that is held between Summer Quarter (which usually ends the 2nd week of August) to just before the regular Fall term begins. It is largely geared for students who want a transition into college, to get used to being in the mindset of school, and to get on campus early before the crowds rush in. Students receive 5 credits, which eventually shows up on their autumn transcript, but by focusing on one class for four weeks, instead of juggling 3-5 in their first quarter at UW. It also allows students to have a lighter load during the regular fall quarter, which again allows a gentler transition to the pace of a quarter system*.

For some additional background: Startup is for students who have been admitted directly to the Allen School who have little to no programming experience or are from low-income, first-generation, and underserved backgrounds. I have taught this course twice in person, and now twice remotely (2020 and 2021). This year I decided to complete a 15-minute interview with every student prior to their starting the course, something I’ve done for 5 years with the students I’ve taught through the College of Engineering STARS program. I ask them 6 questions, tell them about the course, and give them time to ask questions of me. In part, I do this because I want to connect with the students 1:1, but I’m also on a fact-finding mission - My area of computer science is Human Computer interaction and we often do interviews to get information on how to better support the users of our products. Well, these students are the users of my product - my class!

The answers to questions in particular REALLY changed in the year. The first “What are some of the types of computers you use and some of the things you often use on a computer? “ - most students would name a desktop or laptop computer, and tell me they do schoolwork, game, participate in Social Media, or watch streaming media like YouTube. This year, however, I had a large number of students who correctly pointed out that their phones, tablets, TVs, appliances, or even cars are computing devices! Wow.

The second set of answers that struck me was to this question: “While this class does not require any previous experience with computational thinking or programming, have you done anything like that in the past you’d like to share with me?”

At least 2/3 of the incoming students said they had some experience. For some it was camps like Girls Who Code, for others, it was outreach by HS Robotics teams to middle school classes, still others it was Robotics clubs or other after school activities… but by and large, a significant number of students had taken “some coding class” like CS Discoveries, Exploring Computer Science (ECS), AP CS Principles, or other courses. And while most diminished this prior experience because it was “years ago and I forgot a lot” or their thought that block-based coding (with Scratch, Code.org, MakeCode or the like) isn’t “real coding” (narrator voice, “it is”), they all had that interest and spark and were willing to take four weeks of summer to get a jump start on their education. And every single one of them rose to the challenge of a college-level course.

These 30 or so students are but a mere fraction of the lives you are touching by teaching computational thinking and computer programming. The tools you are giving to them in your classrooms will have such a positive impact on their lives whether they are thinking of majoring in the field or using it as a very powerful tool in whatever they do.

So I would like to take this moment to thank you all for the work you are doing in your classrooms… even through the challenges of this last year.  

Take care and stay safe!
Lauren

* I liken the quarter system to running a marathon at a sprinter’s pace. It can be pretty intense.