Multiple sessions at IEEE Quantum Week, which was held September 18-23, 2022, in Colorado, USA, discussed the development of a future, diverse quantum workforce. But, these sessions each discussed different aspects of that workforce development. Therefore, these notes bring those discussions together into a single, high-level summary.
Schools
- Avengers, assemble! Rally your allies before briefing decision makers. Show that you are not the only advocate for quantum education; rather, there is widespread (hopefully) support for it.
- Baby steps. Ask for less upfront, and then gradually ask for more over time. Harkening back to the first point, show that there is not only support for the initiative, but also demand.
- Set a goal. It may be a number of hours in an existing class, an entirely new class, an after school program, a special event, a summer class, an online class, a new graduation requirement, and/or college credits, but be specific.
- Be prepared. Have an already-developed curriculum and a target grade level(s) for it. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; there are a plethora of books out there that can be selected as textbooks, and there is no shortage of coding exercises, either.
Educators
- Educate the educators. We think about what students need to learn, but the first students will actually be the educators who will, in turn, teach those students.
- Overcome objection. Be prepared to overcome concerns about adding to their existing workload. You might have to advocate removing something from the existing curriculum, or modifying something already in the curriculum.
- Be prepared, take 2. Have draft standards and testing ready. One way to alleviate the aforementioned concern is to have as much preparatory work already done as possible.
- Conform to the masses. Where applicable, follow international standards. IEEE Quantum happens to be working on several relevant standards: https://quantum.ieee.org/standards
- Keep it simple. Do NOT bring in university professors; focus on comprehensible material. You want to prepare high school students for university programs, not discourage them from entering the field.
Students
- Light the path forward. Do NOT offer 1-off programs, because they will be left wondering what’s next. Always provide a roadmap with the next steps in their respective journeys.
- Get them involved. Learning does not have to be limited to books and tutorials. In the case of quantum, get students involved in actual research.
- Offer choices. No one learning environment or schedule works for everyone. Offer a range of options, including high school courses, workshops, and summer camps.
- Keep it free. For such things as special events, after-school programs, summer schools, and the like, free tuition is better than granting scholarships. Don’t risk rejection and discouragement.
- Provide guidance. Students at all levels beyond high school struggle with college selection even for conventional majors. Help them out with university and program selection.
- Minimize confusion. Add closed captioning and/or transcripts to any video content in use. This not only reduces confusion when secondary languages are involved, but also when things are simply misheard.
- It’s not all Jupyter notebooks. Broaden your appeal by addressing all aspects of quantum computing, including physics, engineering, and computer science.
These recommendations are obviously not exhaustive, but they can hopefully serve as a good starting point for your community. And, while you’re at it, think big! Depending where you are, these recommendations may be applicable at the state/province or even national levels.
