Implementing Collaborative Learning in Computer Science Classes

Return to Mohammad Hamza

Welcome to my mini-course! Please use this introductory page to explore the course and gain a brief understanding of what you can expect from participating in my course.

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Overview and Purpose

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Needs Assessment

High school computer science classes might not be doing an adequate job in preparing computer science students for future careers in the field due to a lack of effective collaborative activities in these classes. As I have experienced in my own classroom, in the computer science classrooms of my peers as well as observations within other district schools, students are not gaining meaningful collaboration skills from their computer science classes. This creates a problem with these students being underprepared for careers (or further education in the field) relating to computer science where working with others is a key aspect of the job. These underprepared students will struggle to succeed in environments where they are expected to work in teams and produce results.

Performance Objectives

As a result of their participation in the course, participants will be able to:

1) Differentiate between effective and ineffective collaborative activities and strategies for beneficial outcomes in computer science classes.

2) Apply the knowledge gained from this mini-course to design and integrate collaborative activities and strategies in their own computer science classes.

3) Reflect on how their chosen or designed activities or strategies worked and if they can be improved to yield better results.

4) Understand that collaboration in computer science classes is necessary and requires strategic implementation to be most effective both short term and long term.

Course Units

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Unit 1: xxx

Brief overview

Unit 2: xxx

Brief Overview

Unit 3: xxx

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Extended Resources

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