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. Only a privileged class understands and creates a critical part of our world. If we want to reach the original and more general goal, we have to change how we teach computing and support alternative end-points for computing education. In this talk, I review the history of “computer science” and its earlier purpose. I describe and demonstrate new kinds of languages, approaches, and courses that broaden accessibility to computing education.

Bio: 
Mark Guzdial is a Professor in Computer Science & Engineering and the Director of the Program in Computing for the Arts and Sciences (PCAS) in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan. He studies how people learn computing and how to improve that process, with a particular focus on students using programming to learn something other than CS. He was one of the founding leads on the NSF alliance “Expanding Computing Education Pathways" which helped US states improve and broaden their 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.” He received the 2019 ACM SIGCSE Outstanding Contributions to Education award.