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10th Annual Educational Technology Conf 11/15/19

The 10th Annual WPU Educational Technology Conference
Supporting the Development of Computational Thinking Skills
for All Learners

Event Program

In our ever-evolving technological world, supporting students’ development of computational thinking at an early age is critical. This year’s conference addresses key aspects of computational thinking and how this skill-set can be fostered in preK-12 classrooms. Conference participants will gain knowledge and competencies for integrating computational thinking and coding activities into their preK-12 classrooms.

Program Chairs: Dr. Heejung An & Dr. Pei-Lin Weng

8:30 am – 9:00 am: Registration, Breakfast
9:00 am – 10:20 am: Concurrent Session I

▪ Beyond Coding: Applying Computational Thinking through Making (ROOM) By Dr. Diallo Sessoms, Salisbury University
Target audience: Elementary teachers

Computational thinking is a set of skills that can be used across a variety of disciplines and has a growing presence in classroom as teachers integrate technology. Many educators already teach skills associated with computational thinking. In this learning experience, participants will identify where computational thinking already exists in their teaching and explore the components of computational thinking. Making is fundamental to makerspaces and is a convenient venue to explore computational thinking . Using maker activities, participants will create while using computational thinking skills and expand. The convergence of computational thinking and makerspaces will inspire participants to start making with computational thinking in their classrooms. The concepts in this learning experience can be modified and scaled for any level of K-12.

▪ Introduction to AI Robot Programming with Calypso (ROOM) By Dr. David Touretzky, Carnegie Mellon University; Jason Huang, ReadyAI Inc.; Dr. Amy Eguchi, Bloomfield College

Target audience: : Teachers in grades 3-12

Calypso is an intelligent robot programming framework for the Cozmo robot by Anki. Calypso gives students hands-on experience with real artificial intelligence tools, including computer vision (object recognition, face recognition, and emotion detection), speech recognition and generation, path planning, object manipulation, and landmark-based navigation. Calypso's pattern matching rule-based formalism offers a different take on computation than procedural languages such as Scratch or Python. This workshop will introduce attendees to Calypso and the Cozmo robot and show how teaching the "Laws of Calypso" can help students learn to reason about programs. Prior robotics experience is not required.

▪ Introducing Computational Thinking with Dash and Dot (ROOM) By Denise Post and Melissa VanWingerden, New Providence School District.

Target audience:

K–3 TeachersIn this workshop, teachers will get an introduction to Wonder Workshop’s Blockly App and Dash & Dot Robots. Participants will experience lessons that will teach students algorithmic design, pattern recognition, and how to decompose a problem in order to find a solution. The lessons are based on Wonder Workshop’s 2015 coding challenge where students will send Dash into outer space. This challenge has been adapted to fit the abilities of students who have just begun learning to code.

▪ Computational Thinking with Drones By Amy Mercado, Unity Charter School Target audience: K–8 teachers
Manipulatives are commonly used with young learners to help them explore computational thinking in concrete ways. Drones can be an important manipulative for K-8 classroom settings. Participants will use BeeBots and Sphero Drones to explore coding, computational thinking and developmentally appropriate practice.

▪ Code.org and Computational Thinking (ROOM)
By Steven Lahullier, Ed. D., Technology Teacher, Robert Gordon School

Target audience:
This workshop will demonstrate the effectiveness of the code.org curriculum at improving computational thinking skills among fifth-grade students. The effectiveness was determined by a study conducted in the Fall of 2018 in a suburban public school district in New Jersey. Quantitative and qualitative results relating to the effectiveness of code.org will be discussed. Recommendations will be provided for teachers to bring back to their schools for measuring computational thinking skills and suggesting appropriate curricular options for improving computational thinking skills among students.

10:20 am – 10:25 am: Break
10:25 am – 10:30 am: Introductory Remarks (Valley Auditorium)

Dr. Amy Ginsberg, Dean, College of Education, William Paterson University
10:30 am – 11:45 am: Keynote Address (Valley Auditorium) By Dr. Joshua Koen, Executive Director for Educational Technology & Computer Science, Office of Teaching & Learning, Newark Board of Education
TITLE: {ABSTRACT}

11:45 pm – 12:25 pm: Lunch
12:25 pm – 1:45 pm: Concurrent Session II

▪ Taking it to the Next Level: Using Cue to Advance Computational Skills (ROOM)
By Denise Post and Melissa VanWingerden, New Providence School District
Target audience: 4–8 teachers

Do your students love Dash but are ready for more of a challenge? Join us in meeting Cue and learning what he is capable of. In this workshop teachers will be lead through a lesson where they will use Wonder Workshop’s Cue App and Robot to create variables and functions that direct Cue to draw complex geometric shapes.

▪ Introduction to AI Robot Programming with Calypso (ROOM) By Dr. David Touretzky, Carnegie Mellon University; Jason Huang, ReadyAI Inc.; Dr. Amy Eguchi, Bloomfield College

Target audience:
Calypso is an intelligent robot programming framework for the Cozmo robot by Anki. Calypso gives students hands-on experience with real artificial intelligence tools, including computer vision (object recognition, face recognition, and emotion detection), speech recognition and generation, path planning, object manipulation, and landmark-based navigation. Calypso's pattern matching rule-based formalism offers a different take on computation than procedural languages such as Scratch or Python. This workshop will introduce attendees to Calypso and the Cozmo robot and show how teaching the "Laws of Calypso" can help students learn to reason about programs. Prior robotics experience is not required.

▪ Beyond Coding: Applying Computational Thinking through Making (ROOM) By Dr. Diallo Sessoms, Salisbury University

Target audience: Elementary teachers

Computational thinking is a set of skills that can be used across a variety of disciplines and has a growing presence in classroom as teachers integrate technology. Many educators already teach skills associated with computational thinking. In this learning experience, participants will identify where computational thinking already exists in their teaching and explore the components of computational thinking. Making is fundamental to makerspaces and is a convenient venue to explore computational thinking . Using maker activities, participants will create while using computational thinking skills and expand. The convergence of computational thinking and makerspaces will inspire participants to start making with computational thinking in their classrooms. The concepts in this learning experience can be modified and scaled for any level of K-12.

▪ Teaching Computational Thinking Skills for Pre-K Children (ROOM) By Dr. Pei-Lin Weng, William Paterson University

Target audience: Pre–K teachers

Computational thinking involves analyzing problems and expressing solutions that can be understood by a computer. Computational thinking is fundamental to coding and should be fostered from a young age. In this workshop, we will introduce the four pillars of computational thinking: (a) decomposition, (b) pattern recognition, (c) data representation and abstraction, and (d) algorithms. Participants will practice creating age-appropriate activities/games that promote the development of these four computational thinking skills for preschool and kindergarten children. We will also discuss how to assess and select commercially available coding products/games for young children.

1:45 pm – 1:50 pm: Break 1:50 pm – 3:10 pm: Concurrent Session III

▪ Supporting Development of Computational Thinking with Coding in Scratch (ROOM) By Dr. Heejung An, William Paterson University

Target audience: Teachers in grades 4–8

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to several ways in which computational thinking can be taught while coding in the Scratch environment. Participants will first learn how to break down a big problem into smaller sub-problems and to arrange them in an appropriate sequence. Before using Scratch, participants will explain, in their own words, what steps are needed to perform a task.

▪ Computational Thinking with Drones By Amy Mercado, Unity Charter School

Target audience: K–8 teachers

Manipulatives are commonly used with young learners to help them explore computational thinking in concrete ways. Drones can be an important manipulative for K-8 classroom settings. Participants will use BeeBots and Sphero Drones to explore coding, computational thinking and developmentally appropriate practice.

▪ A Deeper Look at Calypso (ROOM) By Dr. David Touretzky, Carnegie Mellon University; Jason Huang, ReadyAI Inc.; Dr. Amy Eguchi , Bloomfield College

Target audience: Anyone who took the “Introduction to AI Robot Programming with Calyps”

This workshop is a sequel to "Introduction to AI Robot Programming with Calypso" in which we'll delve deeper into the Calypso language and how it helps teach computational thinking. We'll cover the Calypso idiom catalog, the relationship between the Laws of Calypso and the idioms, subtleties of the Fourth Law and the "and then..." operator, how Calypso helps students learn state machine programming, and use of the map layout editor to design robot environments. ▪ Code.org and Computational Thinking (ROOM)

By Steven Lahullier, Ed. D., Technology Teacher, Robert Gordon School

This workshop will demonstrate the effectiveness of the code.org curriculum at improving computational thinking skills among fifth-grade students. The effectiveness was determined by a study conducted in the Fall of 2018 in a suburban public school district in New Jersey. Quantitative and qualitative results relating to the effectiveness of code.org will be discussed. Recommendations will be provided for teachers to bring back to their schools for measuring computational thinking skills and suggesting appropriate curricular options for improving computational thinking skills among students.

- Participants will receive 6.5 Professional Development Hours - Contact information: Alma Diaz, diaz6@wpunj.edu -

Location: 1600 Valley Road

                Wayne, NJ 07470

If you are registering for the conferences and plan to pay by using a purchase order from your school, please use a Purchase order form.

Instructor :
Dates : 11/15/19
Days : Fri
From : 8:30 AM - 3:10pm
Fee : $ 99.00
Course Number : E050B

Class is unavailable at this time please call 973-720-2354 for more information or other course options

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