5: Computing and identity

Week 5 introduces the second major theme of the course, identity. We will review several ways in which the construct of "identity" is used in educational research. This week we will consider a diverse array of computer-mediated cultures and identities, including your own.

CS Autobiography due.

Weekly update

This video covers logistics (the CS autobiography and the new fieldnotes assignment), responds to your Week 3 discussion reports, and then gives a mini-lecture on identity, based on Moje and Luke's (2009) five metaphors for identity, before introducing this week's readings.

Summary

• Logistics. Please send Week 4 discussion reports (they work best as a few juicy highlights, quotes, disagreements, and questions, not a full summary). CS autobiographies are due this week. The fieldnotes assignment is out: spend an hour in a computing education setting, separate observation from interpretation, attend to how your positionality shapes what you notice, and share only what you are comfortable sharing.
• Week 3 discussion reports. Technologies do not just avoid or commit racist acts; they participate in race and gender and reproduce those constructs, so the question is how and in what ways. Whether something counts as a literacy depends on its community and context, as with music: we want room for varied cultural expression and communities defining their own excellence. Computational literacy is a superset of computational thinking, not an add-on. Cognitive and situated computational thinking are layered and interdependent.
• Why identity? Identity is tied to agency and power, and "the best way to stop talking about race is to stop talking about race" does not make schooling identity-neutral. Moje and Luke (2009) assume that identities are social, not single stable entities that one achieves, and are recognized by others.
• Five metaphors for identity. Identity as difference, sense of self/subjectivity, mind/consciousness (Marx and Vygotsky; especially relevant to computing as distributed cognition), narrative, and position. Consider which are at work in each of this week's readings.
• This week's readings. Scott and White (2013) is a case study of a culturally responsive computing program for Black girls, grounded in Ladson-Billings' culturally relevant pedagogy: academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness. Vakil (2020) is a narrower, more personal argument about political identity and learning in computer science education.

Further reading

These are optional, and provide background for this week's video and readings.

Moje, E. B. & Luke, A. (2009 , October). Literacy and Identity: Examining the Metaphors in History and Contemporary Research. Reading Research Quarterly, 44(4), 415–437. doi:10.1598/RRQ.44.4.7

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But That's Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Theory into Practice, 34(3), 159–165. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1476635

Readings

Scott, K. A. & White, M. A. (2013 , September). COMPUGIRLS' Standpoint: Culturally Responsive Computing and Its Effect on Girls of Color. Urban Education, 48(5), 657–681. doi:10.1177/0042085913491219

Vakil, S. (2020 , April). “I've Always Been Scared That Someday I'm Going to Sell Out”: Exploring the relationship between Political Identity and Learning in Computer Science Education. Cognition and Instruction, 38(2), 87–115. doi:10.1080/07370008.2020.1730374