Teaching Impacts of Technology in K-12 Education

In this project-based course you’ll review the Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles course and exam description guide to prepare for the “Explore Task”, where students must research a recent computing innovation and and analyze its impacts on the world. You’ll also review the description of this task from the student perspective and complete the task yourself. Then you’ll assess sample secondary student work by following the APCSP scoring guidelines as well as provide feedback to a fellow learner on their submitted task and receive the same from fellow learners.

This course is part of a larger Specialization, in which the first five courses focus on teaching impacts of computing concepts and the technology and computing concepts that make them possible, preparing you to teach pre-college learners to be both savvy and effective participants in their digital worlds. While this course and project can be completed without taking the other courses, the bulk of new knowledge is taught there. Additionally, throughout the courses you’ll reflect on your learning experience from both the perspective of the student and the educator, helping you become a more reflective teacher and develop an understanding of how instruction and activities can be designed to support learning.

Note, if your goal is to receive graduate credit from the University of California, San Diego, you need to to make that decision before you complete this course. Please see the FAQ “Will I earn university credit for completing this course?” for details on how to receive that credit.

In terms of CSTA K-12 computer science standards, throughout the Specialization we primarily cover learning objectives within the “impacts of computing” concept, while also including some within the “networks and the Internet” concepts and the “data and analysis” concept. Practices we cover include “fostering and inclusive computing culture”, “recognizing and defining computational problems”, and “communicating about computing”.

In this course you’ll focus on how constant data collection and big data analysis have impacted us, exploring the interplay between using your data and protecting it, as well as thinking about what it could do for you in the future. This will be done through a series of paired teaching sections, exploring a specific “Impact of Computing” in your typical day and the “Technologies and Computing Concepts” that enable that impact, all at a K12-appropriate level.

This course is part of a larger Specialization through which you’ll learn impacts of computing concepts you need to know, organized into 5 distinct digital “worlds”, as well as learn pedagogical techniques and evaluate lesson plans and resources to utilize in your classroom. By the end, you’ll be prepared to teach pre-college learners to be both savvy and effective participants in their digital world.

In this particular digital world (personal data), you’ll explore the following Impacts & Technology pairs --

Impacts (Show me what I want to see!): Internet Privacy, Custom Ads, Personalization of web pages
Technologies and Computing Concepts: Cookies, Web vs Internet, https, Web Servers

Impacts (Use my data…. But protect it!): Common Cybersecurity knowledge levels, ISP data collection, Internet design, finding out what is known about you online, software terms and services
Technology and Computing Concepts: DNS, Cryptography (ciphers, hashing, encryption, SSL), Deep and Dark Web

Impacts (What could my data do for me in the future?): What is Big Data, Machine Learning finds new music, Wearable technologies.
Technology and Computing Concepts: AI vs ML, Supervised vs Unsupervised learning, Neural Networks, Recommender systems, Speech recognition

In the pedagogy section for this course, in which best practices for teaching computing concepts are explored, you’ll learn how to apply Bloom’s taxonomy to create meaningful CS learning objectives, the importance of retrieval-based learning, to build learning activities with online simulators, and how to use “fun” books to teach computing.

In terms of CSTA K-12 computer science standards, we’ll primarily cover learning objectives within the “impacts of computing” concept, while also including some within the “networks and the Internet” concepts and the “data and analysis” concept. Practices we cover include “fostering and inclusive computing culture”, “recognizing and defining computational problems”, and “communicating about computing”.

In this course you’ll focus on how the Internet has enabled new careers and changed expectations in traditional work settings, creating a new vision for the workplace of the future. This will be done through a series of paired teaching sections, exploring a specific “Impact of Computing” in your typical day and the “Technologies and Computing Concepts” that enable that impact, all at a K12-appropriate level.

This course is part of a larger Specialization through which you’ll learn impacts of computing concepts you need to know, organized into 5 distinct digital “worlds”, as well as learn pedagogical techniques and evaluate lesson plans and resources to utilize in your classroom. By the end, you’ll be prepared to teach pre-college learners to be both savvy and effective participants in their digital world.

In this particular digital world (careers and work), you’ll explore the following Impacts & Technology pairs --

Impacts (Getting jobs in new ways): technology based freelancing, Linkedin and how it changed the way we work
Technology and Computing Concepts: Data retrieval, data vs metadata, SQL, Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT)

Impacts (Physical ties to work restricts people and businesses): work communication, the cloud, cloud computing, companies affected by ransomware attacks
Technology and Computing Concepts: how the cloud works, FTP, cloud storage, clients and servers, scalability basics, fault tolerance, AWS, devops

Impacts (Advancing your career in the fast moving technical world): digital technology changing jobs, online classes, machines replacing jobs, data science and artificial intelligence

In the pedagogy section for this course, in which best practices for teaching computing concepts are explored, you’ll learn how to effectively explore and critique curricular material you find and practice reviewing lesson plans, with a focus on material aimed at learning HTML.

In terms of CSTA K-12 computer science standards, we’ll primarily cover learning objectives within the “impacts of computing” concept, while also including some within the “networks and the Internet” concepts and the “data and analysis” concept. Practices we cover include “fostering and inclusive computing culture”, “recognizing and defining computational problems”, and “communicating about computing”.

In this course you’ll focus on how technology-enabled communication is changing geopolitics and, more broadly, how technology is connecting our world and changing lives. This will be done through a series of paired teaching sections, exploring a specific “Impact of Computing” in your typical day and the “Technologies and Computing Concepts” that enable that impact, all at a K12-appropriate level.

This course is part of a larger Specialization through which you’ll learn impacts of computing concepts you need to know, organized into 5 distinct digital “worlds”, as well as learn pedagogical techniques and evaluate lesson plans and resources to utilize in your classroom. By the end, you’ll be prepared to teach pre-college learners to be both savvy and effective participants in their digital world.

In this particular digital world (global society), you’ll explore the following Impacts & Technology pairs --

Impacts (Freedom of Speech): Internet in third world countries, censorship, and social media
Technology and Computing Concepts: VPN, how Internet censorship works, metadata, tor

Impacts (Life Made Easy): Internet changing the way we live, travel, autonomous vehicles
Technology and Computing Concepts: Internet of things, how self-driving cars work

Impacts (Keeping Your Information Secure): two-factor authentication, PINs, Patterns, fingerprints, apple ID
Technology and Computing Concepts: DDoS attacks and Botnets, man-in-the-middle attacks, dangers of public Wifi, phishing, ransomware, bitcoin

In the pedagogy section for this course, in which best practices for teaching computing concepts are explored, you’ll learn about the principles of the computer science advanced placement exam, how it assesses students, and how to prepare your students for this critical exam.

In terms of CSTA K-12 computer science standards, we’ll primarily cover learning objectives within the “impacts of computing” concept, while also including some within the “networks and the Internet” concepts and the “data and analysis” concept. Practices we cover include “fostering and inclusive computing culture”, “recognizing and defining computational problems”, and “communicating about computing”.

In this course you’ll focus on how “smart” devices have changed how we interact with others in personal ways, impacting how we stay connected in our increasingly mobile society. This will be done through a series of paired teaching sections, exploring a specific “Impact of Computing” in your typical day and the “Technologies and Computing Concepts” that enable that impact, all at a K12-appropriate level.

This course is part of a larger Specialization through which you’ll learn impacts of computing concepts you need to know, organized into 5 distinct digital “worlds”, as well as learn pedagogical techniques and evaluate lesson plans and resources to utilize in your classroom. By the end, you’ll be prepared to teach pre-college learners to be both savvy and effective participants in their digital world.

In this particular digital world (relationships), you’ll explore the following Impacts & Technology pairs --

Impacts (Keep me connected in a mobile society):, personal relationships, facebook, circle of friends
Technology and Computing Concepts: algorithms, software engineering evolution, heuristics, computer runtime, big O notation, P vs NP

Impacts (Making geography-based connections): findings friends, maps, geolocation
Technology and Computing Concepts: data and binary, image encoding, pixels, how color pickers work, filters, blurs

In the pedagogy section for this course, in which best practices for teaching computing concepts are explored, you’ll learn about the current CSTA K-12 CS Standards and practice using them to review and apply to lesson plans, as well as how to apply the ICAP framework to connect your students’ engagement to active learning outcomes, such as through peer instruction.

In terms of CSTA K-12 computer science standards, we’ll primarily cover learning objectives within the “impacts of computing” concept, while also including some within the “networks and the Internet” concepts and the “data and analysis” concept. Practices we cover include “fostering and inclusive computing culture”, “recognizing and defining computational problems”, and “communicating about computing”.