Tag Archives: Culturally Responsive Computing

Mod#3-Post#5: Culturally Responsive Computing

Article link: Broadening Participation Toward Culturally Responsive Computing Education

“Improving academic success and social development by merging computational thinking with cultural practices.” (Eglash et al., 2013, p.33)

Culturally Responsive Computing (CRC) is a prominent framework in technology education that is based on the Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT ) body of work and its three main pillars  : Asset building, reflection, and connectedness. Unlike Ethnocomputing, which I discussed in previous posts, CRC encourages participants to engage, reflect, and build together while challenging the status quo in computing..

In the given article, Eglash et al. (2013) claim that CRC can raise the interest of underrepresented groups in the technology field. They argue that cultural factors have a significant role in the underrepresentation problem of STEM and computing education and reject the cultural and genetic determinism myths. They stated, if children or teachers believe in these stereotypes, they can have real [negative] impact. Following this, they provided few approaches that are using the CRC framework and addressing the non-economic barriers to computing:

  1. The heritage culture of Indigenous knowledge: such as using patterns of the native American beam-loom tool.
  2. Vernacular culture: such as using music in the teaching of Python.
  3. Civic Culture in Computing education: such as using the cartesian structure of Navajo rugs to learn about coordinates in GIS.
  4. Hacking culture in computing education: such as designing new things with existing hardware, recycling motors from discarded printers, which in turn, raises the students’ awareness of the problem of “e-waste” (Eglash et al., 2013).

In their conclusion, Eglash et al. (2013) state that CRC is not only meant to enhance students’ achievements in tests but what is more vital is that it may help to develop a healthy self-identity in children “from devalued or disempowered ethnic groups” (p.36). Overall, the article complements several of Eglash and his associates’ work in ethnocomputing publications. However, with a new perspective (i.e., CRC) that encourages framing computing education into a social justice lens.

References:

  • Eglash, R., Gilbert, J. E., & Foster, E. (2013). Broadening participation toward culturally responsive computing education. Communications of the ACM, 56(7), 33-36.

Mod#2-Post#3: IDMT-Indigenizing Computer Programming

While looking for programming environment developed with indigenous views or languages, I found the research paper ” Indigenizing computer programming for cultural maintenance” that I believe will innovate computer programming and Indigenous digital design. For his doctoral research, Corbett (2018) is working on the development of a toolkit that will unite Indigenous cultural components with natural programing language, an Indigenous Digital Media Toolkit (“IDMT”) he calls it. Corbett (2018) explains that IDMT is “a programming language with a specialized user interface that uses the Cree language and syllabic writing system to programmatically create digital artworks and provides a digital foundation for the maintenance and/or revitalization of Indigenous culture” (Corbett, 2018, p.243). He adds that IDMT also contributes to the reconciliation process (Corbett, 2018).

An important point that he mentioned about his development is that he considers the design of technology at a deeper level. I want to explain why this point is essential in computer science education for Indigenous students. Most of the modification done in culturally responsive programming tools (part of my investigation for my final project), whether visual platforms (e.g., CDSTs, Alice, Scratch) or the translated environments that are used in educational/ work contexts encounter surface changes such as modifying the language, the context the tool is presented in, or the design of the computing activities themselves. However, none of these developments have entirely escaped from the legacy of the industry and the Western-coded engines/system. In turn, Indigenous students’ self-determination in design and development and possibilities of self-expression are still very limited by the pre-existing system. IDMT is the first programming language that goes to the next level as it addresses the “underlying culture as an inherent component of the coding language itself” (p. 244).

IDMT Model (Corbett, 2018)

Reference: