This year, Mr. Jason Oswald, GA’s first Computer Science Department Chair, is leaving. Ever since he came to GA he has transformed the computer science curriculum and left a lasting impact.
Before Mr. Oswald first came to GA, the computer Science curriculum was not nearly as developed. There were only a couple of courses that were taught, with it being mostly restricted to juniors and seniors.
Outside the upper school, there was some time set aside for coding in the Lower and Middle schools, but it was fragmented.
“I came in and first started by asking a lot of questions,” Mr Oswald said. “I was talking to the people, in all of the levels, and seeing where things were missing.”
During Mr. Oswald’s time at GA, he has transformed the computer science department by implementing changes that have stretched the reach of computer science to more people in the school.
One of the very first things that he implemented was allowing sophomores, who could fit it in their schedule, the chance to take a computer science class.
Additionally, he created a stacked classroom model that allowed for three openings, instead of one, meaning more people could fit the class into their schedule.
He not only focused on creating more openings for classes, but he also created a larger variety. For example, he created an honors-level computer science class, tempting more people to take the class.
On top of this, Mr. Oswald created a class called Advanced Topics. In this class, students identify problems in the community. Students then utilize computer science to create solutions to these problems.
“One of the changes I am most proud of is the Advanced Topics class,” Mr. Oswald said. “We go and find these problems in the community and develop technologically based solutions.”
Not only has Mr. Oswald created a better computer science curriculum, but he has extended to implementing computer science in the Lower School.
“I worked with the Lower School to refine what they were doing,” Mr. Oswald said. “I worked with individual teachers, I would go to classrooms, and sometimes I would work with individual students.”
In 2019, Mr Oswald, set his focus on the middle school, more specifically 6th graders. He designed a project that paired with an already existing project
“I also worked with Mr. Difranco and Mrs. Kebuagh,” Mr. Oswald said.“I wanted to increase their capacity and the scope of the tech classes in the Middle School.
Outside of the classroom, Mr. Oswald has also made changes. He started Computer Science Education Week, where students are taught many methods to use computer science.
Mr. Oswald had two goals that he would want to accomplish if he stayed at GA.
One of them was to make computer science a graduation requirement.
“I think coding is such a useful skill,” Aidan Gor ‘25, a computer science student said. “I think all people should know on some level how to code.”
He also wanted to get more staff for the computer science department. During his time at GA, he was the only computer science teacher, which led to limited potential. However, future possibilities were unlocked by getting another teacher into the department.
“Mr. Oswald is doing a fantastic job with all the courses and having programming in the Lower, Middle, and Upper School, “Gor said. “But I think it is hard for him to do that because he is the only teacher. It is tough for someone to manage an entire department by themselves.”
Mr. Oswald’s biggest objective in his time at GA was to uplift the computing culture at the school. He has accomplished this goal in so many ways, through creating more classes, refining the computer science curriculum in the Lower School, and implementing new projects for the middle schoolers.
As next year approaches, Mr. Baber will take over Mr. Oswald’s role and keep building on the strong foundation set by Mr. Oswald.