The Computer Science Department at New Mexico State University has been running CS summer programs since 2006, through our Young Women in Computing (YWiC) Program and other outreach programs, including NMSU GK-12 DISSECT (DiScover SciEnce Through Computational Thinking) and CAHSI (the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions). In 2015 we created a new summer program for co-ed high school students from underrepresented groups in computing. Due to COVID-19, we have had to transition from traditional face to face programs to a virtual format, which is ongoing for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 outreach activities. Our video highlights our initial challenges and the successes from this transition in the 2020 summer programs.
Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST), Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES)
Related Content for NMSU Computer Science Virtual Summer Programs
Discussion from the 2021 STEM For All Video Showcase (16 posts)
Raena Cota
Lead Presenter CAHSI SW Connector
May 10, 2021 | 05:06 p.m.
Thanks for viewing our video about New Mexico State University's 2020 Computer Science Summer Programs, which included 6 weeks of summer camps for middle school and high school students: CS Adventures (co-ed HS), and Young Women in Computing (YWiC, 6-12 grade). Please let us know if you have any questions or would like to meet to discuss anything presented in the video. I want to thank two of our YWiC student leaders who created this STEM For All video, Vensan Cabardo and Avery Lee. These programs are part of our CAHSI INCLUDES Alliance and CREST iCREDITS Center.
PATRICK HONNER
Facilitator Teacher
May 11, 2021 | 08:57 a.m.
Hi-
Congratulations on successfully adapting your program this past year. With the success of your virtual programs (for example, having a much greater reach across the state), do you think you’ll continue to offer virtual programs in the future? Or are you focused on returning to an in-person model.
I’d also love to hear more about how you tackled the challenges you discussed at the end of the video, like not being certain that students would have access to specific project materials.
Raena Cota
Lead Presenter CAHSI SW Connector
May 11, 2021 | 11:45 a.m.
We are looking into the feasibility of having both in-person and virtual programs in the future (starting 2022). For 2021 we will be running virtual programs again and will work to streamline and expand our summer programs across the state. As part of this program, we also have afterschool programs, Saturday workshops, and other sessions that we are considering moving online to reach a broader participant group. However, as some students are limited on tech or accessibility to internet, we do want to keep our focus on the in-person programs, as we provide all the necessary tech and tools.
I'm going to ask the student leaders to respond to the question about the challenges from the end of the video.
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patrick honner
Marion Usselman
Facilitator Associate Director, and Principal Research Scientist
May 11, 2021 | 10:25 a.m.
Congratulations on your successful pivot to the remote environment. The activities look inspiring. Did you have an evaluation component to your programs? I'm curious whether some of the activities worked better in the online space than others. We have also seen a much broader accessibility, particularly to rural locations, with the remote format and are very interested in continuing to service those communities. Hopefully your program can offer some guidance.
Raena Cota
Lead Presenter CAHSI SW Connector
May 11, 2021 | 12:30 p.m.
We do have an evaluation (and research) component to our programs. We will be presenting some of this data at the RESPECT conference later this month. For the activities themselves, we do a wrap-up with the program leads (all undergrad and grad students) every afternoon after the camps end to see how the day went and if we need to make modifications for the following day (or week, or a following program). During the in-person camps, we normally have participants working in teams on certain projects, so the virtual environment threw a wrench in those plans, but we still had some projects where students worked together. For our middle school curriculum (f2f), the participants really like doing Lego EV3 robotics builds and coding, but we were unable to supply all participants with the EV3s, so we switched to using sphero minis (which we were able to purchase one for each participant). We also purchased small boxes of legos and used them to teach spatial reasoning skills across all the programs. During all our camps we also focus on computational thinking skills and those can be taught without tech.
Congratulations on your successful summer computer programming camp. Being able to provide a menu of options for your participants is great. How did you handle distribution of materials (like the micro:bits and arduinos)? Did the participants purchase them or did you supply a materials kit for them? As my district faces the next school year, we were looking for ways our at-home/cyber students could still participate in the same learning experiences as our face-to-face students, including the use of materials. Thank you for sharing your successes and challenges!
Raena Cota
Lead Presenter CAHSI SW Connector
May 11, 2021 | 12:38 p.m.
We (the program managers), had to all have the materials sent to our personal residences (as we were all working from home). We also had challenges getting some of the tech purchased because items were on backorder or taking a long time to ship, so last-minute changes to the curriculum had to be made. Once we had the materials (micro:bits, legos, cipher wheels, promotional materials about CS, like 'Careers in Code' magazine and information about our degree programs (for HS students), rubber duckies (for rubber ducky debugging), google cardboard for VR/AR, etc.), we packed them and used USPS flat rate shipping to ship all the boxes to participants. We sent out ~100 boxes for our 3 summer programs (all with different components).
Lori Jacquez
May 11, 2021 | 12:55 p.m.
Great video! Love the summer engagement and outreach programs for 2020, and hopefully for 2021 as well! The Success-reach experience testimonials were fun to watch.....(those smiles make it worth every second of making a difference in the lives of these students!).
Hi Raena ! It's great to learn about the exciting work you are doing. Your video is thought provoking. I wonder if there is a way that we can collaborate to make science more welcoming to a wider range of learners? See our work exploring the ways teachers collaborate to emphasize social justice in science. Enjoy, Marcia
Very inspiring program! Terrific story of adapting your program to the needs of the (virtual) community and how the virtual program served a larger geographical region.
Raena Cota
Lead Presenter CAHSI SW Connector
May 13, 2021 | 04:31 p.m.
Thanks, Pat!
Khyati Sanjana
Facilitator Senior Manager
May 12, 2021 | 05:05 p.m.
Kudos to having hands-on materials for students as you can see the excitement on the kids' faces. Computer Science always stands in a silo from academics and yet it's an integral part of today's world. How do your camps address that initial fear that you encounter from students when joining such a camp? Furthermore, seeing the success of the program in reaching the minorities, do you plan to expand the program beyond the summer offering?
Raena Cota
Lead Presenter CAHSI SW Connector
May 13, 2021 | 04:30 p.m.
When we promote our programs, we make sure to say that prior CS experience is not required, and we scaffold our curricula to make sure that there is a low entry point, but opportunities for more advanced students to learn and apply their skills to the project builds. We also encourage students to register with a friend so they already have some support before the program starts. Beyond summer programs we currently run after-school programs, Saturday workshops, STEM Day for Girls, and professional development workshops for teachers.
Khyati Sanjana
Facilitator Senior Manager
May 14, 2021 | 10:15 a.m.
Thank you Raena. Love the idea of registering with a friend.
Raena Cota
CAHSI SW Connector
Thanks for viewing our video about New Mexico State University's 2020 Computer Science Summer Programs, which included 6 weeks of summer camps for middle school and high school students: CS Adventures (co-ed HS), and Young Women in Computing (YWiC, 6-12 grade). Please let us know if you have any questions or would like to meet to discuss anything presented in the video. I want to thank two of our YWiC student leaders who created this STEM For All video, Vensan Cabardo and Avery Lee. These programs are part of our CAHSI INCLUDES Alliance and CREST iCREDITS Center.
PATRICK HONNER
Teacher
Hi-
Congratulations on successfully adapting your program this past year. With the success of your virtual programs (for example, having a much greater reach across the state), do you think you’ll continue to offer virtual programs in the future? Or are you focused on returning to an in-person model.
I’d also love to hear more about how you tackled the challenges you discussed at the end of the video, like not being certain that students would have access to specific project materials.
Raena Cota
CAHSI SW Connector
We are looking into the feasibility of having both in-person and virtual programs in the future (starting 2022). For 2021 we will be running virtual programs again and will work to streamline and expand our summer programs across the state. As part of this program, we also have afterschool programs, Saturday workshops, and other sessions that we are considering moving online to reach a broader participant group. However, as some students are limited on tech or accessibility to internet, we do want to keep our focus on the in-person programs, as we provide all the necessary tech and tools.
I'm going to ask the student leaders to respond to the question about the challenges from the end of the video.
patrick honner
Marion Usselman
Associate Director, and Principal Research Scientist
Congratulations on your successful pivot to the remote environment. The activities look inspiring. Did you have an evaluation component to your programs? I'm curious whether some of the activities worked better in the online space than others. We have also seen a much broader accessibility, particularly to rural locations, with the remote format and are very interested in continuing to service those communities. Hopefully your program can offer some guidance.
Raena Cota
CAHSI SW Connector
We do have an evaluation (and research) component to our programs. We will be presenting some of this data at the RESPECT conference later this month. For the activities themselves, we do a wrap-up with the program leads (all undergrad and grad students) every afternoon after the camps end to see how the day went and if we need to make modifications for the following day (or week, or a following program). During the in-person camps, we normally have participants working in teams on certain projects, so the virtual environment threw a wrench in those plans, but we still had some projects where students worked together. For our middle school curriculum (f2f), the participants really like doing Lego EV3 robotics builds and coding, but we were unable to supply all participants with the EV3s, so we switched to using sphero minis (which we were able to purchase one for each participant). We also purchased small boxes of legos and used them to teach spatial reasoning skills across all the programs. During all our camps we also focus on computational thinking skills and those can be taught without tech.
Shad Wachter
Congratulations on your successful summer computer programming camp. Being able to provide a menu of options for your participants is great. How did you handle distribution of materials (like the micro:bits and arduinos)? Did the participants purchase them or did you supply a materials kit for them? As my district faces the next school year, we were looking for ways our at-home/cyber students could still participate in the same learning experiences as our face-to-face students, including the use of materials. Thank you for sharing your successes and challenges!
Raena Cota
CAHSI SW Connector
We (the program managers), had to all have the materials sent to our personal residences (as we were all working from home). We also had challenges getting some of the tech purchased because items were on backorder or taking a long time to ship, so last-minute changes to the curriculum had to be made. Once we had the materials (micro:bits, legos, cipher wheels, promotional materials about CS, like 'Careers in Code' magazine and information about our degree programs (for HS students), rubber duckies (for rubber ducky debugging), google cardboard for VR/AR, etc.), we packed them and used USPS flat rate shipping to ship all the boxes to participants. We sent out ~100 boxes for our 3 summer programs (all with different components).
Lori Jacquez
Great video! Love the summer engagement and outreach programs for 2020, and hopefully for 2021 as well! The Success-reach experience testimonials were fun to watch.....(those smiles make it worth every second of making a difference in the lives of these students!).
Marcia Linn
Hi Raena ! It's great to learn about the exciting work you are doing. Your video is thought provoking. I wonder if there is a way that we can collaborate to make science more welcoming to a wider range of learners? See our work exploring the ways teachers collaborate to emphasize social justice in science. Enjoy, Marcia
Patricia Morreale
Very inspiring program! Terrific story of adapting your program to the needs of the (virtual) community and how the virtual program served a larger geographical region.
Raena Cota
CAHSI SW Connector
Thanks, Pat!
Khyati Sanjana
Senior Manager
Kudos to having hands-on materials for students as you can see the excitement on the kids' faces. Computer Science always stands in a silo from academics and yet it's an integral part of today's world. How do your camps address that initial fear that you encounter from students when joining such a camp? Furthermore, seeing the success of the program in reaching the minorities, do you plan to expand the program beyond the summer offering?
Raena Cota
CAHSI SW Connector
When we promote our programs, we make sure to say that prior CS experience is not required, and we scaffold our curricula to make sure that there is a low entry point, but opportunities for more advanced students to learn and apply their skills to the project builds. We also encourage students to register with a friend so they already have some support before the program starts. Beyond summer programs we currently run after-school programs, Saturday workshops, STEM Day for Girls, and professional development workshops for teachers.
Khyati Sanjana
Senior Manager
Thank you Raena. Love the idea of registering with a friend.
Ann Gates
Congratulations to the NMSU team in broadening your reach and engagement of students. I'm also impressed with your K-12 efforts.
Raena Cota
CAHSI SW Connector
Thanks, Ann! We could not do it without CAHSI's support.
Further posting is closed as the event has ended.