Abolitionist Computer Science Teaching: Moving from Access to Justice

In this episode I unpack Ivey et al.’s (2021) publication titled “Abolitionist computer science teaching: Moving from access to justice,” which argues that the field of CS education can use abolitionist pedagogical practices to move from focusing on access to focusing on the full humanity of students.

  • Welcome back to another episode of the

    CSK8 podcast my name is jared o'leary

    each episode of this podcast is either

    an interview with a guest or multiple

    guests or a solo episode where i unpack

    some scholarship in relation to computer

    science education

    in this week's episode i unpacked the

    paper titled abolitionist computer

    science teaching

    colon moving from access to justice this

    particular paper was written by allison

    ivey

    stephanie running hawk johnson max

    gorodinsky

    jimmy snyder and joanna goode apologies

    if i mispronounced any names

    all right so here's the abstract for

    this paper quote as high school computer

    science course offerings have expanded

    over the past decade

    gaps in race and gender have remained

    this study embraces the all

    in the cs for all movement by shifting

    beyond access and toward abolitionist

    computer science teaching

    using data from professional development

    observations and interviews we lift the

    voices of bypoc cs teachers and bring

    together a tenant put forth by love for

    abolitionist teaching along with how

    these tenants map onto the work

    occurring in cs classrooms our findings

    indicate the importance of bipoc teacher

    representation in cs classrooms and ways

    abolitionist teaching tenants can inform

    educators efforts at moving beyond

    broadening participation and toward

    radical inclusion

    educational reform and

    self-determination for all

    in quote now by the way the word love is

    an author's last name and by poc stands

    for

    black indigenous people of color just in

    case you hadn't heard of the term or

    haven't heard of bettina love

    all right so if i were to summarize this

    paper into a single sentence i would

    say that this paper argues that the

    field of cs education can use

    abolitionist pedagogical practices

    to move from focusing on access to

    focusing on the full humanity of

    students all right if you're interested

    in actually reading this paper i do

    include a link to it in the show notes

    which you can find at jared o'leary.com

    and clicking on the podcast tab where

    you will also find some

    other resources such as the interview

    that i did with one of the authors

    joanna good

    and links to hundreds if not thousands

    of free resources that i have created or

    curated on my website

    including a link to boot up pd.org which

    has a 100 free coding curriculum that i

    continue to develop

    all right the last plug that i'll give

    before unpacking this particular paper

    is that if you're interested in being a

    guest on the show

    click the contact me button on my

    website and we can schedule a recording

    at a time that works best for both of us

    and it can be months down the road you

    can also contact me if you're interested

    in doing some collaborations on

    any upcoming grants all right so let's

    dive into this particular paper

    so in the intro section in the purpose

    the authors mentioned

    that quote cs has one of the most

    pronounced racial participation gaps of

    any subject in high school

    in terms of enrollment and achievement a

    gap that continues to become more

    pronounced in college and in industry

    professions

    this racial gap however extends beyond

    the students who are

    granted access to cs courses to also

    include the teachers in these classrooms

    end quote from pdf page one so the

    authors know that there

    are many people who are trying to raise

    this issue and to

    center things around i see us for all

    movement however the authors mentioned

    that this movement

    quote has been focused on notions of

    equity in terms of access to and

    participation in

    existing classes without taking into

    account the pedagogical commitments

    being centered

    end quote which is an excellent point so

    yes we

    have been focusing on more access so

    having more course offerings in schools

    that's wonderful but once you actually

    have kids in the classroom

    you need to also think of the resources

    that you're using and the pedagogies

    that you are using

    so for example i did a previous

    unpacking scholarship episode where i

    talked about how

    the imagery in the curriculum can have

    an impact on

    whether or not students feel welcome or

    included

    or have a place in cs as a field so i'll

    include a link to that particular

    episode in the show notes if you have

    not listened to that one yet but this

    particular

    paper is talking about pedagogy alright

    so the authors mentioned

    in their section two which is discussing

    a theoretical framework that

    we as a field need to center anti-racism

    within the curriculum and within our

    pedagogy now at the time of this writing

    there was not much guidance

    on what does that actually look like but

    the episode that i did two weeks ago

    that unpacks the k-pop center's recent

    framework

    on culturally responsive sustaining cs

    education

    is a framework that has some discussions

    on anti-racism within the classroom so

    make sure you check out that episode

    and that particular resource if you

    haven't listened to that one yet because

    it does expand upon some of the ideas

    mentioned in this particular paper

    now the authors also mentioned on pages

    one and two that

    even though that the field is

    encouraging people to think of

    cs from a critical lens examine like

    power relationships and dynamics

    and to discuss like the social cultural

    and political contexts and whatnot

    within the classrooms and in particular

    within marginalized

    or minoritized groups quote the field of

    cs predominantly centers a eurocentric

    perspective with little attention paid

    to teachers or students who exist

    outside of the mythical computing

    identity norm of white

    middle class and male end quote while

    many would argue that these trends are

    the very foundation of schooling in

    general it is especially prevalent

    within the field of cs as white men tend

    to dominate the space both within

    education and industry

    end quote now on this point i actually

    respectfully disagree so i did an

    episode a while back

    on another kapoor center report so this

    one is

    the computer science teacher landscape

    and it's results of a nationwide teacher

    survey

    and so in that particular report they

    found that on average

    so that aligns with what they are

    discussing here however 64

    of educators identify as a female

    and within elementary space that's 78

    identifies female

    in middle school it's 70 and in high

    school it's 55 so even though the

    percentage of

    males across computer science education

    is higher than

    other teacher demographics so for

    example teaching as a whole or other

    specific subject areas

    men in this particular scenario are

    actually still

    the minoritized gender group which by

    the way that report does not mention

    trans non-binary individuals i kind of

    unpack that a little bit in the

    podcast that i do on that but that being

    said the overall point is that

    yes there is this myth of what computer

    science education and educators look

    like

    but in education it's actually white

    women who tend to teach it more

    whereas in industry it's white men who

    tend to be in

    industry at least according to some of

    the data that i've been able to look at

    like in the

    report that i mentioned and some other

    areas all right so here's a quote from

    pdf page two

    quote when framing the goal of cs for

    all as merely access

    many students of color find themselves

    in cs classroom spaces

    where teachers predominantly engage in

    colorblind rhetoric a form of systemic

    violence which minimizes

    and erases their histories and lived

    experiences end quote alright

    so the idea of colorblind we could do

    several podcasts just kind of unpacking

    this but colorblind is the idea of oh

    well i don't see the color of your skin

    or i don't see your race or your

    ethnicity and while the intent

    hopefully is good and that you're trying

    to say oh well i'm not going to treat

    you as a demographic i'm going to treat

    you as an individual that can

    also have a negative effect because it

    can deny

    somebody's identity if they do identify

    that way and that is a part of

    their cultures or themselves as a

    multiplicity

    so in other words if i identify as a

    white individual

    and somebody says oh i don't see you as

    white i don't really

    necessarily want to talk about or

    explore your whiteness

    in the classroom that is a form of

    colorblind and it can erase

    my identity or cultures if i held

    whiteness

    as a key part of who i am as an

    individual which by the way i don't i

    tend to not include

    heritable traits within my own core

    identities

    so for example i'll identify as a

    percussionist or drummer

    long before i'll identify as a

    non-binary individual

    alright so a little bit further on the

    author's mention more of bettina loves

    quotes so here's a quote on abolitionist

    education and so this is from page two

    quote abolitionist educator love

    describes abolitionist teaching as

    trying to restore humanity for kids in

    schools arguing that

    abolitionist teachers are willing to put

    their reputation home

    and lives on the line for other people's

    children love goes on to frame this way

    of teaching and being as the choice to

    engage in the struggle for educational

    justice

    through a variety of means including a

    refusal to uphold policies and practices

    that dehumanize dark children

    while being committed to calling out

    teachers who engage in such behavior by

    acknowledging the history of

    unjust and dehumanizing treatment of

    dark children within schools

    abolitionist teaching creates space for

    black joy love

    and solidarity and the fight to ensure

    that all students can thrive end quote

    so in other words

    abolitionist teaching goes a bit above

    and beyond just

    allowing a space for that conversation

    being like a

    what love would describe as like a

    co-conspirator i am here to

    assist you in this fight against the

    struggle

    so i am not just an ally but i am

    actually here putting things on the line

    so one of the examples discussed with

    martin erbach

    in the podcast that i did with them is

    talking about how somebody was going to

    tase a pole

    where a person was climbing up it a

    metal pole and so

    a a white individual put their hand on

    that pole so that would have to taste

    both of them

    so rather than just being an ally saying

    hey don't do that thing the

    co-conspirator would say hey if you're

    going to harm them you're also going to

    harm me so hopefully that explanation

    from the authors is useful to you

    but martine erbach's description of it

    might also be useful

    so i'd recommend checking out that

    interview which i'll link to in the show

    notes

    all right so the next section of the

    paper the methods section so this talks

    about

    okay so this took place over a couple of

    years it was professional development

    around the exploring computer science

    curriculum and they used field notes and

    some interviews

    etc but these conversations took place

    outside of the pd so it was like

    on breaks or during lunches after

    workshops things like that all right so

    the next section talks about the

    different data sources and then the

    following section talks about the actual

    results so in particular they provide

    some examples of interview data for each

    one of the

    abolitionist teaching tenants that i'm

    about to mention so if you want to check

    out the

    interview data check out the actual link

    to this article in the show notes all

    right so here's a quote from page

    three and it's again referring to

    bettina love quote love describes a

    number of ways in which

    abolitionist teachers can engage in this

    work the results of our study show that

    bipoxy us teachers are already embedding

    many of these described tenants within

    their teaching such as

    an understanding that mattering is

    essential for students within their

    classroom

    and acknowledgement that there is a need

    to move beyond gimmicks and toolboxes

    that claim to solve all the education's

    achievement gaps

    a general refusal to take part in zero

    tolerance policies and instead an

    engagement in deep relationship and

    community building through restorative

    justice mindset both the desire and

    capacity to call out deficit

    perspectives within school buildings by

    teachers and administrators

    and an acknowledgement of historical and

    systemic injustice discussed

    intentionally through the curriculum and

    embedded alongside cs concepts end quote

    it's from page three so on the first

    tenets so mattering is essential so

    not only mattering like who they are as

    an individual but what they do as

    individuals

    matters and so encouraging kids to

    understand that by humanizing them and

    not saying oh you're irrelevant because

    you are ex-demographic or why

    demographic

    this can be especially beneficial if

    that particular demographic is not

    often represented within the field of cs

    either in industry or in media or

    wherever

    so the next tenant moving past gimmicks

    so there are often these like best

    practices ideas of oh if you just do

    this one thing then it's going to like

    solve all equity issues in your

    classroom while that one thing might

    assist

    in some way it's likely not going to

    solve everything indefinitely

    so the refusing to take part in zero

    tolerance policies tenant

    is basically saying like hey instead of

    saying

    you did a b or c thing so therefore this

    is the punishment you get

    it's actually looking at it and going oh

    well what led to that person doing a b

    and c

    how did their home life impact this how

    did their school life impact this

    how did other people impact this so

    trying to understand

    contexts rather than just issuing out

    punishments

    that don't take into account those

    contacts so the next tenant of calling

    out deficit perspectives so an example

    of a deficit perspective might be like

    oh well this

    particular demographic can't learn how

    to do computer science

    and while that might sound outlandish

    and you're like okay jared people don't

    actually say that

    i respectfully disagree so like in music

    education there is a

    administrator at a well-known national

    music education organization who made a

    comment about

    like a particular demographic could not

    make music

    as well as others and probably shouldn't

    study it basically this is somebody in

    charge of

    a large national organization for music

    education

    and they held a deficit perspective that

    certain individuals could not

    participate so an example in cs along

    those particular lines might be like oh

    well that

    particular demographic or those

    particular kids they can't do

    like project-based coding they need to

    instead go through

    problem-based or puzzle-based because

    they're just not

    able to create they needed to just solve

    problems that would be a deficit

    perspective

    and then the last tenet of acknowledging

    historical and systemic injustices

    this is an ongoing thing that we need to

    continue to highlight

    and again that kpoor center's recent

    framework on culturally responsive

    sustaining education

    is something that i point to to explore

    how to acknowledge

    historical and systemic injustices in

    the classroom again i link to that in

    the show notes

    all right so the last section is just

    basically discussing the significance of

    this in relation to other scholarship so

    i'm going to read one more quote from

    page four

    quote teachers cs content knowledge and

    pedagogical content knowledge alone is

    insufficient in confronting

    and dismantling race-related

    participation gaps in cs

    expanding our notion of the all in cs

    for all must necessarily move beyond

    considerations of all bodies

    having access to cs and also embrace

    anti-racist pedagogy that supports the

    full humanity of

    all cs students including nurturing

    their entire self

    mind body and spirit this shift asks the

    teachers to get comfortable with feeling

    uncomfortable

    as they engage in a collective struggle

    to create cs classrooms where all

    students can thrive

    end quote now that last particular

    sentence talking about getting

    comfortable with feeling uncomfortable

    as you're doing this work is something

    that really relates to me

    as this podcast has over many times

    for me been very uncomfortable recording

    some things because

    of the canceled culture that goes on

    right now

    and has been going on for years there

    have been episodes honestly where i've

    been

    afraid of people taking the things that

    i say

    out of context so for example taking the

    middle sentence in a paragraph of

    discussions

    or eliminating out the disclaimer that i

    give before i say something that might

    be controversial

    especially in this like polarized and

    political climate that we kind of have

    been existing in for

    years now i will say as an individual

    with one perspective on this

    as uncomfortable as it has been sharing

    these things and that like anxiety of

    like oh no

    is this going to blow up on me it has

    been good

    for me to at least explore these topics

    more

    and to do so in a public way as i know

    some people have listened to this and

    gone oh

    i now better understand this because you

    shared this particular topic or you were

    vulnerable with your

    genuine thoughts on whatever it was the

    thing that was interesting to them now

    that being said there have been some

    people who have reached out

    expressing their appreciation because of

    the things that i've brought up on here

    and just like openly voicing some of my

    oh here's my wonderment or here's a

    thing that i've been still considering

    after having read this particular set of

    scholarships so hopefully we can start

    shifting that pendulum back to having

    open conversations where we as a field

    can actually say

    oh i don't actually understand why you

    said this or i don't understand

    what this particular thing means but i

    honestly think the only way that we can

    do that is by continuing to engage in

    discussions with people we might

    disagree with but after that rant i now

    want to share some of my lingering

    questions or thoughts

    i do this after each one of the

    unpacking scholarship episodes because i

    wanted to share oh here are some of the

    things that i'm still

    thinking through after having read a

    particular article

    the first question that i'm still

    continuing to think through is

    what other abolitionist practices are

    missing from this article that you might

    recommend while the

    recommendations in here are great what

    else might you recommend this is from a

    narrow subset of

    cs educators who took the exploring

    computer science professional

    development so

    there likely are some things that were

    not mentioned that you might be engaging

    in if you have some ideas of

    abolitionist practices that you would

    recommend i'd recommend sharing them

    with others

    either using like hashtags on the social

    medias posting them in groups

    or just engaging in conversations with

    other cs educators that you know now

    another question that i have is how

    might these pedagogical practices inform

    how you consider other demographic

    categories besides race and ethnicity

    alone so what i mean by this

    is i think it's great to center

    anti-racist

    practices in the classroom but there's

    an interview that's coming up that i'm

    doing

    with jesse rathgaber that talks about

    anti-ableist practices

    so you'll learn more about that in that

    particular episode but ableism is the

    idea that

    it's a discrimination against somebody

    with a disability so anti-ableist

    practices

    are practices that confront some of the

    biases around disabilities and

    disability culture so what are the

    pedagogical practices that are similar

    to

    the practices discussed in this article

    that might relate to

    other demographic categories like gender

    or disability

    or socioeconomic status or primary

    language

    spoken at home etc now here's another

    one of those questions that i'm going to

    openly share out loud

    and i hope it's not ever taken out of

    context so just sharing a thought that i

    have is

    when is centering a demographic or

    genetic characteristic a form of

    axiological colonization

    so axiological colonization by the way

    it's the idea of colonizing a set of

    values

    so saying like if i am a colonizer i

    will say

    i value this thing and i expect you to

    value it as well even if you don't i'm

    going to

    make you value this particular thing

    whatever that may be

    so as an example if i were a cs student

    my gender identity is non-binary

    which is within the trans community so

    it's a marginalized group or at least

    underrepresented

    but even though i have that identity i

    honestly don't think about it nearly as

    much as other people do

    because it's not as high a priority for

    how i personally identify

    as it is for other people in particular

    cisgendered individuals who are

    very well meaning one of the reasons why

    i bring it up in the podcast is because

    i'm trying to normalize it more

    but it's honestly not something that i

    think about i have to go out of my way

    to

    bring it up but again if i'm a cs

    student and we focus on this particular

    demographic category within a class is

    that a form

    of colonizing values axiological

    colonization

    by forcing a way of valuing upon

    individuals so if i had to create

    computer science projects around my

    gender identity

    even though that's not something that i

    am really interested in doing

    is that a form of axiological

    colonization so i share this to say that

    yes it's great to take into account

    different pedagogies but we can't make

    the assumption

    that just because somebody identifies a

    particular way that that is something

    that they

    want to focus on so while i totally

    agree with

    what the authors are mentioning in this

    article i think it's great i think we

    need to

    engage in abolitionist practices we

    can't assume just because somebody

    identifies within a demographic that

    it's something that they necessarily

    want to explore

    so while i might write publications and

    do some presentations on transculture

    and i'll mention it in the podcast i

    don't necessarily want to create a cs

    project around that i'd rather make one

    around music or video games or whatever

    but if an educator were to simply say

    i had the option to do any of those then

    cool that allows people to express

    themselves how they want to rather than

    forcing a particular topic

    that kids are supposed to express

    themselves on in cs education i hope

    that makes sense

    if not please let me know and i can

    elaborate it on a future podcast all

    right so those are three of my lingering

    thoughts after this particular article

    i do highly recommend reading it and i'm

    curious what you think if you have a

    topic

    that you'd like to talk about on this

    podcast that hasn't been discussed yet

    please let me know i'm always interested

    in getting some more scholars and

    practitioners

    on the podcast so press the contact me

    button at jaredaler.com if you enjoyed

    this particular episode please consider

    sharing with another cs educator or

    leaving a review on whatever podcast app

    you're listening to this on stay tuned

    next week for another podcast and until

    then i hope you're all staying safe and

    are having a wonderful week

Article

Ivey, A., RunningHawk Johnson, S., Skorodinsky, M., Snyder, J., & Goode, J. (2021). Abolitionist Computer Science Teaching: Moving from Access to Justice. Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Computing (RESPECT), 1–4.


Abstract

“As high school computer science course offerings have expanded over the past decade, gaps in race and gender have remained. This study embraces the “All” in the “CS for All” movement by shifting beyond access and toward abolitionist computer science teaching. Using data from professional development observations and interviews, we lift the voices of BIPOC CS teachers and bring together tenets put forth by Love (2019) for abolitionist teaching along with how these tenets map onto the work occurring in CS classrooms. Our findings indicate the importance of BIPOC teacher representation in CS classrooms and ways abolitionist teaching tenets can inform educator’s efforts at moving beyond broadening participation and toward radical inclusion, educational freedom, and self-determination, for ALL.”


Author Keywords

Computer science teaching, social justice, abolitionist teaching, critical computer science pedagogies


My One Sentence Summary

This paper argues that the field of CS education can use abolitionist pedagogical practices to move from focusing on access to focusing on the full humanity of students.


Some Of My Lingering Questions/Thoughts

  • What other abolitionist practices are missing from this article that you might recommend?

  • How might these pedagogical practices inform how you consider other demographic categories besides race/ethnicity alone?

  • When is centering a demographic or genetic characteristic a form of axiological colonization?


Resources/Links Relevant to This Episode

  • Other podcast episodes that were mentioned or are relevant to this episode

    • Applications of Affinity Space Characteristics in [Computer Science] Education

      • In this episode I unpack my (2020) publication titled “Applications of affinity space characteristics in music education,” which has twelve characteristics of informal learning spaces that I will discuss in relation to computer science education.

    • Abolitionist Computer Science Teaching: Moving from Access to Justice

      • In this episode I unpack Ivey et al.’s (2021) publication titled “Abolitionist computer science teaching: Moving from access to justice,” which argues that the field of CS education can use abolitionist pedagogical practices to move from focusing on access to focusing on the full humanity of students.

    • Breaking the Code: Confronting Racism in Computer Science through Community, Criticality, and Citizenship

      • In this episode I unpack Yadav and Heath’s (2022) publication titled “Breaking the code: Confronting racism in computer science through community criticality, and citizenship,” which articulates some biases in CS curricular design and pedagogy, then provides three suggestions for teaching CS as an agenda for social reconstruction.

    • Culturally Responsive School Leadership: A Synthesis of Literature

      • In this episode I unpack Khalifa, Gooden, and Davis’ (2016) publication titled “Culturally responsive school leadership: A synthesis of the literature,” which summarizes and synthesizes literature on culturally responsive school leadership as it relates to principals in urban schools.

    • Culturally Responsive-sustaining Computer Science Education: A Framework

      • In this episode I unpack the Kapor Center’s (2021) publication titled “Culturally responsive-sustaining computer science education: A framework,” which describes multiple courses of action for six core components of culturally responsive-sustaining CS education.

    • Decolonizing Education through SEL and PBL with Matinga Ragatz

      • In this interview with Matinga Ragatz, we discuss Matinga’s journey into education, creating environments where kids can learn through struggle, the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL), how schools promote individualism and exceptionalism, the intersections of project-based learning and SEL, decolonizing education, the importance of shared values in education, and so much more.

    • Depression, Suicide, and Computer Science Education

      • In honor of national suicide prevention week, in this week’s episode I read a paper I wrote on the topic of depression, suicide, and computer science education. This paper is formatted into the following sections: 1) A vignette on my own experiences coping with depression and suicide; 2) Statistics on depression and suicide as it relates to various populations computer science educators work with; 3) A vignette of a computer science educator helping a student through depression and suicidal thoughts; 4) Risk factors and warning signs; 5) Suggestions for providing support; 6) A vignette from a computer science educator's perspective on a student who committed suicide; and 7) Closing thoughts.

    • Education for Liberation with Martin Urbach

      • In this interview with Martin Urbach, we discuss the importance of intentionality in education, exploring the social/political/historical contexts that can be explored in an educational experience, student choice and agency in the design of a space or experience, how to fight oppressive systems in education from the inside, committing to continuing to learn and grow on a daily basis, and much more.

    • Eliminating Gender Bias in Computer Science Education Materials

      • In this episode I unpack Medel and Pournaghshband’s (2017) publication titled “Eliminating gender bias in computer science education materials,” which examines three examples of “how stereotypes about women can manifest themselves through class materials” (p. 411)

    • Exploring (Dis)Ability and Connecting with the Arts with Jesse Rathgeber

      • In this interview with Jesse Rathgeber, we discuss what educators should know about (dis)ability culture and research, person-first language vs identity-first language, suggestions for combating ableism through anti-ableist practices, how the arts and CS can come together and learn from each other (great for sharing with arts educators who might be interested in CS), and much more.

    • Exploring Computer Science with Joanna Goode

      • In this interview with Joanna Goode, we discuss corporate influence through neoliberal practices in CS education, reflecting on engaging all students in CS programs, considerations around equity and inclusion in CS education, layers of curriculum design and implementation, discussing and problematizing integration, influences of policy and administrative support (or the lack of) on CS education, Joanna’s experience with developing Exploring Computer Science, and much more.

    • How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

      • In this episode I provide a framework for how districts and educators can get started with computer science education for free.

    • "I Can’t Breathe" show notes

      • Rather than listen to this week’s planned unpacking scholarship episode, please take the time to learn from the anti-racism resources in the show notes, then share and respectfully discuss them with others.

    • Intersections of Cultural Capital with Kimberly Scott

      • In this interview with Kimberly Scott, we discuss some of the problems with discourse around grit, students as techno-social change agents, teaching with culturally responsive approaches in communities that are hostile toward culturally responsive pedagogies, unpacking discourse and Discourse, considering both present and future identities when teaching, potential disconnects between theory and practice with intersectional work, comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comforted, and so much more.

    • Nicki Washington is Unapologetically Dope

      • In this interview with Nicki Washington, we discuss the importance of cultural competency, expanding beyond “diversity” by focusing on creating inclusive and equitable environments, learning from people and scholarship outside of the field, lessons learned working with CS educators across the country, lessons learned while teaching during a pandemic, focusing on the humanity in computer science education, and much more.

    • Racial Justice Amidst the Dangers of Computing Creep: A Dialogue

      • In this episode I unpack Shah and Yadav’s (2023) publication titled “Racial justice amidst the dangers of computer creep: A dialogue,” which presents a dialogue that problematizes issues around racial justice in computing education.

    • Re-examining Inequalities in Computer Science Participation from a Bourdieusian Sociological Perspective

      • In this episode I unpack Kallia and Cutts’ (2021) publication titled “Re-examining inequalities in computer science participation from a Bourdieusian sociological perspective,” which uses Bourdieu’s discussions of capital, habitus, and field to analyze 147 publications on CS interventions.

    • Rhizomatic Learning with Catherine Bornhorst, Jon Stapleton, and Katie Henry

      • In this panel discussion with Catherine Bornhorst, Jon Stapleton, and Katie Henry, we discuss what rhizomatic learning is and looks like in formalized educational spaces, affordances and constraints of rhizomatic learning, how to support individual students within a group setting, standards and rhizomatic learning, why few people know and use rhizomatic learning approaches, how to advocate for and learn more about rhizomatic learning, and much more.

    • The Computer Science Teacher Landscape: Results of a Nationwide Teacher Survey

      • In this episode I unpack Koshy, Martin, Hinton, Scott, Twarek, and Davis’ (2021) publication titled “The Computer Science Teacher Landscape: Results of a Nationwide Teacher Survey,” which provides recommendations for the field based on a summary of findings on teacher demographics, current challenges for CS educators, and the state of cultural relevance in CS education.

    • Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

      • In this episode I unpack Ladson-Billings’ (1995) seminal publication titled “Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy,” which influenced much of the discourse around culturally relevant pedagogy in computer science education.

    • What if Freire Had Facebook? A Critical Interrogation of Social Media Woke Culture Among Privileged Voices in [Computer Science] Education Discourse

      • In this episode I unpack Coppola’s (2021) publication titled “What if Freire had Facebook? A critical interrogation of social media woke culture among privileged voices in music education discourse,” which summarizes Paulo Freire’s works and hypothesizes how Freire may have responded to some forms of woke culture.

    • When Twice as Good Isn't Enough: The Case for Cultural Competence in Computing

      • In this episode I unpack Washington's (2020) paper titled "When twice as good isn't enough: The case for cultural competence in computing," which explores the five elements and six stages of cultural competence in relation to undergraduate computing programs.

    • More episodes related to access

    • More episodes related to anti-racism

    • More episodes related to equity

    • More episodes related to pedagogy

    • More episodes related to social justice

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