Exploring careers while learning Alice 3D: a summer camp for middle school girls
Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
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Indiana University/Purdue University (IUPUI) with the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) and Course Technology co-sponsored a "Tech Camp" for secondary school teachers. Many teachers were inconsistent in the level and breadth of technology education presented to their students. Many were not teaching state-of-the-art technology due to a lack of funding and training. Others simply did not know "what" to teach. Thus, a means had to be found to bring teachers up to speed with both hardware and software related to teaching technology, as well as acquainting them with college-level expectations.The following plan resulted from meetings, informal conversations, and surveys of both Indiana educators and businesses: IUPUI would host the Tech Camp. Secondary teachers with limited time would attend for one week during the summer. First, three tracks of instruction were created to run concurrently: Office Applications, Web Technologies, and Computer Programming. Second, to enhance and certify the participants' training, MOUS certification would be held on-site, to add value to the participants' work during the week. Third, to enable the teachers to use this training effectively in their high school classes, IUPUI articulation credit would be negotiated for high school students. IUPUI would contribute the labs and instructors. IDOE would handle publicity and CRU credit. Course Technology would contribute books and a guest author.This qualitative paper describes the process of putting together a tech camp, attracting sponsors, advertising, and choosing topics. In the summer of 2002, IUPUI hosted 75 high school teachers who attended classes for a week, led by professors and authors. Attendees received training, books, snacks, and software -- for a total charge of only $75.00!Success was measured by participants completing the training, summative assessment, articulation agreements, and MOUS certifications. A positive by-product was a closer cooperation between high school and higher education, and public relations for the university.