Nextech is excited to announce our immersive professional development opportunities for the summer of 2021. These programs are designed for:
At Nextech, our goal is to remove every single barrier to teaching computer science for teachers, schools, and districts.
The following are the professional opportunities available next school year.
Applications for CS Discoveries and CS Principles are now open.
The Code.org Computer Science Discoveries (CS Discoveries) course is an introductory computer science course that empowers students to create authentic artifacts and engage with computer science as a medium for creativity, communication, problem solving, and fun. CS Discoveries is appropriate for 6 - 10th grade students and can be taught as a semester or year-long introductory course (3-5 hours per week of instruction for 9+ weeks). The course takes a wide lens on computer science by covering topics such as programming, physical computing, HTML/CSS, and data. The course inspires students as they build their own websites, apps, games, and physical computing devices.
The CS Discoveries program offers year-round support. It kicks off with a 5-day summer workshop where you'll have an opportunity to work hands-on with the curriculum and meet other teachers from your area. Throughout the year, we offer online support for upcoming units, forum support, and 1-day quarterly workshops. You don't need any prior computer science experience to get started. And teachers love it! 90% rank it the best professional development ever.
As the Indiana Code.org Regional Partner, Nextech facilitates professional development activities for all of the Code.org curriculum, including Computer Science Discoveries, Computer Science Principles and Computer Science Fundamentals. Since launching in 2015, Nextech has provided professional development for over 1500 teachers across the state of Indiana. We are on the forefront of the statewide #CSforIN movement, and we’d love to have you as a future partner teacher.
To learn more about the Nextech program including commitments, stipends, and more, review this document.
This workshop is for middle and high school teachers. To attend, you must be committed to teaching the Code.org CS Discoveries curriculum (either as a quarter, semester, or full-year course) in the 2021-22 school year.
Applications for CS Discoveries are now open.
Code.org Computer Science Principles introduces students to the foundational concepts of computer science and challenges them to explore how computing and technology can impact the world. More than a traditional introduction to programming, it is a rigorous, engaging, and approachable course that explores many of the foundational ideas of computing so all students understand how these concepts are transforming the world we live in. The course covers many topics including the Internet, Big Data and Privacy, and Programming and Algorithms. This year-long course can be taught as an AP or non-AP course - no prerequisites required for students or for teachers. Code.org is recognized by the College Board of curriculum and professional development for AP® Computer Science Principles. Using an endorsed provider affords schools access to resources including an AP CS Principles syllabus pre-approved by the College Board’s AP Course Audit, and officially recognized professional development that prepares teachers to teach this course.
The program offers year-round support. It kicks off with a 5-day summer workshop where you'll have an opportunity to work hands-on with the curriculum and meet other teachers from your area. Throughout the year, we offer online support for upcoming units, forum support, and 1-day quarterly workshops.
To learn more about the Nextech program including commitments, stipends, and more, review this document.
This workshop is for high school teachers committed to teaching either AP Computer Science Principles or Computer Science I in Indiana, using the Code.org CS Principles curriculum, in the 2021-22 school year.
Applications for CS Principles are now open.
The CS Discoveries and CS Principles Expanded Learning Program (ELP) is a two and a half day, summer professional development experience created by a collective of Midwest Code.org Regional Partners. During this program, educators who previously participated in a CS Discoveries or CS Principles Professional Learning Program will deepen their computer science pedagogy, explore additional facets of the CSD or CSP curriculum, reinforce their understanding, expand their confidence, and build community.
On the first day, teachers will join a community of educators sharing like-implementations to expand their pedagogy and understanding of the Code.org curriculum. The second day will be a series of self-selected breakout sessions led by peer educators exploring a lesson, unit, or teaching practice. On the third morning, a series of unconference sessions will be facilitated to allow small groups to continue to expand their learning in the topics that are most relevant to their professional development.
Teachers from Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin who have previously participated in a year-long professional learning program for Code.org CS Discoveries or Code.org CS Principles from 2016-2020 are eligible to attend.
Are you excited to share your experiences teaching Code.org CS Discoveries or CS Principles? We are looking for conference presenters that want to share how they have expanded or adapted the Code.org curriculum materials. These sessions should provide educators with an insight of how you approach particular lessons/units and how they might incorporate your strategies. Each session is 50 minutes long and can be facilitated by 1-2 presenters.
Examples of Conference Proposals:
Proposal Application: Link for Proposals
Nextech is excited to partner with the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin and their renowned WeTeach_CS program to bring the WeTeach_CS Certification Prep to Indiana teachers.
WeTeach_CS Certification Prep will develop educator competencies necessary to become certified in Computer Science. This course will prepare teachers to take the (068) Computer Science CORE Assessment for Indiana licensure. This test is the redeveloped (013) Computer Education test and will be launched in the fall of 2020.
This license addition is one-way is necessary to teach courses such as Computer Science I, II or III, AP Computer Science A and can be used to teach Introduction to Computer Science and Computer Science Principles. For details about what you can teach with your Indiana license, go here.
Course instructors will address several competencies in depth and link attendees to additional resources that will help to prepare them to challenge the CS license addition test.
Eligible Attendees – Teachers interested in becoming certified to teach Computer Science in Indiana are eligible to attend. Attendees should have at least some prior experience in coding or programming to maximize their participation in this workshop.
This workshop is intended for 9-12 teachers; K-8 teachers will be accepted based on availability.
Though the Computer Science Indiana CORE Assessment is a PK-12 license addition, this test prep course is intended for Indiana 9-12 teachers.
Any Indiana teacher interested in becoming certified to teach Computer Science is eligible to attend. Attendees should have at least some prior experience in coding or programming to maximize their participation in this workshop. Teachers that are scheduled to teach a CS course in high school in the 2021-22 school year will be prioritized.
The purpose of this course is to support teachers as they work to make their CS courses more inclusive and diverse. The course is divided up into six modules and includes topics such as:
Since the content addresses sensitive topics on equity, diversity, inclusion, prejudice, and social justice, the course makes use of a combination of online content and activities, interactive discussion boards, and supplemental live virtual zoom meetings with your own Professional Learning Cohort. This creates opportunities to share thoughts, feedback, and constructive criticism in a format that is most comfortable for you. Further, the course uses "in the field" activities, such as classroom observation and practical implementation, to enhance the learning experience and ensure your ability to apply the concepts and techniques throughout the course. Each participant will complete the course by producing a working action plan as culmination of the learning experience.To learn more about this course including time commitments and more, review this page.
CSAwesome is a College Board AP CS A curriculum to teach Java programming. The free curriculum follows the 2019 College Board AP CSA units and learning objectives. CSAwesome is an official College Board endorsed curriculum and professional development provider for AP CSA.
We recommend that all teachers interested in using the CSAwesome curriculum and materials (i.e. the Runestone e-book, a complete set of lesson plans, and additional teacher resources) undergo professional development (PD). The PD is structured to support beginner and experienced CS A/Java programming educators so they are able to successfully implement the curriculum during the academic year. The PD includes content and knowledge training and support from an experienced Master Teacher throughout the PD and academic year.
CSAwesome begins with two weeks of online asynchronous Java training facilitated by a master teacher. Participants will then attend the one week virtual workshop with their Indiana cohort.
This workshop is intended for educators teaching Computer Science III: Cybersecurity (5253) or interested in learning more about “what’s next?” for their students after Computer Science II. Over the course of 3 days, educators will learn about Cyber.org's year-long Cybersecurity course (teacher guide here) where they will learn about the 136 individual lessons and the PowerPoint presentations and labs associated with each.
This workshop is only for 9-12 teachers.
This workshop is open to Indiana high school teachers that are teaching Cybersecurity as a stand-alone course in the 2020-21 school year or teachers who are integrating cybersecurity into their existing high school curriculum.
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