Carlis Memorial Lecture: Changing Computing To Make It “For All”

The John V. Carlis Memorial Lecture is dedicated to the advancement of education and inclusion in the field of computing.

This year's speaker is Mark Guzdial from the University of Michigan, giving a talk titled "Changing Computing To Make It “For All."

Abstract

The term “computer science” was invented as something that should be taught to everyone in order to facilitate learning other subjects and to reduce the danger of having this powerful new technology controlled by only a few. Computing education has not become the democratizing force imagined in the 1960’s. Today, computer science has a narrow definition, and only a privileged few understand and create a critical part of our world. If we wanted to reach the original and more general goal, we would have to change how we teach computing — and maybe even change computing. In this talk, I review the history of “computer science” and its earlier purpose, consider the barriers to reaching universal computational literacy, then describe and demonstrate new kinds of languages, tools, and approaches for learning and teaching computing for everyone.

Biography

Mark Guzdial is a Professor in Computer Science & Engineering and Director of the Program in Computing for the Arts and Sciences at the University of Michigan. He studies how people come to understand computing and how to make that more effective. He was one of the founders of the International Computing Education Research conference. He was a lead on the NSF alliance “Expanding Computing Education Pathways" which helped US states improve and broaden their computing education. He invented and has written several books on the “Media Computation” contextualized approach to computing education. With his wife and colleague, Barbara Ericson, he received the 2010 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator award.  He is an ACM Distinguished Educator and a Fellow of the ACM. His most recent book is Learner-Centered Design of Computing Education: Research on Computing for Everyone (Morgan & Claypool, 2015). He received the 2019 ACM SIGCSE Outstanding Contributions to Education award.

Start date
Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, 11:15 a.m.
End date
Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, 12:15 p.m.
Location

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