Building Indiana Computing Capacity (IC2) For Preservice Computer Science Education

About

Building Capacity for Indiana Preservice Computer Science Education (BCPCS) is a grant-funded project led by Drs. Anne Leftwich, Thomas Brush, Kyungbin Kwon, Cindy Hmelo-Silver, and Susan Drumm at Indiana University Bloomington, partnering with Nextech.org and the Indiana Department of Education. The project aims to enhance and strengthen the impact of Indiana computer science learning opportunities for Indiana PK-12 students. BCPCS provides opportunities for preservice and in-service teachers to increase their computer science pedagogical knowledge and increase their understanding of and ability to implement authentic problem-solving using computing to address or improve systems and circumstances in local communities.

Our Goals

1. Identify the needs of current Indiana preservice CS education.
   We developed a needs assessment questionnaire, which is intended to review how Indiana preservice CS educators incorporate CS into their teacher education program. The results will assist us with determining the needs of elementary education faculty in Indiana when it comes to integrating CS standards/content into their curricula.
2. Provide professional CS learning community (PLC) for Indiana preservice CS educators
   We invite Indiana Elementary Education programs faculty members to join dynamic and collaborative meetings aimed at shaping the future of CS education for our preservice teachers. Each semester, we hold a professional summit that gathers teacher educators to engage in insightful discussions, share innovative ideas, and collectively chart a course toward providing comprehensive CS education to our future educators. The collaboration will help us shape the direction of our CS education preparation programs. This semester, we are providing opportunities for preservice teacher educators to join our CS Cohort Spring 2024 to advance computer science education in elementary teacher preparation programs.
3. Providing professional development opportunities for Indiana preservice education programs
   BCPCS and Nextech.org offer preservice educator preparation programs across the state an opportunity for workshops at their location for their students and local teachers. Because of our generous partners, including the Indiana Department of Education, we are able to offer workshops at the site for educators at no cost, including a stipend for the workshop organizer and incentives for attendees.

Here is a list of our available professional development options. Detailed descriptions can be accessed through our professional development options in the Curriculum Resources section.

• CSforSocialGood
• Primary AI
• Rethinking Circle Time
• AI Goes Rural
• Introduction to CS (for preservice teachers)
• Data Science in Education
• org CS Fundamentals
• Unpacking the Updated Indiana CS Standards
• Integrating CS in your 6-8 Classroom
• Integrating CS in your K-8 Classroom Using Digital Citizenship
• Integrating CS in your K-8 Classroom Using Artificial Intelligence

If you have any questions or are interested in providing CS PD to your preservice teachers, feel free to reach out Dr. Susan Drumm (sdrumm@iu.edu).

Current progress 

In Fall 2023, the BCPCS team visited six schools and conducted 14 professional development sessions. The PDs impacted over 250 preservice teachers with the support of 9 faculty members from the K-6 preservice teacher training programs in Indiana.

Next step

Next semester, we will continue providing PD opportunities and visiting teacher training programs in Indiana. In addition, we will initiate a professional CS learning community for teacher educators and provide PDs through personalized CSPD week. We aim to support teacher educators in creating high-quality, locally adaptable CS curriculum units that meet the needs of individual teacher educators and share the outcomes with the CS professional learning community.

Curriculum Resources