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Inspiring Tech Context

Dr Marcus Bright Headshot 213591 637e62cb81db6


It would likely not make sense for someone to repeatedly run sprints, do agility drills, and hoist their body into another person for no reason. It isn’t until the context of football and the opportunities that participation in the sport entails that it would make sense for those students who choose to play to engage in it. 

The context around football has been infused with value. There are clear models of success, scholarship opportunities to major universities, lucrative professional contracts, elevated social status, and the potential to dramatically change the economic conditions for themselves and their families in place. These are all aspects that add to the context around the motivation for participation in the sport.

The context of sports and entertainment stardom can inspire extreme levels of practice, perseverance, and production on playing courts and fields. Context addresses the important “for what” question. Dr. Marcus BrightDr. Marcus Bright

The meaning that context provides can make a critical difference in tech educational curriculum like computer science. Coding programs like Python, JavaScript, or even critical subjects like Algebra are much less likely to have relevance to students if there is not a value infused context attached to them. 

Exposure to people who are operating at high levels of tech, their lifestyles, and their workplaces is critical to providing context to the content that students are learning. This context gives relevance to curriculum and study that may otherwise seem disconnected.

I believe that there is a need to intentionally build context around computer science education specifically. The utility of tech skillsets like competence in computer programming languages is multidimensional as it is used to build websites and software applications that operate cellphones, thermostats, airplanes, elevators, video games, social media, and so much more. These items were all brought to us in large part by computer scientists and engineers. This is all a part of tech context. Pretty much everything runs on software nowadays. 

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