We will now turn our attention to computing education in the UK, and other countries in the world. You’ll read about how computing education in the UK was shaken up in 2012 when the Royal Society published a damning report about the state of computing education and whether the situation had improved five years later when they reviewed it again. You’ll also research what computing education is like in another country, and think of your own solutions to improving CS Education.
- Read the executive summary and recommendations from the Royal Society After the Reboot Report. If you have time, read the full report. Are you aware of any changes since this report was written in 2017?
- Research the computing curriculum in a country of your choice. It can be anywhere you like, as long as it is not in the UK or the country where you were educated.
- Write a summary of what you find and post it to the discussion board. You should write about: which country you picked and why; when children first learn about computing in that country; whether it is formally written into the curriculum or whether it is an optional extra; whether they can study for a formal computing qualification; how you think computing education in the country is different to what you learned about computing education in Scotland.
- Read and comment on the summaries of the other students. If you happen to have experience of the school system they are describing, tell them about your experiences.
- Think about what you have learned about the state of computing education in the UK and your experiences of working in Scottish schools so far. Are there good practices in other countries which we could adopt? Discuss this with your classmates. Write a paragraph for a letter to Scottish Government about “how to make CS education better in Scotland”. (You can do this jointly with a friend if you like). Post the paragraph to the discussion board for this week or on your learning log.
Class slides are here