The Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM), together with VKontakte and MIPT, are launching a free educational course about computer science for school teachers. Students will learn the basics of machine learning, IT project management and pupils motivation. Teachers who complete the course will receive a certificate of professional development. 

The course will be hosted on the Stepik.org platform. It consists of 21 videos, each of which is devoted to a separate topic - classes can be completed at a convenient pace until August 24. Participating teachers will receive homework assignments and materials for additional study, and a chat will be organized in a special VKontakte community to exchange experience and clarify issues.

The GSOM team in the project was presented by Margarita A. Gladkova, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Operational Management, Academic Director of the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data program, along with Tatyana Bobrus, Visiting Lecturer at GSOM, General Director of SAMSONOWA & Partners, and Olga Ignatyeva, an alumna of GSOM, Specialist in Business Development at SAMSONOWA & Partners. They will provide lectures on IT project management.

Any teacher can register for the course by following the link: https://stepik.org/course/71439/promo 

“We at GSOM share the project’s idea  that in order to improve the quality of education, it is necessary to support and improve the qualifications of those who provide education. At the same time, technical specialists also need knowledge of management ,and primarily project management. Furthermore, it is also possible to teach these subjects to school children. Therefore, to make the course more useful, we also talk about how IT project management methods can be applied directly to school projects, ” said Margarita Gladkova. 

The course is divided into three modules. During the first eight weeks, teachers will study the theoretical foundations of machine learning and consider examples used by VKontakte. The next two weeks will be devoted to IT project management - teachers will learn how to build projects from scratch and will receive methodological recommendations with which they can transfer skills to students. The last lesson will deal with the question of the motivation of students. Experts will share with teachers their experience in finding effective ways to work with students and maintain their attention.

“GSOM SPbU pays great attention to projects that are at the intersection of various sciences and involve cross-functional teams of professionals. It is such projects that are the source of new knowledge, ideas and discoveries. Especially important are such initiatives in the field of education and computer science. Management has an important position in this process: it is precisely these specialists who can speak the language of programmers and at the same time possess the soft managerial skills that are in demand on the market now more than ever. We are pleased to be part of this important project and work with professionals such as colleagues from MIPT and VKontakte, ” said Konstantin Krotov, Head of School. 

“Machine learning is one of the most high-tech and promising areas in IT. But in order to become a good ML-specialist, you need to study a lot and for a long time. We believe that computer science teachers could involve pupils in sphere of machine learning directly in the classroom. We conducted a survey among teachers of computer science, identified the most interesting and important areas, and also learned in which formats teachers most often learn new information. Based on these data, it was possible to create a program that develops not only professional, but also “soft skills” that are so important for teachers,” said Pavel Kalaidin, Director of Research in the Field of Artificial Intelligence, VKontakte. 

Earlier, GSOM experts from St. Petersburg University took part in recording a course of eight lectures on the basics of doing business in IT companies for the VK Cup project.