Bridging the Computer Science K-12 Education Gap by Integrating Conventional Materials with an Immersive Virtual Environment

摘要

To address the national issue and urgent need for Computer Science Education in K-12 school systems, a new graduate certificate program is described. The graduate certificate in Computer Science Education at North Dakota State University is completely online and offered during the summer session in order to accommodate in-service teachers aiming to cross-train from other STEM teaching assignments into Computer Science. The second course in the required certificate sequence is described in detail. CS642: Problem Solving in Computer Science Education takes a novel approach to online course delivery. In addition to the traditional materials (textbook, slide-show style presentations, portfolios, online quizzes), the course is integrated with an Immersive Virtual Environment for Education named the MOO-based Education Platform (MEP). Details of this implementation are provided.