Departmental Cultures of Inclusion

Abstract

As computer science programs experience booming enrollments, departmental priorities for educating all students are shifting. Nurturing a departmental culture that promotes inclusion when resources and space are scarce can be difficult. As a Birds of a Feather session, the facilitators will lead participants in a discussion of practices that support inclusion at the departmental and classroom levels. We focus on ways that faculty and departments can prepare and implement inclusive practices and policies that support the ideas that all students can learn and belong, and that ability is not fixed, but malleable. We will also discuss how departmental efforts can be documented and measured for effectiveness. While evaluation is always important, departments impacted by new BPC requirements piloted by the NSF to measure departmental changes to support equity (see https://www.nsf.gov/cise/bpc/White_Paper.pdf) may be particularly interested. Participants will form small guided discussion groups with one BOF facilitator in each group. Groups will be provided centering questions and artifacts to guide their discussion. Participants will reconvene to report out across groups. The BOF is appropriate for computing educators who are focusing on/or developing departmental practices that support the success of all learners, with an emphasis on underrepresented and underserved groups. It is also appropriate for educational researchers who emphasize department and classroom level research related to growth mindset, asset-based pedagogy, culturally relevant pedagogy, and inclusion.