eric roberts professor of computer science stanford university

32
Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University K-12 Computing Teachers Workshop Grace Hopper Celebration Atlanta, Georgia October 2, 2010 Computer Science as an Essential 21 st -Century Skill: Making the Case

Upload: tanith

Post on 11-Feb-2016

52 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Computer Science as an Essential 21 st -Century Skill: Making the Case. Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University. K-12 Computing Teachers Workshop Grace Hopper Celebration Atlanta, Georgia October 2, 2010. Papers and Talks on Gender Equity. Expanding the Audience - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Eric RobertsProfessor of Computer Science

Stanford University

K-12 Computing Teachers WorkshopGrace Hopper Celebration

Atlanta, GeorgiaOctober 2, 2010

Computer Science as anEssential 21st-Century Skill:

Making the Case

Page 2: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Papers and Talks on Gender Equity

Page 3: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Why Diversity Is Essential

• Equality of access is an important ethical principle.• Greater diversity among those who create computing technology

ensures that those technologies are relevant to and usable by a wider range of people.

• More specifically, the male-dominated tradition of computing leads to an overall culture of technological machismo, as evidenced by modern computer games.

• Despite the economic downturn, there continues to be a shortage of highly productive software developers.

• Becoming a good software developer requires a rare combination of skills, creativity, and temperament, making it all the more critical to look for such talent in as wide a population as possible.

—from my SIGCSE talk on “Expanding the Audience” in 2003

Page 4: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Talking Point #1

Demand for people with strong computer science skills has remained high throughout the history of the field, and has held up even during times of recession.

Page 5: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Computing and Competitiveness• In his 2005 book, The World Is Flat,

New York Times editorial writer Tom Friedman argues that the new global economy places increasing weight on technological innovation to maintain national economic competitiveness.

• Technological innovation requires a highly trained workforce with strong computational skills, which means that such skills are in high demand.

Page 6: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

In a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is readily available, U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. A comprehensive and coordinated federal effort is urgently needed to bolster U.S. competitiveness and pre-eminence in these areas. This congressionally requested report by a pre-eminent committee makes four recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that federal policy-makers should take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology efforts on meeting the nation’s needs, especially in the area of clean, affordable energy:

1) Increase America’s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education;

The Challenge of the Global Marketplace

Page 7: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Updates from Last Week’s Revision. . . Five years ago, the National Academies prepared Rising Above the Gathering Storm, a book that cautioned: “Without a renewed effort to bolster the foundations of our competitiveness, we can expect to lose our privileged position.” Since that time we find ourselves in a country where much has changed—and a great deal has not changed. So where does America stand relative to its position of five years ago when the Gathering Storm book was prepared? The unanimous view of the authors is that our nation’s outlook has worsened. The present volume, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited, explores the tipping point America now faces. Addressing America’s competitiveness challenge will require many years if not decades; however, the requisite federal funding of much of that effort is about to terminate.

Page 8: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Literary Visions of America’s FutureAs a result, this country has one of the worst economies in the world. When it gets down to it—talking trade balances here—once we’ve brain-drained all our technology into other countries, once things have evened out, they’re making cars in Bolivia and microwave ovens in Tadzhikistan and selling them here—once our edge in natural resources has been made irrelevant by giant Hong Kong ships and dirigibles that can ship North Dakota all the way to New Zealand for a nickel—once the Invisible Hand has taken all those historical inequities and smeared them out into a broad global layer of what a Pakistani brickmaker would consider to be prosperity—y’know what? There’s only four things we do better than anyone else: Music Movies Microcode (software) Pizza delivery

Page 9: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Talking Point #2

Producing more students who are highly skilled in science and technology is widely recognized as essential to national economic competitiveness.

Page 10: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Computing Opportunities are High

262 402 53.41.767 1,156 50.62.787 1,171 48.73.507 733 44.64.

71 100 41.05.176 248 41.06.

2 3 39.87.465 148 35.48.

62 84 35.09.

Network systems and data communications analystsPersonal and home care aidesHome health aidesComputer software engineers, applicationsVeterinary technologists and techniciansPersonal financial advisorsMakeup artists, theatrical and performanceMedical assistantsVeterinariansSubstance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors 83 112 34.310.

Top 10 job growth categories (2006-2016) 2006 2016

Employment(thousands)

Growth

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections: 2006-16, December 2007.

Source:

Google and Facebook are fighting hard to hire this year’s crop of computer science graduates, we’ve heard, and ground zero is Stanford. Most of the class of 2008 already have job offers even though graduation is months away. Last year, salaries of up to $70,000 were common for the best students. This year, Facebook is said to be offering $92,000, and Google has increased some offers to $95,000 to get their share of graduates. Students with a Master’s degree in Computer Science are being offered as much as $130,000 for associate product manager jobs at Google.

• The computing industry offers some of the best employment opportunities for university graduates. Here are a few data points that can serve as evidence:– The number of jobs in the domestic software industry are at an all-time high and are

projected to grow dramatically over the next decade.– Salaries for newly minted B.S. graduates in Computer Science are high, often

exceeding the $100,000 mark.– In 2005, Money magazine rated software engineer as the number one job in America.– Labor statistics show that the ratio of the number of available jobs per graduate is

higher in computing than any other employment category.

Page 11: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Degree Production vs. Job Openings160,000

140,000

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

Engineering Physical Sciences Biological Sciences Computer Science

Ph.D.Master’sBachelor’sProjected job openings

Adapted from a presentation by John Sargent, Senior Policy Analyst, Department of Commerce, at the CRA Computing Research Summit, February 23, 2004. Original sources listed as National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Statistics; degree data from Department of Education/National Center for Education Statistics: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Survey; and NSF/SRS; Survey of Earned Doctorates; and Projected Annual Average Job Openings derived from Department of Commerce (Office of Technology Policy) analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics 2002-2012 projections. See http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/content.php?cid=22.

Sources:

Page 12: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Industry Reports a Labor Shortage

Gates Cites Hiring Woes, Criticizes Visa RestrictionsBy David A. Vise

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said yesterday the software giant is having enormous difficulty filling computer jobs in the United States as a result of tight visa restrictions on foreign workers and a declining interest among U._S. students in computer science.<tab>Speaking on a technology panel at the Library of Congress, Gates said a decline in the number of U._S. students pursuing careers in science and technology is hurting Microsoft in the short run, and could have serious long-term consequences for the U._S. economy if the problem is not addressed.<tab>“We are very concerned that the U._S. will lose its competitive position. For Microsoft, it means we are having a tougher time hiring,” Gates said. “The jobs are there, and they are good-paying jobs, but we don’t have the same pipeline.”

— April 28, 2005

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/27/AR2005042702241.html

Page 13: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

But Contrary Reports Keep Coming In

Once a Dynamo, the Tech Sector Is Slow to HireBy CATHERINE RAMPELL

For years the technology sector has been considered the most dynamic, promising and globally envied industry in the United States. It escaped the recession relatively unscathed, and profits this year have been soaring.<tab>But as the nation struggles to put people back to work, even high-tech companies have been slow to hire, a sign of just how difficult it will be to address persistently high joblessness. . . .<tab>The chief hurdles to more robust technology hiring appear to be increasing automation and the addition of highly skilled labor overseas. The result is a mismatch of skill levels here at home: not enough workers with the cutting-edge skills coveted by tech firms, and too many people with abilities that can be duplicated offshore at lower cost.

— September 6, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/business/economy/07/jobs.html

Nevertheless, many high-tech companies large and small say they are struggling to find highly skilled engineering talent in the United States.<tab>“We are firing up our college recruiting program, enduring all manner of humiliation to try to fill these jobs,” said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin, an online brokerage agency for buying and selling homes that is based in Seattle and San Francisco. “I do think we’re still chasing them, not the other way around.”

Page 14: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Myths about OffshoringAll IT jobs will soon be outsourced to India and China.1.

Good IT workers will be easy to find in the new “flatter” world.2.

Companies will always seek the lowest-priced labor.3.

The 2006 ACM report on Globalization and Offshoring of Software finds that even though offshoring of software has increased the number of computing jobs in India and China, it has also increased the number of jobs in the United States.  

Thus, at least in computing, globalization has functioned exactly as the theory of comparative advantage suggests.  

Page 15: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

A Thought Experiment about Offshoring• Suppose that you are Microsoft and that you can hire a software

developer from Stanford whose loaded costs will be $200,000 per year. Over in Bangalore, however, you can hire a software developer for $75,000 per year. Both are equally talented and will create $1,000,000 annually in value. What do you do?

• Although the developer in Bangalore has a higher return, the optimal strategy is to hire them both. After all, why throw away $800,000 a year?

• Any elementary economics textbook will explain that one hires as long as the marginal value of the new employee is greater than the marginal cost. The essential point is that companies seek to maximize return, and not simply to minimize cost.

Page 16: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Talking Point #3

Demand for computer science graduates remains high in comparison with other scientific and engineering fields, even in the presence of offshoring.

Page 17: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

The Problem Starts Early

Source: Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, 2005

Despite recent increases in university majors, computer science remains unpopular in high school.

Page 18: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

AP/CS Is Relatively Small

Page 19: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Worse Still, AP/CS Is Losing Ground• The Computer Science exam is the only Advanced Placement

exam that has shown declining student numbers in recent years.

Eliminated in 2009

Page 20: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Computing Faces Huge Challenges in Schools• People who have software development skills command high salaries

and tend not to teach in schools.• In many schools, computer science is classified as vocational rather

than academic.• Students who are heading toward top universities are advised to take

non-CS courses to bolster their admissions chances.• Because schools are evaluated on how well their students perform in

math and science, many schools are shifting teachers away from computer science toward these disciplines.

• Administrators find tools like PowerPoint more sexy and exciting. • Modern tools have made programming more difficult to teach.• Computer science and computer scientists have a serious image

problem that makes the field unattractive to many students.

Page 21: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Jan Cuny’s “Clean Slate” Project

http://www.cra.org/Activities/summit/Cuny_A_Clean_Slate_Approach_to_High_School_CS.pdf

Page 22: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Talking Point #4

We will not be able to address the shortfall in computing expertise unless we improve the situation at the K-12 level. Fortunately, K-12 education is currently a very hot topic.

Page 23: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Waiting for Superman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTfaro96dg

Page 24: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Matt Lauer Interviews President Obama

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/39378291#39378291

Page 25: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Talking Point #5

Solving this problem will require all of us to work together from the many constituencies we represent: teachers, academics, industry, government. No one can do it alone.

Page 26: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Key Initiatives• The National Science Foundation has

launched an ambitious effort to mount a “clean slate” approach to teaching computing at the high-school level.

• For the past two years, ACM and CSTA have worked to make sure that computer science is part of the many debates and proposals happening at all levels of government.

• On October 6, CSTA and ACM will make two announcements:1. The release of a report entitled Running on Empty: The Failure to

Teach K-12 Computer Science in the Digital Age, which examines how well the Model Curriculum has been implemented in the states.

2. The formation of a new coalition for K-12 computer science education called Computing in the Core.

Page 27: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Talking Point #6

Building a successful partnership that can fix problems in computer science education is undeniably challenging, but success is possible.

Page 28: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

About Bermuda • British overseas territory lying

600 miles east of North Carolina.• Land area just over 20 square

miles (less than twice the size of the Stanford campus).

• Total population of only 62,000 (roughly the size of Palo Alto) with two public high schools: Berkeley and Cedarbridge.

• Local parliament has had a Labour majority since 1998.• Considerable national wealth, primarily from companies that

relocate to Bermuda as a tax haven.• The CIA World Factbook for 2005 listed Bermuda as having

the highest GDP per capita in the world.

Page 29: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

The Bermuda.edu Documentary

Page 30: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Image of Computing (California)In 1998, sixth-graders in selected California schools were asked to draw their image of a computer professional. The drawings are for the most part aligned with traditional stereotypes:

Page 31: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

Images of Computing (Bermuda) In Bermuda, we repeated this experiment after students had taken our courses and got rather different results:

Page 32: Eric Roberts Professor of Computer Science Stanford University

The End