Building an Integrated CS / WebDev Pathway with 🐍

Jeff Elkner | Chris Jones | Monica Lozano Caldera | AT py.grlpwr

PyCon US 2025 Education Summit

Intro / Summary

Intro / Summary

  • Our school has a unique student body, including full- and part-time students
  • We’re developing an integrated CS pathway:
    • With Python as our “lingua franca”
  • Project-based learning:
    • Real projects, real customers
    • Collaboration with professional developers around the world
  • Project Showcase

DEI @ Grace Hopper

  • STEM Girls Cohort
    • One of our initiatives: ACC py.grlpwr

Radical Transparency

You can find everything we do (including these slides) on our website:

https://ict.gctaa.net

CS @ The Grace Hopper Center

Dual Enrollment

  • We’re both Adjuncts at Northern Virginia Community College (“NOVA”)

  • Our students:

    • Earn normal high school credits
    • Sit for industry certification tests
    • Earn 6 college credits per year-long class
    • Connect with resources and faculty at NOVA
    • Graduate high school with an A.S. in CS

Integrated Pathway

  • Tightly-coupled courses
  • Strict pre-requisites
  • Python as our “lingua franca”
  • Emphasis on full-stack web development

Our Courses

Interactive version: https://apscs.org/index.html?school=acc

Project Based Learning

In Theory

  • We love it!
  • Dogfooding - develop projects that help our own communities
  • Technical and durable skills develop together

In Practice

(This part to be presented by AT py.grlpwr)