Computer Science Receives Grant to Offer Class to Aid Teachers
JONESBORO – Arkansas State University’s Department of Computer Science has received a portion of a $34,685 Google grant that will fund an online computer science course to support educators interested in learning to teach high school computer science in Arkansas. The grant is a part of Google’s CS4HS initiative from which 27 institutions received grants in the United States and 107 worldwide.
A four-hour course (CS 2114) is being offered to over 50 teachers in the spring of 2018. Eighteen of these teachers will receive scholarships for tuition funded by Google. The course will help teachers obtain credit and add-on licensure for teaching computer science.
A-State’s share of the grant is $15,300 and will provide the $850 tuition fee per person for the participating teachers. Any tuition and fees beyond that amount will be paid by the individual.
"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to engage teachers as learners through this program,” said Daniel Moix, director of Coding Arkansas’ Future, at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and Arts (ASMSA). “We will also be growing the next generation of computer science education leaders at the same time. Three Arkansas teachers who learned to teach computer science through the Coding Arkansas' Future program will be mentoring participants next year."
Moix completed advanced education leadership curriculum degrees at Arkansas State through the online degree programs and is affiliated with ASMSA.
Chair of A-State's Department of Computer Science Dr. Hung-Chi Su added, "Our department is pleased to be a part of making young people in our region aware of educational and vocational opportunities in computer science at an earlier age, and the teachers participating in this opportunity will be able to do just that."
Dr. Edward Hammerand, associate professor of computer science, will teach the online course to support teacher development in computer science, and Moix will implement a separate professional development and training program outside of the college credit option.
