Designed to Disrupt: A Novel Course for Improving the Cultural Competence of Undergraduate Computing Students

Alicia Washington

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Research Frameworks for Identity and Equity: Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division Technical Session 9
Page Count: 19
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40413
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40413
Download Count: 567

Paper Authors

biography

Alicia Washington Duke University

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Dr. Alicia Nicki Washington is a professor of the practice of computer science and gender, sexuality, and feminist studies at Duke University and the author of Unapologetically Dope: Lessons for Black Women and Girls on Surviving and Thriving in the Tech Field. She is currently the director of the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows program and the NSF-funded Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AiiCE). She also serves as senior personnel for the NSF-funded Athena Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Her career in higher education began at Howard University as the first Black female faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. Her professional experience also includes Winthrop University, The Aerospace Corporation, and IBM. She is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University (B.S., ‘00) and North Carolina State University (M.S., ’02; Ph.D., ’05), becoming the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science at the university and 2019 Computer Science Hall of Fame Inductee. She is a native of Durham, NC.

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Abstract

While there exist numerous efforts to broaden participation in computing, university computing departments still suffer from issues related to a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion. As an example, the 2020 #BlackInTheIvory Twitter hashtag highlighted the ways in which Black faculty, staff, and students experience white supremacy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments at predominately white institutions (PWIs). Despite commitments to fostering inclusive and equitable environments for students from diverse identities, these personal narratives demonstrated that current university/department efforts that center Black students (and often through deficit-based approaches) are insufficient for improving course/degree entry, retention, and completion rates. These efforts do not address the environmental challenges related to macro/microaggressions, biases, oppression, and intersectionality that are unrelated to students’ academic abilities, yet significantly impact their sense of belonging and productivity. These challenges are also often experienced by faculty who hold the same identities, as biased course evaluations (for example) impact hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions.

Instead, there is a need to decenter students from minoritized groups and ensure that all computing students (especially those from dominant identities based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and class) develop/improve their cultural competence prior to graduation. To address this, a novel, introductory, computing course was developed to teach topics related to identity, as well as how it impacts and is impacted by technology. The course uses an intersectional approach to blend aspects of social science and computer science across two major parts. First, students define identity and intersectionality, understand forms of oppression, and identify policies designed to exclude/protect identities (across both society and computing environments). Students then use this knowledge in the second half of the course to examine how technology replicates/amplifies these societal issues, the impact on various identities (especially minoritized identities based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and class), and tech-related policies that exclude/protect these identities.

Results from data collected across three consecutive semesters indicate the course increases student knowledge/understanding of identity-inclusive topics, as well as student self-efficacy and comfort discussing these topics to critique technologies as well as academic, professional, and personal environments. The course material and structure is also relevant in any computing department (regardless of institution type, including minority-serving institutions). Finally, the course impact extends beyond students at the author’s institution. Replication of the course in other university computing departments began in the spring 2021 semester and continues through the 2021-2022 academic year.

Citation
Format

Washington, A. (2022, August), Designed to Disrupt: A Novel Course for Improving the Cultural Competence of Undergraduate Computing Students Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40413

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - While there exist numerous efforts to broaden participation in computing, university computing departments still suffer from issues related to a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion. As an example, the 2020 #BlackInTheIvory Twitter hashtag highlighted the ways in which Black faculty, staff, and students experience white supremacy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments at predominately white institutions (PWIs). Despite commitments to fostering inclusive and equitable environments for students from diverse identities, these personal narratives demonstrated that current university/department efforts that center Black students (and often through deficit-based approaches) are insufficient for improving course/degree entry, retention, and completion rates. These efforts do not address the environmental challenges related to macro/microaggressions, biases, oppression, and intersectionality that are unrelated to students’ academic abilities, yet significantly impact their sense of belonging and productivity. These challenges are also often experienced by faculty who hold the same identities, as biased course evaluations (for example) impact hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions.

Instead, there is a need to decenter students from minoritized groups and ensure that all computing students (especially those from dominant identities based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and class) develop/improve their cultural competence prior to graduation. To address this, a novel, introductory, computing course was developed to teach topics related to identity, as well as how it impacts and is impacted by technology. The course uses an intersectional approach to blend aspects of social science and computer science across two major parts. First, students define identity and intersectionality, understand forms of oppression, and identify policies designed to exclude/protect identities (across both society and computing environments). Students then use this knowledge in the second half of the course to examine how technology replicates/amplifies these societal issues, the impact on various identities (especially minoritized identities based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and class), and tech-related policies that exclude/protect these identities.

Results from data collected across three consecutive semesters indicate the course increases student knowledge/understanding of identity-inclusive topics, as well as student self-efficacy and comfort discussing these topics to critique technologies as well as academic, professional, and personal environments. The course material and structure is also relevant in any computing department (regardless of institution type, including minority-serving institutions). Finally, the course impact extends beyond students at the author’s institution. Replication of the course in other university computing departments began in the spring 2021 semester and continues through the 2021-2022 academic year.
AU  - Alicia Washington
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Designed to Disrupt: A Novel Course for Improving the Cultural Competence of Undergraduate Computing Students
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/40413
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--40413
ER  -