The computer science department is reevaluating spaces used for future computer science classes due to an increased number of sign-ups for the classes. For example, there are currently five sections of the AP Computer Science Principles class, as opposed to three last year, said Technology Coordinator and computer science teacher Jana Branisa.
“It’s been a slow increase over the last eight years to the record high this year of 14 sections [of computer science classes],” Branisa said. “We had to reject some students. We only have two classrooms and seven periods. We need to find another classroom.”
Branisa said that since there is a potential of either 17 or 18 total sections of computer science next year, there is current discussion about where future computer science classes could be held, with Room 30A and the tech office being sites of focus.
“They’re looking to prototype a computer lab, a multi-purpose computer lab that would then be replicated in the new C building happening in two years,” Branisa said. “It wouldn’t be just [Room 30A] room, but it would also be the Tech Office because [Room 30A] is too small.”
Director of Instructional Technology Stephanie Griffin, who is working with Principal Adam Littlefield, Director of Facilities Pete Palmer, and Director of Bond Project Michael Brady on rooming for the influx of computer science students next year, said that the official plan is that Room 30A and the Tech Office will be combined. Griffin said that the prospective S.T.E.A.M. building will not be built in time to provide more space for the increase of computer science students next year.
“The idea is, for the last year or two, we’ve had more student interest in taking computer science classes than we have the physical room for,” Griffin said. “So right now, room 48 and 49 are where we have those labs this year. They’re used, seven periods a day, every day, so we can’t physically accommodate more students.”
Griffin said that this is a good problem to have, in a sense that students are interested in computer science.
“The bad thing is we’ve been turning people away, we’ve turned away over 150 students [from taking computer science classes] in the last two years,” Griffin said.
Griffin said that the room is dual-purpose; aside from alleviating growth in computer science, it will also serve as a prototype for the furniture and other aspects of the future S.T.E.A.M. building.
AP Computer Science Principles student and junior Kieran Linnane said that as long as the use of different classrooms does not interfere with classes already taking place there, it should not be a problem.
“It would be good use of the money we have to spend on technology,” Linnane said.
Another AP Computer Science Principles student, Sophomore Daniela Skov, said that it would be beneficial to provide more space for computer science classes, next year.
“I think it would be great to expand computer rooms in Piedmont because it’s such an important class to take,” Skov said.
Griffin said that a search is underway to room students in the Yearbook and Journalism classes, whose common workroom will be displaced as a result of the plan for rooming more computer science students next year. Griffin said that one possible area for these students might be the math office.
The overall rise in class enrollment is due to students’ general increased interest in the computer science world and technology, Branisa said, as well as by increased promotion of it by counselors. Griffin said it could also be due to the fun teaching style, and because students are interested in having an AP bump in their GPA.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work to build computer science, even from elementary and middle school, so that kids are coming in more exposed,” Griffin said.
Skov said she decided to take the AP Computer Science Principles class after taking Joy of Computing last year.
“My dad has always said computer science is becoming a dominant industry, so it’s important to have some sort of basic computer science knowledge and background,” Skov said.
Senior Lane Bentley said he took AP Computer Science Java last year, to learn how to code, and he is currently taking AP Computer Science Principles.
“I thought it would be interesting to learn about another side to computers, other than coding [in AP Computer Science Principles],” Bentley said. “I’m glad I am taking it because I can learn about computers in a different way.”
Branisa said that the increasing amount of sign-ups for computer science classes can affect other departments and poses challenges because there aren’t enough teachers for the increased class load.
“If enrollment goes up in one class and we now need three teachers to teach it, where did the teacher or the FTE, full time equivalent, come from?” Branisa said.
Branisa also said that every one of the computer science department classes is between 26 to 30 students.
“[That] could make it hard to get all the help you need, but I think Ms. Branisa does a good job of checking in with everyone,” Linnane said.
Bentley said that the fact that his computer class is relatively large can sometimes make for more efficiency.
“It’s big, but we all get along, and it’s really productive,” Bentley said. “I talk to a bunch of people who help.”
Branisa siad that the increase of females in computer science classes is a positive trend.
“When I first started working here it was, 90 percent boys and 10 percent girls in the programming classes, and the other way around in the Exploring Computer science classes,” she said. “[Now,] we have gender parity. It’s made 45 [percent female enrollment], 55 [percent male enrollment] in pretty much every class.”
Griffin said that in 2011, 30 students were taking computer science, as opposed to 336 students taking it this school year. In terms of gender, seven girls were taking computer science in 2011, and now there are 136 girls in computer science courses.
“The computer science industry has made tremendous strides in including women, so I think that at Piedmont a lot more girls have been eager and willing to take computer science,” Skov said.
Linnane also said that the computer science student body in general is becoming a more diverse one.
“It’s been encouraged for everyone to take these classes,” Linnane said.
