TU Dublin Outreach Programme Fosters Diversity in Computer Science Education
A programme run by a team of TU Dublin Computing lecturers based on the University's Tallaght Campus is working to increase diversity in the field of Computer Science through a range of outreach activities.
For over three years, CSinc - Computer Science Inclusive - has visited 300 primary and secondary schools nationwide to run its Computer Science camps, reaching almost 10,000 students. Schools don't need a computer room as the camp is fully mobile, meaning any school regardless of access to Broadband or technology can participate in the programme. A key objective of the camps is to increase the participation of women in the technology sector, and over 66% of students taking part this year were female. TU Dublin runs the camps with support from the Higher Education Authority.
CSinc also works with teachers to support the development of Computer Science across the formal and informal curricula. In the three years that CSinc has been running the teacher professional development programs, over 1600 teachers have taken part, with a focus on the new Leaving Certificate computer science subject also the Junior Cycle short course in coding.
This year with the unprecedented situation that faces us all, CSinc has moved all of its summer camps online. Commenting on the popularity of the online summer camps, Keith Quille, CSinc, said, "We had a fantastic response to moving online as any student across Ireland could apply and take part in the sessions. The camps are open to secondary school students from first to sixth-year, and we have students from Cork to Donegal participating. Our relationship with schools is so strong that within two days of opening up registration, the online camps were booked out."
More information about CSinc is available here. You also hear Keith talk about CSinc on Morning Ireland here.