In this interview with Ashley Waring, we discuss Ashley’s experiences with integrating CS in the classroom, lessons learned providing professional development for new-to-CS educators, what Ashley learned helping write Alabama’s CS standards and providing support after the rollout, language and oppression in standards development, why focusing on a college degree as an end goal might not be as important as focusing on lifelong learning, and more.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

00:59 An introduction by Ashley

01:12 How Ashley got into CS education

04:47 Why do so many people dabble in CS and then drop it after a while?

06:34 How did Ashley learn CS?

07:43 Something Ashley initially believed about education that no longer believes

09:41 Something that Ashley is good at

11:09 What does an ideal CS environment look like?

12:25 How does Ashley help teachers realize that?

13:31 Advice for educators to learn more about CS

14:22 What Ashley learned working on standards

16:58 When are standards a form of colonization?

22:38 Recommendations for improving equity and inclusion in CS education

32:00 What is holding back educators and what can we do about it?

32:57 How Ashley practices/iterates on her abilities as an educator

37:18 How Ashley tries to prevent burnout

39:16 What Ashley wishes there was more research on

40:33 How to connect with Ashley

41:04 Outro