Abstract: The title of this talk can be read in at least two ways. Most utterances can. When we teach, we have an agenda to get across that is more often than not misunderstood. The puzzle for a teacher is to figure out how to convey declared learning objectives and then assess whether the intended learning took place. Often, the best approach is to raise questions to initiate a dialog, rather than pronounce fact. So who does need computer science? There is general agreement (media, government, Google, the College Board), that everyone does. This raises the question of how to teach computer science when demand is high and resources are low. Potential solutions will be presented that emphasize computer mediated dialog between teacher and student. Examples will be shown from robotic embroidery and game avatar design. To illustrate the proposed pedagogy, participants will learn a little about finite automata by designing the backstory of a video game.

Ursula Wolz, Ph.D. works in the emerging field of Educational Informatics with an emphasis on Algorithm Accountability. She combines academics and entrepreneurship to develop computer-based learning environments such as artificially intelligent tutors, interactive storytelling, games, and physical media. She founded RiverSound Solutions, a software and curriculum consulting company with a mission to empower users to become creators with, rather than consumers of computing. She teaches inner city and rural students at risk, senior citizens, affluent suburbanites, elite undergraduates, first to college, international students, and their teachers, in both formal and informal learning environments. In the 1980s her favorite student was Big Bird. She has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Columbia University, a Masters Degree in Computing in Education from Teachers College, Columbia, and a bachelor’s degree from MIT (Philosophy, Cognitive Psychology and Linguistics), where she was a researcher in Seymour Papert’s Logo Lab studying and teaching in the very first constructivist computing environments.