The Open University of Israel
Software Design Course for Leading CS In-service Teachers
Ofra [email protected]
Tamar [email protected]
The Open University of Israel
The High School CS Curriculum
The Israel’s high school curriculum was designed between 1990-1993 and implemented in 1995
Rapid changes in CS curriculum
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The Israeli CS High School Curriculum
The CS curriculum has two versions: 5-points, 3-points.
Each point represents 90 class hours.
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The Israel’s High School CS Curriculum (cont.)
3-units: Fundamentals 1 Fundamentals 2 Several alternatives for different
paradigm 5-units:
The above 3-units Software design Several alternatives such as:
computational models, Computer Systems and Assembly Language etc.
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The Israel’s High School CS Curriculum (cont.)
The three units: Fundamentals 1, Fundamentals 2 and software design moved from procedural approach to OOP;
This talk deals with one aspect of this change, relating to the software design unit.
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Object Based Software Design Unit
The Goals To present the principles of a systematic
approach to programming;
To teach basic concepts of complexity; To develop abstract thinking;
To teach how to define data structures and abstract data types;
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Leading Teachers
The goals of the leading teachers course are:
To enhance the participants’ understanding of new topics and materials;
To strengthen the group as a professional community;
To foster leadership growth.
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Object Based Software Design Course for Leading Teachers
112 hours; Prerequisites:
In-service teachers; Previous knowledge of Java or C#; To teach the unit during the current
year; To agree to guide a regional workshop.
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THE STUDY
We accompanied the leading teachers
course by ongoing qualitative research
in order to estimate the extent to which
the team's goals for the course were
achieved.
The research questions refer to the course
goals and to the team’s expectations.
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THE STUDYResearch Questions
1. Did the leading teachers gain an enhanced understanding of the unit contents?
2. Did we succeed in training the leading teachers to guide and direct regional pedagogical workshops for their peers?
3. Did the course succeed in creating a professional leadership of CS teachers who feel responsible to the CS teachers' community?
4. What factors in the course structure affected, positively or negatively, the fulfillment of the team's expectations?
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Research Population
The research population consisted of 25
teachers:
• 17 teachers (68%) had a B.A. or B.Sc. in CS
• 6 teachers (24%) had a B.Sc. in other sciences
• Only 2 (8%) had a B.A. in other, non-scientific,
disciplines.
17 teachers had a second degree (M.A. or
M.Sc.) in various disciplines, such as CS,
Education and others.
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Teachers' previous knowledge of Java and C#
Knowledge of C# Knowledge of Java
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Research Instruments Questionnaire no.1- The course participants were asked to
complete a questionnaire before they started the course. The
questionnaire contained questions about their background
and their expectations of the course.
Questionnaire no.2- Another questionnaire was handed to the
teachers at the beginning of the summer seminar, which
ended the leading teachers course. This questionnaire
focused on their attitudes and understanding of the concept
of a leading teacher.
Two discussions - about the participants perceived benefits
and achievements from the course, at the beginning and the
end of the summer seminar. Those discussions were recorded
by audiotape and later transcribed.
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The First Categorical System
From the first questionnaire, we collected 59 quotes, grouped similar quotes and then divided the leading teachers’ expectations into three main categories:
• the individual aspect
• the social aspect
• the community aspectThese categories were divided again into sub-categories.
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The First Categorical System
CategoriesSub-categories
Individual aspect (33)
Content enrichment (16)
Extending and developing the questions pool (4)Didactic enrichment (13)
Social aspect (13)Psychological support group (2)
Content support group (11)
Community aspect (13)
Contribution to the community (8)Influencing the content of the software design unit (5)
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The Second Categorical System
CategoriesSub-categories
Individual aspect (11)
Content enrichment (9)
Extending and developing the questions pool (0)Didactic enrichment (2)
Social aspect (17)Psychological support group (11)Content support group (6)
Community aspect (34)
Contribution to the community (27)Influencing the content of the software design unit (7)
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Results and Discussion Enhanced understanding of the unit
contents The leading teacher’s feeling at the end of
the course was that their knowledge was extended and enhanced;
Guiding workshops 6 pedagogical workshops were conducted
in different regions, guided by 13 of the leading teachers. Guiding workshops contributes to the knowledge, self-confidence and professional development of the workshop-teachers.
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Results and Discussion (cont.)
Creating CS leadership1. Contribute to the community by
supplying answers to pool of questions and transferring an existing laboratory collection from JAVA to C#.
2. In one workshop, the leading teachers voluntarily double the workshop length.
3. Most of the leading teachers were active members in the Object Based System Design web-forum
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Results and Discussion (cont.)
Factors affecting the course1. The experience of guiding workshops;2. The direct connections between the
leading teachers and the team;3. The existence of a support group
among the leading teachers.
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Conclusions
Before the course, the teachers were mainly interested in enhancing their own knowledge.
The course process led them to an understanding of the need for leading teachers.
They realized that they can serve as the needed professional CS leadership.
The subjective interest in the course had changed during the process to a communal one.
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Conclusions (cont.)
The following factors can explain at least some of the achievements:
Social interaction between the teachers themselves;
Close interaction with the team developing the unit;
Practical experience in guiding pedagogical workshops for leading teacher colleagues.
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Thank You!Thank You!