Originally published for the University of Washington’s AccessComputing spring 2019 newsletter.
A big thank you to the AccessComputing group for enabling me to attend the CSforALL SCRIPT (Strategic CSforALL Resource & Implementation Planning Tool) Symposium at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California from January 14 – 17. I got to learn about what schools and states are doing to improve K-12 computer science education.
The workshop was aimed at school districts, state departments of education, and partner organizations to help get computer science education into every K-12 school. I shared my work starting an after school computer club at the South Carolina School for the Blind. I hope that with the tools I learned at the symposium, I can expand our offerings, either during the school day or as part of after school activities.
During the symposium, I led a breakout session about including students with disabilities in computer science education. The program stimulated some interesting questions and conversations from participants. Some reported that they had never previously thought about including students with disabilities as a target demographic for inclusion. I think it would be ideal if all the districts and states were required to participate in a diversity inclusion session.
I also met and collaborated with 150 education leaders from 14 states. I hope that my message of participation by students with disabilities in computer science will impact someone down the road. If it does, then I have served my purpose, which is to make it easier for students to get an accessible education.
For further reading, check out the CSforALL and the SCRIPT Symposium websites.
