I’m lucky. I live in Dallas. We’ve got SMU a stone throw’s away, we have UTD a bit farther and then UNT and UTA. Here’s the deal. Only UTD has ever tried to help me.
I felt really bad for the guy, they sent a professor down to observe my classes for a few days. He threw up his hands in disgust after about 10 interruptions in 5 minutes and wondered how I would ever get anything done. Last I heard of him.
I know UNT thought about workshops for teachers a few times but I’m not sure why they never happened.
What we need are short and sweet workshops, either in the summer or in the early fall. Maybe as late as January, but we start panicking about getting our students ready much past that.
One week workshops are hard on the body.
The best workshop I’ve gone in recent years was up at Hendrix University. Their workshop was a couple of weekends before school starts — it was great because that’s when I start thinking about this year’s assignments. They provided transportation to and from the airport, put us up in a dorm, and fed us every meal. It was great for the teachers because we could concentrate on the workshop. It went from Friday morning until Saturday night.
I still speak fondly of that university.
I’d gladly do something like that IN town too. Show us what you do in the first couple of CS classes. Have your instructors give the workshop. Give us time to do your assignments that you have your kids to do.
It really is not that hard. I believe Hendrix got a local business to spring for the workshop expenses. And it is a good way to get publicity for your CS department.