The Intersection of Computational Thinking, Digital Literacies, and Equity: A Content Analysis of Educators’ Designs and Implications for Professional Growth (Poster 2)

• In Event: Expansive Framings of “Capacity Building” in Computing Education: Agency, Infrastructuring, and Advocacy

Abstract

Objectives
As part of a university-wide initiative, childhood (Grades 1-6) education faculty members from a college in the Northeast designed activities to integrate computational thinking and/or digital literacies into undergraduate teacher preparation content courses. A faculty team then analyzed these designs, abstracting out values and practices related to promoting equity and diversity in computing integrated teacher education, a process they hoped would build faculty capacity for reflection and growth and support future design iterations. This analysis focuses on the following research questions:
- What values are indexed in the artifacts that faculty created?
- In what ways do the artifacts designed for teacher candidates engage with equity and diversity through either computational thinking or digital literacies?
- In what ways are faculty leveraging techniques from culturally sustaining/relevant pedagogy in the design of their artifacts and pedagogy?

Theoretical Framework
While there is widespread understanding among scholars and teacher education leaders that computational thinking and digital literacies should be addressed in teacher education programs (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020; Price-Dennis & Sealey-Ruiz, 2021), how these initiatives are situated within existing programs and their commitment to equity has not been explored. In this paper, we follow a critical curriculum perspective and work on critical computational literacies (Lee & Soep, 2016) to analyze curricular artifacts for equity values, thus informing future curriculum development across an undergraduate teacher preparation program as well as building faculty capacity. This approach seeks to purposefully integrate computational and digital literacies, not just as content but with a critical lens that supports, builds, and sustains future teacher pedagogy.

Methods & Data Sources
A content analysis approach was taken to examine and analyze faculty members' curriculum design artifacts guided by the CS Visions framework (Santo et al., 2019) and the principles of racial literacy and digital activism (Price-Dennis & Sealey-Ruiz, 2021). Each faculty member in the project used a planning template to design their artifact, which included, among other fields, a rationale for the unit, a description of activities, as well as a description of how this artifact addressed equity. After developing an instrument to evaluate the artifacts for values, competencies, and inclusion of equity, each artifact was studied and evaluated. Coding and analysis was done using grounded theory.

Results & Significance
This project presents a unique perspective in understanding both how individual faculty and a group of faculty achieves this across the trajectory of an undergraduate teacher preparation program. We found that CR-S practices and equitable pedagogy was not very clear in faculty members’ artifacts. Thus, this analysis informed the more specific design parameters in the next iteration of the equity framework artifacts are being guided by. The content analysis also led to the development of a scope and sequence which provided a platform for faculty professional growth through a macro understanding of the artifacts in relation to equity. This study demonstrates that curriculum design for computational thinking and digital literacies with a focus on equity is an iterative process that involves building faculty capacity to consider group values throughout the curriculum design process.

Authors

• Jessica Velez Tello, Brooklyn College - CUNY

• Laura Ascenzi-Moreno, Brooklyn College - CUNY