2020-2021 Academic Year

September 2020 | Message from Cassandra Broneak, Research Associate at NCCSE

Hello Teachers,

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, NCCSE has moved the student assent and parent/guardian consent forms for the Mobile CSP and CSAwesome programs online to the Qualtrics platform. This shift in processes will allow students and parents/guardians to complete and submit the forms online thereby cutting down on the amount of paperwork passed between students and instructors. Teachers are responsible for distributing the permission form link to students. A template email message for collecting the forms can be found here. We hope that this shift cuts down on the amount of work for instructors as they will not long need to collect the forms and upload to a provided Google folder. More information about this change can be found here: Consent and Assent Forms.

Best,

Cassandra Broneak

cbroneak@css.edu

2019-2020 Academic Year

March 31, 2020 | Message from Cassandra Broneak, Research Associate at NCCSE

Hello Teachers,

NOTE: Please reference the original email for full information. Original email message was customized for Mobile CSP & CSAwesome projects.

This message includes important updates about your role in the National Center for Computer Science Education (NCCSE)'s Mobile CSP and/or CSAwesome research project. Please read the entirety of this message.

The NCCSE Team has been discussing how and if the research aspects of our projects can and should continue, and if continuing, what steps we can take to mitigate additional stress or work from participating given recent events surrounding COVID-19. In this difficult time and always, your and your students' well-being is our top priority. Below we have included updates about how student and teacher participation in our research projects has been impacted and steps that you as educators and as participants in our research study can take.

Student Participation in Research

Teachers know their students and their school environments the best. Given the fact that many schools have closed, we understand that teachers may not be able to issue electronic homework to students or that some students may find completing assessments during this time stressful.

For these reasons, each teacher should decide whether or not they will issue the final exam and survey to their students during the 2019-2020 academic year. If you decide to administer either the final exam or survey, you may distribute the assessment link and the unique tokens to each student as they are already available in the spreadsheets. We have compiled some resources below to aid in these efforts.

If you decide not to or if you are unable to issue the exam or the survey, let us know by contacting mobilecsp@css.edu (Mobile CSP) or csawesome@css.edu (CSAwesome) so we may update our records.

We would really appreciate if you and your students filled out the survey to give us feedback about the course.

Reminders for educators:

• Participation in the final exam and survey for research purposes is always voluntary | Student participation in the final exam and survey is completely voluntary as outlined in the permission forms (Mobile CSP) students completed. This means that students can choose not to participate in either for research purposes and cannot be penalized. While you can encourage students to complete these we cannot force them to participate.

• We encourage you to carefully consider whether or not to count the final exam as a course grade | Each school is in a different situation, where some may not be able to teach additional content, others are still meeting regularly, etc. and you should select what is right for your context. The exam does cover content from all units, so if your class did not cover all units it is likely not applicable. If you do want to use an assessment for the units you have completed, we encourage you to create your own using the unit assessments spreadsheet to create a custom exam. If teachers do decide to issue the electronic final exam to their class, the NCCSE Team will grade these for you and distribute the grades to you in a similar fashion to how the midterm was completed. However, given recent events, we strongly encourage teachers NOT to use the results from the final exam or survey as a course grade.

• Please issue the post-survey to your students | We ask that you please make an effort to distribute the student surveys, even if you do not administer the final exam. We use the information from the surveys to directly inform changes that we make to our curriculum and program. We would really appreciate if you and your students filled out the survey to give us feedback about the course.

Resources for Issuing Exam and Survey:

• MailMerge Template for Your Gradebook -- Includes a how-to use mail merge for distributing the assessment links and student's unique tokens via email with a template email message. Feel free to use the included template to guide communications if you choose to manually send emails.

Teacher Participation in Research

A reminder that we typically ask teachers to complete an end of course survey. We use your feedback to make changes to our professional development and curriculum. Your feedback is valuable and appreciated. Please take the time to complete the survey.

If your school has closed early and you would like to participate in the survey now, please let us know and we will send you an email. If we do not hear from you you will receive a request to participate in the survey mid-May to early-June. Your participation is voluntary.

Thank you for all you do. May you, your family, your students, and your community be healthy.

Best,

Cassandra Broneak

cbroneak@css.edu

March 20, 2020 | Message from Jennifer Rosato, Director of NCCSE

Dear Community Members,

All of us at the National Center for Computer Science Education (NCCSE) are so impressed by the teachers in our community and your dedication to providing the best possible experience for your students in these uncertain times!

Today, we are writing in response to the recent email from the College Board about Advanced Placement exams this year. The College Board’s update can also be found here.

NCCSE projects include curricula and professional development for Advanced Placement computer science courses including Mobile CSP and CSAwesome. In response to the College Board’s update, we have prepared some resources to support you and your students as you adjust to the new, remote AP exams for 2020. This document includes general resources for distance learning as well as specific information on adjusting to the new CSP and CSA exam formats for this year.

While the details for the AP CSP exam are now clearer, the College Board will provide more information for the AP CS A exam by April 3rd. In addition to the resource document, we will be hosting a webinar to provide guidance and answer questions from Mobile CSP teachers on Tuesday, March 24th at 3 pm CT/4 pm ET/1 pm PT. Connection details are in the resource document. A webinar to support CSAwesome teachers will be scheduled after the College Board finalizes the exam format.

We know you are working diligently to help your students be successful in these courses and we are here to help you help them. Please reach out to us with questions or concerns via the forums or at info@mobile-csp.org or info@csawesome.org.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Rosato

jrosato@css.edu

March 16, 2020 | Message from Jennifer Rosato, Director of NCCSE

Dear Community Members,

On behalf of the National Center for Computer Science Education (NCCSE), we hope that all of the teachers, educators, and students within our community are all well and safe during this time of uncertainty. As many of you begin, or have already begun, dealing with responses to COVID-19, including school closures and/or switching to online teaching, we want you to know that the NCCSE remains committed to supporting you in any way that we can.

The National Center for Computer Science Education champions, researches, and provides equitable computer science education opportunities for K16 students and educators. Our projects include curricula and professional development for Advanced Placement computer science courses including Mobile Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) and CSAwesome (AP CS A). For teachers that are teaching AP CSP and/or AP CSA using our curricula, you should have received an email from the College Board in response to your concerns. For your reference, the College Board’s response can also be found here. AP CSP teachers, if you have lost instructional days that have or will impact your students’ completion and submission of the Performance Tasks, you can request extensions for portfolio submission deadlines, by contacting AP Services for Educators by email at apexams@info.collegeboard.org or by phone at +1-877-274-6474.

In addition to the College Board’s response, we are preparing a list of resources, activity suggestions, and online teaching tips that can be used to help those who will be delivering accessible online instruction for the next couple of weeks. In particular, we will look to identify resources to support students that may be most vulnerable and struggle with online learning. Because we believe CS is for ALL students, it is critical that we don't leave behind students without computers or Internet or even just the familiarity of using those resources at home. We also know that it takes additional considerations to support students with learning and physical differences - the same is true for the online learning environment.

The power of Mobile CSP and CSAwesome, though, is the strength we draw from our community. Let's use this as an opportunity to leverage our community's strengths and support each other.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Rosato

jrosato@css.edu

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I am a teacher whose class was participating in the 2019-2020 research project. Am I required to issue the final exam and post survey to my students?

A: No, you are not required to issue any assessments to your students and students are not required to take the final exam or complete the survey. Given recent events, we understand that teachers and students may choose not to or may be unable to participate in our end of year assessments. We encourage teachers to issue these to your students but it is not required.

Q: My school has closed. How can I issue the final exam and survey to my students?

A: We have created resources and templates (shared below) to help teachers email assessment links and tokens to their students. Teachers who choose to issue the final exam and/or survey are responsible for distributing the link and token/password to students.

Q: I issued the final exam. How will I receive my grades?

A: We will use the same process as we have in the past for distributing grades. Exams will be graded every Tuesday and Thursday. Scoring and grading information will be updated in your assigned Gradebook on these days. You will receive an email once information is available. You can learn more here: Issuing Assessments.

Q: Why is NCCSE advising that I do not use the 2019-2020 results from the final exam as a course grade?

A: NCCSE is strongly advising teachers who choose to issue the final exam NOT to count the grade from the exam as a course grade. Here are some of the main reasons why we are making this recommendation:

1. Some students may not have any or unreliable internet access. The lack of reliable internet access can impact student's ability to effectively complete the exam which could potentially impact the score they receive on the exam.

2. Some students may feel additional stress during the pandemic. Additional stress can impact student performance which could potentially impact the score they receive on the exam and may not be an accurate reflection of their true knowledge and ability.

3. Completing the final exam for research purposes is completely voluntary. Students are reminded of the fact that the assessment is voluntary at the beginning of the exam. Students may not realize that the exam is being scored as a course grade and therefore may not spend as much time on the assessment as they normally would.

If you have questions about our recommendation not to use the final exam as a course grade, please contact us at mobilecsp@css.edu (Mobile CSP) or csawesome@css.edu (CSAwesome).

Q: How will NCCSE use results from the 2019-2020 final exam and post-course survey given the COVID-19 outbreak?

A: More than likely we will not use the results for dissemination, however, we may use student results and feedback to inform curriculum changes or updates and our internal decisions.