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IT|ITC|Computing| Computer Science Skills

IT|ITC|Computing| Computer Science Skills. Professor Nigel Shadbolt BCS President. BCS@ nearly 50. Record membership - 60,000 Sound finances New products and services Increasing numbers of candidates taking our exams Leading a successful Professionalism Programme

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IT|ITC|Computing| Computer Science Skills

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  1. IT|ITC|Computing|Computer Science Skills • Professor Nigel Shadbolt • BCS President

  2. BCS@ nearly 50 • Record membership - 60,000 • Sound finances • New products and services • Increasing numbers of candidates taking our exams • Leading a successful Professionalism Programme • Raising our Learned Society Profile • Created a dynamic Thought Leadership Programme • Expanding our work with business, government and academia • Improving our infrastructure - physical and digital

  3. The Good News • Better and more enthusiastic at adopting information technologies compared with European competitors; cited by leading economists as a major factor in recent GDP growth. • A net exporter in IT services to the tune of £1Bn. • Second only to the US in computing research, with high levels of knowledge transfer into specific industry sectors. • Reliant on information technology for delivery and reform in healthcare, education, social inclusion, transport and policing; every major policy initiative has an information technology component. • Real trends speak of current and long term increases in the demand for high skill information technologists and CS

  4. Crisis! What crisis? • The numbers of students studying computing at University has fallen dramatically – by more than 40% since 2001 • Government and HEFCE - we are strategic not vulnerable

  5. What we need to understand • The role of IT/Computing in education up to 18 • The relationships between computer science, IT/computing as a discipline, and IT Professionalism • what they are, • what they should be, • and how they need to change. • Updating and potentially redefining the role and relationships of the BCS for the different segments of the community • The IT and CS ecosystems

  6. Industry Ecosystems • IT Industry and IT Staff • Growing Digital Economy • Public Sector • IT-enabled business • Growth faster than average UK • Gartner results • Worldwide knowledge economy • Impact of shortages • Demographics

  7. Education and Research Ecosystems • IT and Computing Experience in schools • Often only seen as literacy • Can and should it be a first class subject • The Critical Period • Most HEI teach IT • Large number of species, different niches and a food chain • All depend on their own output

  8. BCS Ecosystem • Skills and competences • Overlapping • Complementary CSci CEng CITP 8

  9. The threat of extinction… • We face a real problem - shared by all STEM subjects • IT and computing are vital parts of society and culture • Our subject cannot flourish without support of wider community • Cannot flourish without a pipeline

  10. The public image is… • A poor one • Kids bored at school • Seen as a world of geeks and nerds • Profession associated with IT failures • Switch off at School and falling numbers at University • This varies from country to country; interesting differences in emerging economies

  11. Reasons advanced include… • The public doesn’t care • The IT school curriculum • The media • The technology • Us

  12. Reality check… • In the UK public appetite for SET exists • Urgent need to review IT and computing in schools • We need to engage with the media • We are in possession of inspirational technology • The challenge lies with us

  13. Computational Thinking: A revolutionary paradigm • A large part of modern STEM is all about; computational models, representations, abstractions • But it goes wider into social sciences and humanities, and business! • This is a well kept secret and we need to let it out...

  14. Characteristics of CT and why it matters • Complexity and computatbility – how hard is the problem and can it or parts of it be computed • The Nature of solutions – what sorts of outcomes will do – approximate or exact, are we able to tolerate false positives and negatives allowed • Reformulating a more difficult problem into one we can solve – perhaps using methods such as transformation, simulation • Approaches such as recursion and parallel processing • Viewing code as data/data as code • The role of abstraction and decomposition • The search for appropriate representations • An appreciation of elegance and aesthetics • Anticipating disaster - prevention, protection and recovery in worst case scenarios • The constant utilisation of heuristics, planning, scheduling, search, trade offs

  15. This is not just a BCS challenge ... • Working with other Learned Societies and Professional Bodies • Working with e-Skills • Work with CPHC and UKCRC • Working with our own volunteers • We need your help

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