Introduction
Advanced Placement (AP) is one year course in which the college board gives two exams in computer science to students in high school9namely (A&AB).the division between computer science A and AB, A is part of the content of AB. Computer science A deals with programming in object-oriented methodology with attention on solving problems and development of an algorithms and is as the first semester of a course level. All that is covered in A are covered to the extent in AB which has more like a binary tree that is not found in A. (Sooriamurthi 2004, 1)
Goals of the Jett Workshthe op
The start of academic year 2003 and 2004 examinations, advanced placement computer science from C++ to Java curriculum-based.
Most of the programming course introductory were Java object-oriented. High school teachers in computer science were assisted with this change to java from C++ the College Board together with ACM introduced JETT (Java engagement for teacher training). The goals of JETT were to offer high-class pedagogically-oriented workshops and Java resources for computer science high school teachers held by the university. JETT offered an online Java repository posted by ACM and was first offered by the University of Indiana to high school computer science teachers (Sooriamurthi 2004, 2)
Information Technology is a course that changes rapidly. High school IT departments are isolated and small. The JETT workshops wanted to deal with gender gap as women are misrepresented at all IT levels. Teachers were to get a learning experience in IT related fields at Indiana university e.g. information systems, computer science, informatics, information science, and library (Sooriamurthi 2004, 3)
Structure of Workshop
Indiana University is divided in four departments in research and pedagogically, namely computer science, library, information systems, and information science. The workshop consisted of: introduction to Java and foundation classes, data structures, and algorithm.
How to Teach: Issues, Styles and Tips
Teachers were to be shown teaching techniques and issues pertaining Java, how to help their students understand and know their weaknesses and how to handle those challenges.
Where are all the Women?
One of the important themes to be discussed at the workshop was to know why women are not much in the IT field. How to recruit women and be retained in the computer courses. Labs are to be decorated with role models (women and men) in IT fields.
Showcasing Research Initiatives
Research initiatives are supposed to be showcased by Java information visualization, by using library Java software with resources being available online. In the strength of women in computing, on the first day evening of the workshop, a one-hour movie was screened. It was based on a documentary in the IT field by Charles Babbage and Add Byron shows her role in computing more than a hundred years (Sooriamurthi 2004, 4)
Personal Reflection from the Jett Workshop
Each presenter was asked at the the end of workshop to share their personal views from the JETT with more discussion and filming of the event.
Lessons Learned and Future
During the JETT workshop, the organizers also learned not only the participant. The participants were overwhelmed and requested the organizer to hold a long workshop during the summer. The organizers were in the process of getting funding for an even event. The issues that arose during the workshop of importance to the university are: conducting two similar tracks one at a basic level and one at transition level for everyone to be actively involved. They did not only came to learn how to teach object-oriented and java in AP class but also established other sessions on teaching styles, educational recreation, gender issues to be a useful match(Sooriamurthi 2004, 6)
Reference List
Sooriamurthi R. (2004). Java Engagement for Teacher Training: An Experience Report. Savannah: Georgia Printing Press