From:                     Kendra Smith

Sent:                      Thursday, May 11, 2000 11:38 PM

To:                         M?crosöft Research Tech Talk, Sem. Notice

Cc:                         Kendra Smith

Subject:                 UW-CSE Colloq / 5-23-2000 / Chapman / UT-Austin / Analysis of a Mess: Schools, Computers, Training, and Workforce Development in the Digital Economy

UW-CSE Colloq / 5-23-2000 / Chapman / UT-Austin / Analysis of a Mess: Schools, Computers, Training, and Workforce Development in the Digital Economy

 

*NOTE* This lecture will be broadcast live via the Internet. See

http://www.cs.washington.edu/news/colloq.info.html for more information.

 

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Seattle, Washington 98195

 

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Box 352350

(206) 543-1695

 

COLLOQUIUM

 

SPEAKER:      Gary Chapman, University of Texas at Austin

 

TITLE:          Analysis of a Mess: Schools, Computers, Training, and Workforce

                             Development in the Digital Economy

 

DATE:           Tuesday, May 23, 2000

 

TIME:           3:30pm

 

PLACE:                   134 Sieg Hall

 

HOST:           Alan Borning

 

ABSTRACT:

 

The United States has elevated computer training and literacy, workforce

development, and closing the "digital divide" to the top of the national

political agenda. But there are many contradictions, unresolved questions,

paradoxes, and muddled thinking in the nation's current approach to these

issues. The shortage of talented skilled workers is creating extremely

high salaries, for example. Those salary levels are making it very

difficult to recruit and retain teachers or trainers who have even a

little experience in technical subjects. Current public opinion on how to

deploy computers in classrooms is confused and sometimes

acrimonious. Students who forego careers in high-tech fields often say

they find formal computer instruction boring and unhelpful. Most talented

computer experts are self-taught, a phenomenon very difficult to "map" to

our formal educational institutions. Finally, there are cultural biases

against the stereotypical picture of computer professionals, and the

high-tech workplace, that make the recruitment of women and minorities

especially challenging.

 

Gary Chapman will review these controversies and problems and describe

some of the tasks for the computing profession. Chapman is director of The

21st Century Project at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs

at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes the internationally

syndicated newspaper column on technology and society called "Digital

Nation," which is published in and syndicated by The Los Angeles Times. He

is also a columnist for The Austin American-Statesman. He is associate

director of the Telecommunications and Information Policy Institute at the

University of Texas, and a member of the selection committee for the ACM's

Turing Award, the highest award in computer science.

 

Refreshments to follow.

 

Email: talk-info@cs.washington.edu

Info: http://www.cs.washington.edu