Blogs

The Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AIICE): A Collective Impact Approach to Broadening Participation in Computing

  

Institution/Organization
Duke University 
 

Principal Investigator
Alicia  Washington

Co-Principal Investigator
Shaundra Daily 

Goal: The Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AIICE) aims to increase the entry, retention, and course/degree completion rates of high-school and undergraduate students from groups that are historically underrepresented in computing through evidence-based, identity-inclusive interventions. AIICE’s collective impact approach to broadening participation convenes national leaders in K-16 CS education to transform high-school and postsecondary CS education using innovative strategies that target the people (educators), policies [state (K-12) and institutional (postsecondary) policies, as well as postsecondary accreditation criteria], and practices (classroom/department cultures) that directly impact student entry, retention, and course/degree completion. 
 
AIICE is founded upon evidence that student-focused (and often deficit-based) strategies do not adequately address institutional cultures, policies, and practices that have marginalized people from non-dominant identities. AIICE will collectively create systemic change by blending aspects of social science with CS to 1) increase CS student and educator knowledge and use of identity and related topics, 2) support CS educators and leaders in fostering academic cultures that are more inclusive of non-dominant identities, and 3) increase K-16 policy-driven changes to CS education that infuse identity-inclusive strategies.  

Successful implementation of the Alliance will directly impact a total of 7,000 high-school CS teachers, 2,000 postsecondary CS faculty/staff, 5,000 teaching assistants, and 500 U.S. computing departments. This will, in turn, impact a total of 525,000 high-school and 35,000 undergraduate CS students nationwide. AIICE will also directly impact industry diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, as better-trained graduates will enter technical positions more aware of identity-related issues during development, properly advocate for and implement change, and decrease the development of harmful technologies. This effort will also increase the number of computing departments implementing identity-related interventions, as well as create new annual data and reports on identity-inclusive computing (including a repository of resources and best practices). 

0 comments
37 views

Permalink