It's mini-course time again! Last year I called it Computer Science and Games: Not Just For Boys!, but this year I modified the title just a little bit, as per a suggestion I received in my comments a while back. The new title loses the negative, becoming Computer Science and Games: Just For Girls!
I'm four days in, which means there's only one day left. We'll be spending tomorrow in the lab, finishing up the students' games. We will also be going on a tour of Carleton's engineering building with some other female mini-course participants, and having a free pizza lunch with volunteer scientists and engineers.
I have many observations about this year's mini-course, but for now, I am happy to announce that my course material is now available in a more accessible format. Instead of a zip file you have to download, I have put it all online as its own series of web pages. There are links to all the videos we used in class (since the slides are published as PDF's in this online version), as well as links to the open source software I mentioned in class, the CS Unplugged activities I used, and other books and web sites of interest.
Check it out, and please feel free to use my materials for your own purposes - just give credit where credit is due. I would also love to hear what you are up to, so comment here or email me about it! (gail.banaszkiewicz, gmail).
Great notes! I clickied all the way through the introduction and love how you invited the girls to say why they were interested in comp sci, and how you showed them how it works with so many other fields, and how you showed pictures of role model women in this field. Programs like yours will attract more young women into our field for sure!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's really great to hear this kind of feedback :)
ReplyDelete