Nichole Pinkard

Bringing Urban Schools into the Information Age: Planning for Technology vs. Technology Planning:

This paper describes the many pitfalls that school technology planning processes can engender, and presents an improved model for planning for the use of technology in K-12 schools. There is a need for such a model because current school technology planning efforts are often devoid of context, and lead to poorly conceived arrangements of technology that are not supportive of learning goals. The new model is called “Planning for Technology” as opposed to the more common “technology planning” in order to emphasize the secondary nature of technology in relation to other considerations, such as curriculum and pedagogy. The model we present is described in the context of a case study conducted in an urban K-8 school that was attempting to make more productive use of their existing technology, and to more effectively plan for future technology.

How the Perceived Masculinity and/or Femininity of Software Applications Influences Students' Software Preferences

Increasingly, technology skills are becoming central to academic and economic success. More and more technological tools are becoming a vehicle for teaching and learning and a vehicle for buying and selling goods. However, research continues to show that women lag behind men in PC-ownership regardless of social economic status (SES) or education level (Lenhart, 2003; McConnaughey & Lader, 1998); girls take fewer computer science and computer design courses and consistently rate themselves significantly lower than boys in terms of computer skills (AAUW, 1998); men outnumber women 6 to 1 in computer science Ph.D. programs (AAUW, 2000; Furger, 1998); and girls and boys are more likely to perceive computers as a male domain (Clewell, 2002; Eastman & Krendl, 1987). Due to our societys increasing dependence on technological skills, the continued existence of the technological gender and cultural gap is a problem that must be explored with vigor in order to ensure that the technological tools we use provide equitable1 access to and experiences for women and children of color.

Analyzing educators’ online interactions: a framework of online learning support roles

While the potential benefits of participating in online learning communities are documented, so too are inequities in terms of how different populations access and use them. We present the online learning support roles (OLSR) framework, an approach using both automated analytics and qualitative interpretation to identify and explore online teaching roles. We analyze the OLSR using data logs of iRemix, the online component of the Digital Youth Network, a face-to-face and online program for urban youth in underserved communities. In three middle-school classrooms, six educators used iRemix most to interact with individual students, especially as a window into their work. Although many roles were documented, few were played regularly, raising questions about design and intentionality. To address participation inequities, our results suggest that the OLSR and related data can be used to support productive practice improvement conversations among educators and to inform the design of online social learning networks.

Story spaces: interfaces for children's voices

Interactive narrative was, until a couple of years ago, more a topic of discussion in ACM Multimedia than in the CHI community. And where children were concerned, the issue was mostly how to make storybooks for children more interactive by adding sound, animation, etc. More recently, however, both narrative and interfaces for children have received significant attention. The two concerns join in the topic of how to create storytelling spaces to support childrens own storytelling voice. Until now, nevertheless, there has been no comprehensive discussion at CHI of what it means to design for children to produce narrative in the context of technology. This panel, then, gathers researchers with a diverse set of perspectives to discuss what it means to support children as producers of tales.

Digital Youth Divas: Exploring Narrative-Driven Curriculum to Spark Middle School Girls' Interest in Computational Activities.

Women use technology to mediate numerous aspects of their professional and personal lives. Yet, few design and create these technologies given that women, especially women of color, are grossly underrepresented in computer science and engineering courses. Decisions about participation in STEM are frequently made prior to high school, and these decisions are impacted by prior experience, interest, and sense of fit with community. Digital Youth Divas is an out-of-school program that uses narrative stories to launch the creation of digital artifacts and support non-dominant middle school girls’ STEM interests and identities through virtual and real-world community. In this article, we discuss the framework of the Digital Youth Divas environment, including our approach to blending narratives into project-based design challenges through on- and offline mechanisms. Results from our pilot year, including the co-design process with the middle school participants, suggest that our narrative-centered, blended learning program design sparks non-dominant girls’ interests in STEM activities and disciplinary identification, and has the potential to mediate girls’ sense of STEM agency, identities, and interests.

Beyond Traditional Metrics: Using Automated Log Coding to Understand 21st Century Learning Online

While log analysis in massively open online courses and other online learning environments has mainly focused on traditional measures, such as completion rates and views of course content, research is responding to calls for analytic frameworks that are more reflective of social learning models. We introduce a generalizable approach to automatically code log data that highlights educator support roles and student actions that are consistent with recent conceptualizations of 21st century learning, such as creative production, self-directed learning, and social learning. Here, we describe details of a log-coding framework that builds from prior mixed method studies of the use of iRemix, an online social learning network, by middle school youth and adult educators in blended learning contexts.

Uncovering barriers to participation through mapping citywide computing opportunities in Chicago: What do we mean by access?

Unequal access to quality learning opportunities is a key issue that shapes who is able to participate in computing relevant communities and jobs [1]. Although many educators, government officials, and business professionals acknowledge the need to provide computer science education to all youth, access to computing opportunities is still limited [2]. Understanding the current state of available learning opportunities is an initial step in addressing gaps, barriers, and unequal access. In this poster we present our in-progress mapping of the computer science ecosystem in the city of Chicago. As we present the landscape we ask: How accessible are the educational opportunities for youth in Chicago, particularly youth who are traditionally underrepresented in computing careers. The barriers to participation revealed through our mapping process include transportation, the time schedules of programs, and the lack of opportunities for elementary youth. Our findings suggest that in order to broaden participation in computing there is a need to 1) increase the number of local computing opportunities, and 2) to create opportunities that acknowledge the realities facing low-income and working class households, realities that include child care constraints, rigid work schedules, and limited disposable income.

Developing focused recruitment strategies to engage youth in informal opportunities

Despite increasing jobs predicted in the areas of engineering and computer science, there is a well-documented and consistent drop in the number of women in these fields at each level of advancement, and these trends are even more profound for minority women [1]. Decisions about participation are frequently made prior to high school, and have been linked to factors such as prior experience, interest, and sense of fit with community [2]. Out-of-school time has been identified as a potential space for STEM-related programming that breaks free of traditional models [3], and there is evidence of learning and engagement outcomes from such programs serving underrepresented populations [4]. However, programs that happen out of school are often voluntary, presenting very real challenges of recruiting and retention. Inequities have been identified in student participation in out-of-school STEM programming, with males and dominant populations being more likely to access such opportunities (e.g. [5]). To truly broaden participation, we need to not only design quality programs, but also work to develop and understand recruiting strategies that can encourage young people and families who are not already engaged to participate. The specifics of such efforts, even for programs that have been successful in recruiting, are often undocumented [6]. In this poster, we attend specifically to the critical question of how to recruit young women from underrepresented populations who do not see themselves as engineers and computational thinkers to participate in opportunities that could spark interest, broaden social learning networks, and lead to the pursuit of further learning. The Digital Divas program invites inner-city middle school girls interested in fashion and design to develop e-textiles and try out introductory programming during out-of-school time. In this poster we share program recruitment strategies from two Digital Divas implementations, spring and summer, and compare participants in terms of general demographics, identity, and confidence with technology. Both implementations were successful in recruiting minority girls from around Chicago. Summer implementation, which followed a redesign of recruiting methods, evidenced participants who were additionally aligned with the programs target population: girls who signed up for the summer program had less access to computing opportunities at home and school and less incoming engagement and confidence with computer science and engineering than spring participants. This work points to the importance of attending to strategies and materials for recruitment. Summer recruitment materials had less emphasis on technical language, more on design and creation; had more images of girls and their projects, reflecting diversity of participants; highlighted solutions to potential barriers, including low cost, lunch, and nearby public transport; and were strategically shared through online networks. Recommendations for strategies include: (1) close attention to language and imagery to engage families from non-dominant populations; (2) redundant, targeted, channels of distribution, utilizing online networks and local organizations.

Encouraging online contributions in underrepresented populations

Research has revealed how actively contributing to online communities can advance technical skills, knowledge, and confidence, and ideas for sustaining and evolving participation. However, recent studies have also shown that contributors of online content are a small subset of the population using technical systems, and that this subset is not representative of the larger population. This trend is concerning both in terms of who takes advantage of opportunities to develop technological competencies necessary for participation in the 21st century, and in terms of who is authoring content that informs public opinion and knowledge. In this paper, we consider how Latino youth interact around online digital artifacts and how we can design features to better support their contributions of communication and critique. This work specifically attends to documented trends in formal learning environments in Latino communities, including emphasis on good behavior and respect for adult authority and less emphasis on individual autonomy. We focus on a collaboration with a seventh grade teacher using an online platform in a predominantly Latino middle school. We first describe student online communication and contribution, using qualitative ethnographic case studies and quantitative log data. We then share the collaborative design of reactions, a feature encouraging student contributions in the form of communication and critique. Findings suggest important cultural and pedagogical design considerations for online social learning network interfaces aiming to build learning community and engage diverse youth populations to contribute.

A framework for developing metrics of youth engagement in informal learning environments

This paper proposes a framework which aims to leverage data from informal learning environments to provide insights about youth engagement for various stakeholders. To explore the framework, we created metrics to examine the engagement of 98 middle school-aged girls during a 20-week STEM program using attendance records and log data from an online learning platform coded to reflect 21st century learning activities. We present preliminary analyses using the metrics, focusing on how they can help stakeholders understand engagement and equity of participation.