Heading to UMBC for Computing Education Summit

On May 17, I am going to be attending a summit for computing education in Maryland at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).  Rick Adrion and I are going to talk about the efforts in Massachusetts and Georgia, and elsewhere through ECEP.  I’m looking forward to it (but observant readers will note that I’m traveling to Maryland the day after returning from Denmark!).

On Friday, May 17, 2013, CE21-Maryland will host a Summit for Computing Education at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) campus in Catonsville, Maryland. We invite teachers, administrators, legislators, industry leaders, and others who have an interest in expanding computer science in high school or middle school to attend. Space is limited to 150 people.

At this summit, the attendees will:

1. Learn more about computer science high school education across the state of Maryland.

2. Network with others with an interest in computer science education.

3. Exchange strategies with other education professionals.

4. Plan with others to help expand student interest and to increase the number and diversity of students studying computer science in Maryland.

Workshop on integrating professional practice into the engineering curriculum

Hot topic these days, like the debate in the UK.  Workshop to be held in conjunction with ASEE in Atlanta June 26-28.

A primary objective of undergraduate computing and engineering programs is to prepare graduates for professional practice. New graduates often find themselves working on large, complex systems that require dozens (or hundreds) of people and months (or years) to complete. Unfortunately, graduates often feel ill-prepared to work on systems of such size and complexity. Educators find it extremely difficult to provide a realistic experience with such systems in an academic environment.

Engineering and computing curricula primarily rely on a senior design course (one or two semesters in length) to teach professional practice. Students are typically organized in project teams to develop a realistic product or service, in which the students engage in various professional practices: such as project management, requirements analysis and modeling, highlevel and detailed design, implementation or simulation, quality assurance, project reporting, and use of appropriate engineering tools and methods.