First launched in 2013, the CS10K Community website provides a platform for online and blended CS10K professional learning and collaboration. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) is in the planning phase for the site’s redesign and launch in 2015 and is recruiting CS10K teachers to participate in focus groups to help guide this process.
Goals
The goals of the next-generation platform for the CS10K community are to respond to former and emerging community needs and embrace cutting edge technologies. Specifically, AIR seeks to:
Improve the site’s usability by:
upgrading to a more architecturally robust content management system
employing responsive design to improve the site’s accessibility by mobile devices
refining the taxonomy with which site content is classified and searched
Improve the site’s utility by refining existing and integrating new features such as:
more sophisticated video functionality
a wider range of online collaboration (e.g.,GoogleDrive, Piazza) and social media (e.g., Twitter, SlideShare, social sign-on) tools commonly used by CS10K teachers
more robust online course delivery systems (e.g., OpenEdX) and online meeting technology (e.g., Adobe Connect) to better support synchronous and time-bound events
permission-driven online discussions
incorporation of micro-credentialing and gamification mechanisms, such as digital badges and leaderboards
online assessment capabilities developed by SRI International’s Principled Assessment of Computational Thinking(PACT) project
Improve the site’s visual appeal by developing the community’s visual identity (or brand) such as a new logo and color scheme to be applied to online and print materials
Your Opinions, Please!
AIR would like the preferences, needs, concerns and suggestions of new and veteran CS10K teachers to inform the design of the new website. We will hold three teacher focus groups, conducted virtually via Adobe Connect, on:
Wednesday, November 19, 7:00 – 8:00PM ET
Wednesday, November 19, 8:30 – 9:30PM ET
Monday, December 1, 8:00 – 9:00PM ET
Wednesday, December 3, 8:00 - 9:00PM ET
If you are willing to participate in one of these focus groups, please complete this short interest survey by 4PM ET, on Friday, November 21. Focus group participants will be randomly selected from this interest pool to ensure a diverse sample (e.g., representation from all CS10K projects, computer science teaching experience). November focus group participants will be notified of their selection by 5PM ET, on Tuesday, November 18. December focus group participants will be notified of their selection by 5PM ET, on Friday, November 21. All participants will receive a $15 gift certificate.
