Hi everyone - thanks for viewing our video! For many, this past year has been incredibly challenging. While many problems were already prevalent in our education, healthcare, and justice systems, 2020 brought them to light and forced society to look at them. Our video highlights how Constellations pivoted during the pandemic to continue supporting our amazing partner teachers and provide exceptional professional development opportunities to educators around the world. We also launched our first podcast, VOICES for Social Justice - a monthly podcast that features conversations with experts on issues like privacy, supporting the Latinx community in STEM, the current state of the American education system, and more. All of these projects have been difficult, but incredibly rewarding and full of hard lessons learned.

What is something you learned in 2020?

P.S. if you want to subscribe to VOICES, it's available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. You can learn more about it at http://constellations.gatech.edu/voices-social-...

Hi Allie: So great to see how your Center was able to support teachers during the pandemic and 2020. Have there been lessons learned from your work with Atlanta teachers about how best to support CS students to continue to learn through remote /hybrid learning and/or during social upheavals? 

Hi-

As a teacher involved in math and CS education, I’d like to hear more about the professional development you provided to teachers. What kinds of support were teachers looking for? And how did you provide it? I'm also curious to know how your experience with your first virtual summit last year has informed your plans for this upcoming summit this summer.

Hi Lien and Allie--Thanks for a really nice video, and I am pleased to hear about your Voices podcast series.  Do you think that some of the podcasts might be useful for teachers in the classroom?  I would love to hear some voices of inspiring people who have "made it" in computing--perhaps starting with your Dean, Charles Isbell, and the many successful alumni of the Georgia Tech College of Computing.    

Hi Marion,

That's a great idea! We haven't had a specific episode where we talk about how guests have "made it" but we have a line up of guests that have shared their experiences as CS educators managing challenges with the pandemic and social justice matters. Their perspectives are usually focused on how to best support students to get through it all. I think the podcast would absolutely be suitable for students depending on the topic(s) being discussed in the classroom. For example, we have an episode where information about Technolochicas is being discussed. Leveraging Latinx female techies in sharing their stories with young students is super important. They can then "see themselves" as belonging in the field. 

Perhaps we could put together a teacher guide for the sessions that make the most sense for K-12 classrooms. We also have videos of Georgia Tech students from underrepresented groups talking about why they went into CS and the challenges they have overcome.  It would be great to push dissemination of both resources to teachers.

Love that equity and diversity are at the forefront of this project. I am curious to know how this collaboration has impacted students' interests in Computer Science? Have you seen an increase in students taking the AP CS exam as a result of your work with Atlanta?

Hi Khyati,

We have provided strong encouragement for a broader approach to student recruitment, directly providing any student who wants to take an AP CS course the opportunity to do so regardless of their races, gender, identity, or ability.   

In the first year, there were 109 students enrolled in APCSP courses across 5 high schools, 63% took the APCSP Exam. Last year, due to the school closings because of COVID-19, there were 55 students enrolled in APCSA, 44% took the APCSA Exam; 134 students enrolled in APCSP and 73% took the APCSP Exam. We expect to have over 50% of students enrolled in either of the APCS courses to take the Exam this year. 

We have collected student testimonials on their perspectives of CS. Here are a couple of student quotes: 

"Until Constellations came to our school I had never done any kind of computer science and had pushed it off as something that was really hard and probably would never understand. The Constellations fellow breaks it down really well and has helped me not only learn binary and other cool stuff, but that anything is possible."

"Without Constellations coming to my school, I wouldn’t have known that I could really learn the skills to actually do cybersecurity and computer science in real life. this class helped me realize my potential and let me know that an opportunity like attending Georgia Tech was available to me."

Since we started our work in APS, there have been at least 4 students in our program who have graduated and continued to study CS in college. Four more than there were before. :) 

Thanks, Khyati. We have created some resources that include students' voices. We are also working to keep in touch with them so that they remain a part of the Constellations community. 

Good project. Like the way you continued despite the COVID-19 pandemic.