IT-oLogy to Participate in National Code.org Program
July 9, 2014
COLUMBIA, SC – IT-oLogy has been selected by Code.org as the South Carolina Affiliate for the national code.org affiliate program. IT-oLogy is among approximately 100 Affiliates nationwide.
IT-oLogy staff will attend a summit this summer to prepare for local workshops as part of a 2014-2015 pilot program. The program is a nationwide program focused on preparing elementary school teachers to teach a newly developed curriculum in computing which includes three bands of courses for elementary: Course 1: for early-readers, ages 4-6; Course 2: for beginners, ages 6+; Course 3: for ages 6+.
These experiences blend online, self-guided and self-paced tutorials with “unplugged” activities – lessons that teach computing concepts without a computer. Each level consists of about 20 lessons that may be implemented as one contiguous unit or one lesson a week for a semester. Each lesson may be implemented within a standard 45-50 minute class period.
IT-oLogy will be offering free, one day workshops to K-5 teachers in South Carolina starting in the fall of 2014. The workshops are open to both general classroom teachers and content-area teachers (librarians, tech-ed teachers, etc). For more information contact Alicia Thibaudet [email protected].
Did You Know:
Computer science is driving job growth and innovation throughout our economy and society. More than half of projected jobs in STEM fields are in computing occupations; these occupations dominate “help wanted” ads; and computer science is one of the hottest degrees for new college graduates. Despite this, computer science education is marginalized throughout our K-12 education system— denying access to this critical knowledge, particularly among underrepresented groups. In fact, only 22 states and the District of Columbia allow rigorous and engaging computer science courses to satisfy a math or science requirement for graduation from high school.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts one in every two STEM jobs in the country will be in computing occupations, with more than 150,000 job openings annually making it one of the fastest growing occupations in the United States. And these jobs pay 75 percent more than the national median annual salary. Finally the breadth of industries requiring computing professionals is diverse — two-thirds of computing jobs are in sectors other than information technology, including manufacturing, defense, health care, finance, and government.
Computer science is a top paying college degree and computer programming jobs are growing at 2x the national average.
Nine out of 10 schools don’t even offer computer programming.
In 2012, fewer than 3,000 African American and Hispanic students took the AP Computer Science exam.
Exposure to CS leads to some of the best paying jobs in the world, but 75% of our population is unrepresented.
In 28 of the 50 states, computer science can’t even count towards high school graduation math or science requirements.
While 57% of bachelor’s degrees are earned by women, just 12% of computer science degrees are awarded to women.
Less than 2.4 percent of college students graduate with a degree in computer science and the numbers have dropped since the last decade.
About IT-oLogy®
IT-oLogy is a non-profit collaboration of businesses, academic institutions, and other organizations dedicated to growing the IT talent pipeline and advancing the IT profession. IT-oLogy has three major initiatives: Promote IT (K-12 schools), Teach IT (Higher Education) and Grow IT (Professionals and Businesses). For more information about IT-oLogy, visit www.it-ology.org or contact Rachel Barnett at [email protected] or 803-354-5735. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
About Code.org®
Code.org® is a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science by making it available in more schools, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color. Our vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer programming. We believe computer science should be part of the core curriculum in education, alongside other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra.
