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Community Outreach

Computer Science K12 Outreach

Why should every one learn some programming & start as early as possible? Watch this short video...Additional versions @ code.org.

Latest surveys of employers show that the US will continue to see a serious shortage of software professionals for the foreseeable future. So, computer programming is expected to be a high-paying & marketable skill for several years to come. Almost every one can be a software designer/programmer if they are willing to think and try. Ok, how do you assess whether you are cut out to be a programmer & whether you will enjoy programming? There is only one way to find out - Jump in there, write a few programs and assess yourself!

We are passionate about programming & algorithms! We strongly believe that it is possible to introduce Computer Science & Programming to all school students in an enjoyable way and enable them to consider higher education in STEM fields. We conduct several workshops in various programming languages (Alice, JavaScript, Java, C++, Python) throughout the year for school students. Additionally, we conduct programming competitions every semester and several Summer camps. While our events are primarily geared towards middle & high school students, all adults (school teachers, parents, college students, ...) are also welcome to try and take advantage of them. We have had several elementary kids (3rd grade and up) in our workshops as well. We hope to expand our programs and offer a few specific ones for elementary kids.

Programing Summer Camps

It is going to be a busy Summer in Computer Science department! While we cover the content in hurry in 1-2 day workshops, we plan to dig deeper and do more hands-on exercises and give more individual attention during these camps. Any one who is entering high school in Fall term or older is eligible to register (see the registration site for a few exceptions). To cover all the costs associated with offering each Summer camp, a reasonable $200 registration fee will be assessed for each Summer camp registration. All the participants will get a completion certificate on Fridays if they came and attended all the days of the Summer camp and completed most of the exercises. Participants can either bring their own lunch or visit UTD Cafeteria to buy lunch - wide variety of food choices will be available in UTD Cafeteria.

 

Summer Camp

Level

Instructor

Dates

1

OR200 Enjoyable Introduction to Programming using JavaScript & Drawings

Introductory

Miguel Razo

June 17-21

2

OR403 Introduction to developing Virtual Reality (VR) applications

Advanced

Ryan McMahan

June 17-21

3

OR400 .NET app development using C#

Advanced

John Cole

June 24-28

4

OR300 Introduction to Programming in Java

Intermediate

Ebru Chankaya

June 24-28

5

OR301 Introduction to Programming in C++

Intermediate

Miguel Razo

July 8 - 12

6

OR300 Introduction to Programming in Java

Intermediate

Ebru Chankaya

July 15 - 19

7

OR401 Advanced Java & Android app development

Advanced

John Cole

July 22-26

8

OR402 USACO Programming Competition problems

Advanced

Jey Veerasamy

August 5-10

9

OR200 Enjoyable Introduction to Programming using JavaScript & Drawings

Introductory

Jey Veerasamy

August 12-16

Details about these camps: www.facebook.com/CSK12OutreachUTD/events

Registration link: https://ezpay.utdallas.edu/C20239_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=169

In addition to these camps for high school students, Dr. Jorge Cobb has been offering CHallenging Algorithmics & Mathematics in Problem Solving (CHAMPS) camps for middle school students who are new to programming (July 8 to 12 this year - see  http://cs.utdallas.edu/champs/summercamp.html for details).

Finally, Dr. Ivor Page will be offering 2 sections of "Advanced problem solving using Java" course in Summer - these are for students who are very comfortable with programming and hungry to solve serious programming challenges! This course is FREE and you can register for it by clicking on http://tinyurl.com/pscs13.

Resources to learn Programming

Recent guest lecture on "Enjoyable Introduction to Programming"
PPT slides

 

Elementary (~3rd grade) and up

Scratch

Snap

Logo

 

Middle school and up

 Alice Course Materials

KhanAcademy-JavaScript Course Materials


DrRacket

 

High School and up

C++

Java

Python

JavaScript

C#

Ruby

Java resources:

C++ resources:

NetBeans IDE installation steps

NetBeans is a great environment for serious C/C++ and Java development. However, Code::Blocks is a simpler IDE for C++ and jGRASP is a simpler IDE for Java. All are FREE. Microsoft Visual Studio IDE is simpler to install and it is a great one for C++ as well (Express edition is FREE for every one & college students can also get Visual Studio FREE through dreamspark.com).

Be informed!
We utilize a Facebook page and a Google group to announce the events & share important updates:

  • Facebook page address is www.facebook.com/CSK12OutreachUTD. If you are a Facebook user, we encourage you to visit this page and "like" us so that your friends and family will know about our events too. If you do not have a Facebook account or want to see the listing of events directly, click www.facebook.com/CSK12OutreachUTD/events. You do not need a Facebook account to access these pages! Information will always be up-to-date in the Facebook page.
  • Google group CSK12OutreachUTD is used as an email list to send out the announcements/updates/information about the upcoming events. You do not need a Google account to join - any email address will work. You can send an email to CSK12OutreachUTD+subscribe@googlegroups.com to join this list. You will get an email back for confirmation. Reply to that email, then you will get a confirmation email that you have been added to the group. You can unsubscribe from the group any time by sending an email to CSK12OutreachUTD+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.