Spaces for Change: Gender and Technology Access in Collaborative Software Design

Equitable computer collaborations in mixed-gender teams have been a pressing issue for many years. While some have argued for creating single-gender teams or girls-only computer activities, our approach was different. The current study examines a three-month software design activity in which mixed teams of girls and boys (10–12 year olds) designed and implemented multimedia astronomy resources for younger students. In this context we assessed gender differences in students' levels of access to technology and how these participation patterns changed throughout the project duration. We found through our qualitative analyses that the configuration of social, physical and cognitive spaces in the project environment contributed to a positive change in girls' levels of access. We discuss the implications of these results in regard to issues surrounding the development and maintenance of gender equity in computer use and further research.     

Computing for all?: Examining critical biases in computational tools for learning

Given the increased need for broadening participation in computing, there must be a focus not just on providing culturally relevant content but also on building accessible and inclusive computational tools. Most efforts to design culturally responsive computational tools redesign surface features, often through making nominal changes to add cultural meaning, yet the deeper structural design remains largely intact. We take a critical perspective towards novice programming environments to elucidate how the underlying structure privileges particular epistemologies and cultures. In this paper, we examine how the cultural practice of storytelling is supported and/or inhibited within novice programming tools. We draw upon the experiences of 38 Native American youth, who worked in teams to create place-based, interactive stories and games for their community. Findings offer insights to the embedded cultural biases that exist in the structures of computational tools. We discuss insights for how to address cultural biases and promote deeper integration of cultural practices in future designs of culturally responsive computational tools.

Practitioner Notes

What is already known about this topic?

• Culturally responsive computing connects computing content heritage and vernacular cultural practices.
• “Black boxing,” or lack of transparency in how it works, in computational tools makes it difficult for novices to enter computing cultures.
• Design tools are embedded with particular ways of being, knowing, valuing and doing.

What this paper adds?

• Thirty-eight novice learners’ computational designs were shaped by the ways in which a computational tool privileged particular knowledge systems.
• Storytelling, as a critical cultural practice, especially in Indigenous cultures, is heavily constrained by the design structure of computational tools.
• Computational tools are cultural artifacts with deeply embedded epistemological, ontological and axiological biases, which directly frame what learners can do with these tools.

Implications for practice

• Collaborative, community-based design processes could mitigate the cultural biases that persist in computational tools.
• Transparency in computation tools in critical to broadening participation in computing cultures.
• Culturally responsive design of computational tools at the structural level is required to build inclusive computing cultures.

     

Mixed methods for mixed reality: understanding users’ avatar activities in virtual worlds

This paper examines the use of mixed methods for analyzing users’ avatar-related activities in a virtual world. Server logs recorded keystroke-level activity for 595 participants over a six-month period in Whyville.net, an informal science website. Participants also completed surveys and participated in interviews regarding their experiences. Additionally, the study included online ethnographic observations of Whyville and offline observations of a subset of 88 users in classroom and after-school settings during their participation. A mixed-methods analysis identified a major user emphasis on avatar appearance and customization that was invariant across user typologies. Implications for the use of mixed methods in online environments are discussed with regard to three challenges resolved during the study: (1) appropriate reduction of the vast quantity of data, (2) integrated analysis of online and offline events, and (3) interactions between qualitative and quantitative data.     

Understanding Virtual Epidemics: Children’s Folk Conceptions of a Computer Virus

Our work investigates the annual outbreak of Whypox, a virtual epidemic in Whyville.net, a virtual world with over 1.2 million registered players ages 8–16. We examined online and classroom participants’ understanding of a computer virus using surveys and design activities. Our analyses reveal that students have a mostly na?ve understanding of a computer virus influenced by mythological or anthropomorphic perspectives; only few were able to describe computational elements. The 35 students who participated in a curricular intervention in addition to the virtual epidemic shared these na?ve conceptions initially, but developed more sophisticated views after the intervention. The discussion addresses possible explanations for students’ conceptions and implications for future instructional designs.