Google, St. Scholastica team up to provide free online training to teachers

DULUTH, MN - With the support of Google, this summer The College of St. Scholastica will offer free online training to high school and middle school teachers who want to better incorporate computer science into their classrooms.

CS4HS (Computer Science for High School) is an initiative sponsored by Google to promote computer science and computational thinking in high school and middle school curricula. With a grant from Google's Education Group, St. Scholastica professors will lead a free online workshop in July on how to incorporate Android App Inventor in their curricula. App Inventor was developed to allow those without a programming background to easily create cell phone apps.

CS4HS will be facilitated by Chery Takkunen, associate professor in the School of Education, and Jennifer Rosato, assistant professor in the Computer Science Department.  

Participants will have the option to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or complete a follow-up project to receive graduate education credits.

The workshop's goals are to create a network of teachers interested in computing education, to share best practices for computing in 5-12th grades including inclusive pedagogy for underrepresented groups, and to empower teachers to advocate for computing education in their schools. CS4HS is appropriate to teachers in many different subject areas, as the content can be used to support other standards besides technology.

The free workshop will run from the week of June 30 throughout the week of July 28. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis and is limited. Call (218) 723-7052 or go to http://css.edu/cs4hs.

Many leaders in government, technology and business cite the importance of strengthening computer science in schools. President Obama has spoken about the need, as does this video from code.org.

 The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that computing jobs are among the fastest growing occupations, with more than 150,000 job openings available annually.  Of the "STEM" (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs available in 2020, over half will be in computing.

The College of St. Scholastica is regularly recognized as one of the finest colleges in the Midwest. The 2013 "America's Best Colleges" survey by U.S. News & World Report magazine ranks St. Scholastica in the top tier of Midwestern universities.