The Changing Face of Computing Education
Speaker
Paul Tymann
Institute
Visiting Erskine Fellow at University of Canterbury, Professor of the Computer Science Department at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), USA
Time & Place
Tue, 22 Nov 2016 10:00:00 NZDT in Erskine 315.
Abstract
The rapid pace of technological change and the integration of computing in virtually every discipline are causing changes in computing curricula across the United States. Students are being introduced to basic computing concepts earlier in their educational careers, and are being taught using pedagogies that differ from those used in traditional university settings. This talk will discuss some of the factors that are affecting computing education, and how the United States government and computing educators in the United States are responding. Much of the work being done in the United States in computing education has been focused at the high school level, however in a few short years this work will have a significant impact on computing education at the university level. The talk will conclude with a discussion of what higher education needs to do now in order to be ready for the next generation of students that it will be educating.
Biography
Paul Tymann is Professor and former Chair of the Computer Science Department at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Prior to joining RIT in July 1997, Tymann started his academic career as a member of the computer science faculty at the State University of New York at Oswego in 1987. He served as a Program Director in the Division of Undergraduate Education in the Education and Human Resources Directorate (EHR/DUE) at the National Science Foundation for three years starting in 2013. Tymann has been involved in computer science education at the high school level and served as the co-Chair of AP Computer Science Development Committee from 2011 until 2015, and has been serving as the Chief Reader for the AP Computer Science Principles Exam since 2014. He served as Vice Chair of ACM’s Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education, served as symposium co-chair for the SIGCSE technical symposium in 2006 and 2013, and is a member of ACM Education Council. Tymann has written textbooks on software development, bioinformatics, and a breadth-first overview of computer science. His research interests include CS education, bioinformatics, and high-performance computing. He enjoys teaching internationally and has taught at the University of Zimbabwe, and at the University of Osnabrück in Germany.