Here is some information on our Monday keynote, which will be given by Prof. Dr. Ulrik Schroeder of the CS Department, RWTH Aachen. Dr. Schroeder received his Diploma degree as well as his PhD in Computer Science from Technische Universität (TU) Darmstadt. Currently, he heads the research group Computer-supported Learning and Didactics in Computer Science in the computer science department at RWTH Aachen University as well as the university's Center for innovative Learning (CiL).
His research interests include assessment and intelligent feedback with a focus on learning processes, Web 2.0 applications and social software in education, mobile Internet and learning, gender mainstreaming in education, and Computer Science didactics. He teaches classes in CS1, Web Technologies, eLearning and Computer Science Education. He is active in the GI, the German sister of the ACM, as vice-chair of the special interest group eLearning and member of the Computer Science Education board.
A bouquet of measures to promote Computer Science in Middle & High Schools
Computer science faces the same problem worldwide: too few women in computing, low enrollment and high failure rates in university programs. There is growing consciousness which has led to various ideas and programs to deal with these problems. My talk will introduce a set of measures which we have implemented at RWTH Aachen University to tackle the problem on different levels. Therefore, I will present our successful program go4IT! of robotic courses for girls in 5th and 6th grade and some empirical results of how these influence their interest in STEM topics. Currently we are developing follow-up measures based on Android and GUI programming on smartphones. These measures cumulate into our newly founded Computer Science Junior Academy InfoSphere as out-of-school educational lab. There we offer a variety of learning modules which can last between two hours and a few days. Complete school classes can book InfoSphere modules or interested pupils of different ages can collaborate on self-organized projects. We have implemented various learning programs for multi-modal devices such as multi-touch tables and smartphones in order to introduce different topics of computer science. Our vision for these educational labs is the enhancement to different disciplines which bring together learners of all ages from K-12, students, researchers and professionals for lifelong learning and vocational training.