Engaging Equity Pedagogies in Computer Science Learning Environments

In this position paper, we advocate for the use of equity-focused teaching and learning as an essential practice within computer science classrooms. We provide an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of various equity pedagogies (Banks & Banks, 1995), such as culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995, 2006) and share how they have been utilized in CS classrooms. First, we provide a brief history of CS education and issues of equity within public schools in the United States. In sharing our definition of equity, along with our rationale for how and why these strategies can be taken up in computer science (CS) learning environments, we demonstrate how researchers and educators can shift the focus from access and achievement to social justice. After explaining the differences between the relevant theoretical frameworks, we provide practical examples from research of how both practitioners and researchers might use and/or examine equity-focused teaching practices. Resources for further learning are also included

You Do Belong! Transformative Black Women Faculty Recommendations for Broadening Participation in US P-20 Computing Education

   This study aimed to amplify Black women faculty’s recommendations for broadening participation of the next generation of Black girls and women as they matriculate from primary school into advanced graduate degrees (P-20) in computing education (CE). As tenure-track faculty, these transformative women have attained the highest degree (i.e., Ph.D.) in postsecondary CE in the United States (US). To govern the knowledge validation process, I utilized Afrocentric feminist epistemology undergirded by critical race theory and Black feminist thought. Upon conducting thematic analysis, I identified four emergent themes to broaden participation of Black girls and women in computing: 1) improve access, quality, and early exposure to CE, 2) create equitable and equal spaces for Black girls and women, 3) confront unconscious biases of teachers and faculty, and 4) provide mentoring opportunities. As an emerging Black woman scholar, with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and 15 years of industry experience, I had a “unique angle of vision” to interpret and inform this study’s findings. This study builds upon limited knowledge about interventions needed to support Black girls and women in US P-20 computing education.&nbsp

What did the Romans ever do for us? ‘Next generation’ networks and hybrid learning resources

Networked learning is fundamentally concerned with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to link people to people and resources, to support the process of learning. This paper explores some current and forthcoming changes in ICT and some potential implications of these developments for networked learning. Whilst we aim to avoid taking a technologically determinist stance, we explore the potential for future practice and how some educational and pedagogic practices are evolving to exploit and shape the digital environment. We argue that we can change both the ways in which connections between people (learners and other learners; learners and tutors) are made and the nature of the resources that learning communities (particularly distributed communities) can engage with. In doing this we draw on two strands of work. Firstly, we draw on the ‘IBZL Education’ a UK Open University initiative to develop new scholarship in the context of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through which educators are encouraged to think about technological change in the next five to ten years and ways in which we can intervene and shape these developments. We use problem-based learning as an example of a learning experience that can be difficult to implement in a networked learning environment. IBZL identified two broad strands of significant technological development. 'Superfast' broadband networks that are capable of supporting novel applications are being rolled in the UK (and elsewhere). Also, boundaries between the real and virtual worlds are becoming blurred as in the ‘internet of things’ where, for example, RFID tags enable information about the real world to be brought into the virtual one. We use the term ‘artefact’ to describe designed components, whether entirely digital, such as a computer forum, or material, such as a tablet PC. Networked ‘hybrid’ technologies of virtual and material components have may great potential for use in education. Secondly, we illustrate how these changes may be beginning to happen in distance education using the example of TU100 My Digital Life, a new introductory Open University. . TU100 Students use an electronics board in their own homes to work on a programming problem in collaboration other students through a tutor-led tutorial in a web conferencing system. We also note some of the evident complexity that establishing such resources as part of wider infrastructures of networked learning would be likely to involve

Degree Completion of Underrepresented Minorities Majoring in Mathematics as a Function of Undergraduate Student Programs

Abstract Students with disabilities, minorities, and women are underrepresented in the critical demand courses of study in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) undergraduate college enrollment. Institutions of higher education in the United States of America are challenged with a continuous need for undergraduate students to choose and earn a STEM degree. The 2019 annual report of Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering indicated these groups continue to be disproportionately underrepresented relative to the U.S. population. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education reported that upon graduation students studying mathematics in college have higher employment rates and salaries as compared to other college majors. National, federal, state, nonprofit, and private programs aimed at increasing underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate degree completion and integrating student involvement through delivery of targeted programs are active in trying to meet this demand for STEM college to career. A causal comparative quantitative research design was utilized to analyze the program and degree completion of African American students at colleges and universities seeking an undergraduate degree in mathematics. The researcher used Alexander W. Astin’s theory of student involvement (1984) to examine elements of program delivery. The analyses indicate a statistically significant finding for degree completion at the colleges and universities which completed proposals and were awarded funding to initiate a program. The results of the independent samples t-test p \u3c 0.001 and a Hedges’ g large effect size = 0.8 suggests that colleges and universities advocate to access and implement the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program to increase URM degree completion integrating as core the student involvement. Based on the results of the study, the future research of comparable programs for other underrepresented groups, such as students with disabilities and undergraduate majors, such as engineering are recommended

Chicago Alliance For Equity in Computer Science

Each year, about 14,000 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students graduate with one year of high school computer science (CS) in fulfillment of the district’s CS graduation requirement. This accomplishment was the culmination of a decade of work by the Chicago Alliance for Equity in Computer Science (CAFÉCS), which includes CPS teachers and administrators, university CS faculty, and educational researchers. CAFÉCS research indicates that CPS significantly increased the capacity of schools to offer the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) introductory course, resulting in a rapid, equitable increase in students’ participation in CS. Making CS mandatory did not negatively impact performance in ECS. Students after the graduation requirement were also equally likely to be inspired to take additional CS coursework, thus doubling the number of students pursuing CS pathways. A large number of these students are now attending the City Colleges of Chicago with increased interest in CS. Recently, CAFÉCS launched a collaboration with Wright College (one of the City Colleges) and Mentor Collective to support students as they transition from CPS to the city colleges. A pilot group of 17 Wright College students are receiving peer mentoring from students at UIC and DePaul

ATE Impacts 2018-2019

The ATE Impacts book, published every two years by Internet Scout Research, showcases all of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers and selected nominated projects. The NSF ATE program focuses on the education of highly-qualified science and engineering technicians for advanced technology fields. Through the program's grant process, the NSF promotes the improvement of STEM education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels, and in the workforce. The 2018-2019 ATE Impacts book marks the 25th anniversary of the NSF ATE program and offers an in-depth overview of the work done by the ATE community. This book includes a timeline of important achievements and events, a foreword by the program director, additional ATE program history, and information about ATE program Centers and a number of projects.Â

Spaces for interactive engagement or technology for differential academic participation? Google Groups for collaborative learning at a South African University

Published ArticleThe rhetoric on the potential of Web 2.0 technologies to democratize online engagement of students often overlooks the discomforting, differential participation and asymmetrical engagement that accompanies student adoption of emerging technologies. This paper, therefore, constitutes a critical reality check for student adoption of technology to the extent that it explores the potential of Google Groups (i.e. self-organised online groups) to leverage collaborative engagement and balanced participation of students with minimal educator support. Community of Inquiry and a case study approach involving in-depth interviews with racially mixed students and Google Group artifacts were drawn upon as theoretical and methodological lenses for examining the equality of participation, academic rigor and complexity of engagement in Google Groups. Study findings were mixed: a semblance of authentic peer-based engagements, emergent academic networking, and inter-racial communication in Google Groups was juxtaposed with gender asymmetries in participation, dominance of group administrators’ postings and shallow collaborative engagements. The study, therefore, recommends actively engaged Group leaders who steer gender and racially balanced engagements, scaffold peer on-task behavior; including a sound pedagogical strategy anchored in collaborative problem-solving; authentic construction of knowledge; effective completion of collaborative tasks by students; and constructive assessments by the educator and peers

Reinventing learning: a design-research odyssey

Design research is a broad, practice-based approach to investigating problems of education. This approach can catalyze the development of learning theory by fostering opportunities for transformational change in scholars’ interpretation of instructional interactions. Surveying a succession of design-research projects, I explain how challenges in understanding students’ behaviors promoted my own recapitulation of a historical evolution in educators’ conceptualizations of learning—Romantic, Progressivist, and Synthetic (Schön, Intuitive thinking? A metaphor underlying some ideas of educational reform (working paper 8). Division for Study and Research in Education, MIT, Cambridge, 1981)—and beyond to a proposed Systemic view. In reflection, I consider methodological adaptations to design-research practice that may enhance its contributions in accord with its objectives

The Impact of Exploring Computer Science in Wisconsin: Where Disadvantage is an Advantage

Assessing the impact of regional or statewide interventions in primary and secondary school (K-12) computer science (CS) education is difficult for a variety of reasons. Qualitative survey data provide only a limited view of impacts, but quantitative data can be notoriously difficult to acquire at scale from large numbers of classrooms, schools, or local educational authorities. In this paper, we use several publicly available data sources to glean insights into public high school CS enrollments across an entire U.S. state. Course enrollments with NCES course codes and local descriptors, school-level demographic data, and school geographic attendance boundaries can be combined to highlight where CS offerings persist and thrive, how CS enrollments change over time, and the ultimate quantitative impact of a statewide intervention. We propose a more appropriate level of data aggregation for these types of quantitative studies than has been undertaken in previous work while demonstrating the importance of a contextual aggregation process. The results of our disparate impact analysis for the first time quantify the impact of a statewide Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program rollout on economic groups across the region. Our blueprint for this analysis can serve as a template to guide and assess large-scale K-12 CS interventions wherever detailed project evaluation methods cannot scale to encompass the entire study area, especially in cases where attribute heterogeneity is a significant issue

Identifying factors which enhance capacity to engage in clinical education among podiatry practitioners: an action research project

BACKGROUND: Health profession students develop practical skills whilst integrating theory with practice in a real world environment as an important component of their training. Research in the area of practice placements has identified challenges and barriers to the delivery of effective placement learning. However, there has been little research in podiatry and the question of which factors impact upon clinical educators’ capacity to engage with the role remains an under-researched area. This paper presents the second phase of an action research project designed to determine the factors that impact upon clinical educators’ capacity to engage with the mentorship role. METHODS: An online survey was developed and podiatry clinical educators recruited through National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. The survey included socio-demographic items, and questions relating to the factors identified as possible variables influencing clinical educator capacity; the latter was assessed using the ‘Clinical Educator Capacity to Engage’ scale (CECE). Descriptive statistics were used to explore demographic data whilst the relationship between the CECE and socio-demographic factors were examined using inferential statistics in relation to academic profile, career profile and organisation of the placement. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 42 % (n = 66). Multiple linear regression identified four independent variables which explain a significant proportion of the variability of the dependent variable, ‘capacity to engage with clinical education’, with an adjusted R(2) of 0.428. The four variables were: protected mentorship time, clinical educator relationship with university, sign-off responsibility, and volunteer status. CONCLUSION: The identification of factors that impact upon clinical educators’ capacity to engage in mentoring of students has relevance for strategic planning and policy-making with the emphasis upon capacity-building at an individual level, so that the key attitudes and characteristics that are linked with good clinical supervision are preserved