks to build upon, not supplant, face-to-face professional development for teachers. Though only in its first year, the iterative efforts of this online space have been impressive. A slideshow of impact can be seen here:
http://cs10kcommunity.org/resources/cs10k-community-progress-plans-possibilities
What do you think? What possibilities can you imagine for creating online learning spaces for computer science teachers?
Joanna Goode
CSTA Equity Chair