K-5 Professional Development
Nextech is excited to help bring computer science to K-5 students throughout the state of Indiana through exciting and innovative 1-day professional development workshops.. These programs are designed for inservice teachers who are being asked to teach the Indiana computer science standards and are either unfamiliar with the content or unsure of what to do next.
At Nextech, our goal is to remove every single barrier to teaching computer science for teachers, schools, and districts. Because of this, all of our programs are offered at no cost to schools/districts.
The following are the VIRTUAL professional opportunities available:
Overview
Code.org’s Computer Science Fundamentals is a curriculum designed for K-5. Each course (one per grade level) has about 15 lessons that may be implemented as one unit or over the course of a semester. Students create computer programs that will help them learn to collaborate with others, develop problem-solving skills, and persist through difficult tasks. They will study programming concepts, computational thinking, digital citizenship, and develop interactive games or stories they can share. Code.org’s Computer Science Fundamentals is for students (and teachers) new to Computer Science. Each course (A-F) begins with a grade appropriate entry point and structured ramp up concepts. The progression of courses builds on each other to ensure continuing students learn new things. Learn more here.
Nextech offers this 3-module (2 virtual sessions and 1 self-paced module) virtual option for the Computer Science Fundamentals course. The workshop will provide an intro to computer science, pedagogy, overview of the online curriculum, teacher dashboard, and strategies for teaching “unplugged” classroom activities. Workshops will prepare teachers to teach the Code Studio courses for grades K-5.
Eligibility and Pre-Requisites
This workshop is for K-5 Computer Science Teachers, Media/Library Specialists, Resource/Tech Teachers, and General Education classroom teachers.
Workshop Details
- Length: Please note for all of these VIRTUAL workshops: Workshops are offered in different ways, some are a single day, and some are spread out over multiple days. All workshops will have two 2-hour zoom meetings with approximately 2-4 hours of asynchronous work to complete in between.
- Cost: $0
- Stipend: yes, workshops hosted between December 14, 2020 – July 31, 2021 are eligible for a $100 Amazon gift card payable upon completion of workshop and submitting final form. More information found here.
Overview
The CS Fundamentals Deep Dive workshop is a great opportunity to collaborate with other K-5 teachers that have been working on bringing computer science to their students. We like to think of the Deep Dive workshop as “a conversation between friends about what is working really well in your CS lessons and where you might be having issues getting things to click (either for yourself or the students).”
These workshops are a similar time format to the CS Fundamentals Intro workshops (two virtual meetings, 2 hours/each, and a series of online tasks to complete in between) where we help to strengthen your understanding and execution of the CS Fundamentals curriculum.
Eligibility and Pre-Requisites
This workshop is for K-5 Computer Science Teachers, Media/Library Specialists, Resource/Tech Teachers, and General Education classroom teachers that have already begun bringing computer science to their classrooms.
Workshop Details
- Length: Please note for all of these VIRTUAL workshops: Workshops are offered in different ways, some are a single day, and some are spread out over multiple days. All workshops will have two 2-hour zoom meetings with approximately 2-4 hours of asynchronous work to complete in between.
- Cost: $0
- Stipend: yes, workshops hosted between December 14, 2020 – July 31, 2021 are eligible for a $100 Amazon gift card payable upon completion of workshop and submitting final form. More information found here.
Overview
This past school year many students learned remotely from home, but how many of them truly understood the implications of digital citizenship prior to being thrown into navigating this world of eLearning? Now, more than ever, it is important we give our elementary students a solid foundation to understand digital citizenship and how to be a good citizen in our online world.
This workshop takes the digital citizenship curriculum you are currently using in your school (or teaches you about available resources) and helps you connect the content to the Indiana computer science standards to ensure your students are getting even more computer science in your classroom. At the end of the workshop, teachers will have a cohesive plan of how to adequately bring computer science into their digital citizenship lessons and help their students be good digital leaders of the future!
Eligibility and Pre-Requisites
This workshop is for K-5 Computer Science Teachers, Media/Library Specialists, Resource/Tech Teachers, and General Education classroom teachers.
Workshop Details
- Length:1-Day virtual workshop with zoom meetings and asynchronous work
- Cost: $0
- Stipend: yes, workshops hosted between December 14, 2020 – July 31, 2021 are eligible for a $100 Amazon gift card payable upon completion of workshop and submitting final form. More information found here.
Overview
Are you wondering how to integrate more computer science into your other subjects? Ever caught thinking about how to use the new found Code.org programming skills in cross-curricular projects? Look no further! This workshop will explore Code.org’s “Create” labs (sprite lab, artist, app lab, and game lab) and demonstrate how to integrate using them in other subjects to heighten your classroom projects.
By the end of the workshop, teachers will be prepared to include Code.org’s “Create” labs into a variety of their classroom projects while also ensuring they hit Indiana’s computer science standards through cross-curricular projects.
Eligibility and Pre-Requisites
This workshop is for K-5 Computer Science Teachers, Media/Library Specialists, Resource/Tech Teachers, and General Education classroom teachers who are familiar with Code.org’s CS Fundamentals or CS Discoveries curriculum.
Workshop Details
- Length:1-Day virtual workshop with zoom meetings and asynchronous work
- Cost: $0
- Stipend: yes, workshops hosted between December 14, 2020 – July 31, 2021 are eligible for a $100 Amazon gift card payable upon completion of workshop and submitting final form. More information found here.
- Dates: Tuesday, June 29, 9:00-4:00PM EST
Overview
Did you know artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere?! It’s also in your classroom. This workshop will explore how to add AI to your computer science lesson and as well as integrate learning about AI and hitting the Indiana CS Standards through non-CS lesson plans.
By the end of the workshop, teachers will have a strong understanding of how AI integrates into the Indiana CS standards and how to adequately bring dedicated AI content to their students.
Eligibility and Pre-Requisites
This workshop is for K-5 Computer Science Teachers, Media/Library Specialists, Resource/Tech Teachers, and General Education classroom teachers.
Workshop Details
- Length:1-Day virtual workshop with zoom meetings and asynchronous work
- Cost: $0
- Stipend: yes, workshops hosted between December 14, 2020 – July 31, 2021 are eligible for a $100 Amazon gift card payable upon completion of workshop and submitting final form. More information found here.
- Dates:
