Computer science apprenticeship

One of the old and effective ways of training is the apprenticeship way. The effectiveness of training people in the workplace comes from different reasons. One reason may be the engagement of the apprentice in real-world problems. Another reason may be the close presence of the supervisor who provides the apprentice with scaffolding along the training process. Typically, at the beginning of the process the apprentice can't perform a lot without the scaffolding support, and towards the end of the process, scaffolding fades and the apprentice is capable of performing tasks alone. Industry and academia could benefit from this kind of model to ease the transition of undergraduate students from school to work and within each community, the transition from one level to a higher one. The authors have created a computerized apprenticeship on the Web for computer science education. It integrates the modules: 'Interactive Notes', 'Case Library', 'Problem-Solving Activities' and a 'Collaboration' module. They have focused on computer graphics as the first subject.