The six-week WeTeach_CS Certification Preparation course begins June 14 and allows educators to participate from the convenience of their own desktop, free of charge. Designed for teachers who have prior experience in programming or coding, the course covers key topics across software design and development, programming language, and technology applications. Once educators complete the course, they are eligible to take the certification test to teach computer science to grades 8-12.
To drive incentives for teachers, the Texas Regional Collaboratives will award a $1,000 stipend on a first-come, first-served basis to teachers who have successfully passed the test and applied for their certification. Funding for the generous stipends come from grants from the 100Kin10 and Texas Education Agency organizations.
Interest in the course has skyrocketed since it was announced, as 750 teachers have already signed up; however, considering the lack of available resources like this for existing teachers, it’s no surprise that demand is so high. Case in point: the Center for STEM Education saw teachers from rural areas travelling up to 500 miles to Austin to take similar face-to-face training courses on the weekends.
As Carol Fletcher, deputy director of the Center for STEM Education at the University of Texas at Austin pointed out, computer science professional development is becoming critical to our nation’s sustainability.
“By 2020, it’s predicted there will be 1 million more computer jobs than people to fill them in the U.S.,” she said. “If you look at STEM jobs, I see numbers between 60-70 percent related to a computer. If we don’t find a way to expose more students early on to coding and programming and computational thinking, we will never fill that pipeline to eventual computer science careers.”
Fletcher noted that the certification preparation course is a great way to fill the need for professional development in a way that supports teachers.
“The access and the fact that they can do it online from home over the summer is really appealing, and the fact that it’s free is really appealing,” she said. “Teachers don’t get a raise when they take on additional responsibilities or courses. They don’t ever get rewarded for going above and beyond. It’s a way of saying thank you for taking the additional effort.”
As a way to encourage ongoing learning for computer science teachers, the University of Texas Center for STEM Education also offers a WeTeach_CS Summit, which brings together technology experts, resources and organizations.
While the University of Texas Center for STEM Education is the leader in computer science education throughout Texas, officials expect other states across the nation to quickly follow suit.
“We’re part of a national network called ECEP [Expanding Computing Education Pathways] with 11 states involved,” Fletcher said. “We’re already having conversations about what we’re doing in terms of certifications.”
