We are excited to share a new CSTA+ member benefit: free and exclusive access to our online PD course pilot program! 

As you prepare for the school year, we offer a new way to gain knowledge and skills aligned to the CSTA Standards for CS Teachers. Our asynchronous online PD courses provide a flexible, deep learning experience that you can complete at your own pace – from about an hour per week or an entire course in a day. Course content includes meaningful and interactive activities focused on application to your CS classroom (i.e., you’ll do more than just read and watch). Plus, you will experience asynchronous collaboration with other CS educators as you both give and get feedback and exchange ideas.

Summer 2022 course offerings include:

Identity Inclusion for K-12 Computer Science Educators provides a foundational understanding of one’s self, the impact one has on others, and ways to foster safe and inclusive CS learning environments. 

In about 10 hours, you will:

  1. Get to know yourself and how your intersectionality translates to privilege/marginalization.
  2. Explore the race construct and examine the cycle of oppression.
  3. Reflect on race perspectives and facilitate safe conversations.
  4. Combat implicit biases and promote inclusivity.

Teach Security: The Security Mindset helps high school teachers introduce important cybersecurity principles in their CS classrooms. It provides full lessons with hands-on, inquiry-based activities that allow students to explore core cybersecurity issues for themselves. 

In about 4 hours, you will:

  1. Prepare to teach five activities on threat modeling to introduce “the security mindset” and an overarching framework for cybersecurity.
  2. Preview lessons on key security concepts like authentication and social engineering.

 

These two courses will launch Wednesday, July 20, and will run for 10 weeks, through Sept. 25.  Our pilot courses are privately authored in Coursera (in collaboration with UC San Diego) and are not publicly searchable or accessible. CSTA+ members will receive exclusive, free access. 

How to Get Started: This Wednesday, July 20, you will receive two-course invitations (one per course) from CSTA Pilot on Coursera (no-reply@t.mail.coursera.org). Simply click the Join Group button in the message to join the specific course(s) you are interested in. You’ll receive a certificate documenting the number of hours of professional learning upon course completion.

We hope you are as excited about this new benefit as we are. And the good news is that it doesn’t stop here; look out for additional offerings and opportunities to complete online PD throughout the year. Reach out to membership@csteachers.org if you don’t see your invitations or have feedback regarding the online PD.