Yael Gertner

Teaching

I view teaching as sharing foundational and inspiring content with my students, making it accessible to them, and helping them create a strong base and increased curiosity on which to build as they continue with their unique path of learning into computing. My courses are aimed to broaden participation in computing, to include a population of students that is unique and different in background, maturity level and motivation than the typical undergraduate and graduate computer science students. In order to succeed in my mission to equip these students with computing fundamentals and inspire them to continue learning, I have to think out of the box in redefining learning objectives, in reordering the typical sequence of topics covered, and redesigning assignments. I also built a course structure that helps build a community leading to an increased sense of belonging in the field, and made sure that there are open channels of communication between the students and me.

The iCAN Program

The iCAN program is a one-year, cohort-based, 100% online graduate certificate program where students learn the fundamentals of computing: programming, data structures, and algorithms. The program does not assume any experience with programming. Upon completion, iCAN graduates can enter a high-tech career or further their education in a computer science graduate degree program.

I have developed and taught the following courses for the iCAN program.

• CS 401 Accelerated Fundamentals of Algorithms I
• CS 403 Accelerated Fundamentals of Algorithms II
• CS 491 Excursions in Computing I
• CS 491 Excursions in Computing II

Courses Taught at Illinois

• CS 401 Accelerated Fundamentals of Algorithms I (Fall 2020, Fall 2021*, Fall 2022*, Fall 2023, Fall 2024)
• CS 491 Excursions in Computing I (Fall 2020, Fall 2021*, Fall 2022*, Fall 2023*, Fall 2024)
• CS 403 Accelerated Fundamentals of Algorithms II (Spring 2021, Spring 2022*, Spring 2023, Spring 2024*)
• CS 491 Excursions in Computing II (Spring 2021*, Spring 2022*, Spring 2023*, Spring 2024*)
• CS 173 Discrete Structures (Spring 2020)
• PSYC 423 Language Acquisition (Summer 2008)
• PSYC 216 Child Psych (Fall 2005)

* indicates being listed in the "List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students".