Perspectives of Distance Learning Students on How to Transform Their Computing Curriculum: “Is There Anything to Be Decolonised?”

Abstract

Recent years have seen a growing momentum within UK Higher Education institutions to examine the colonial legacy entanglements of teaching materials and knowledge production, as institutions explore what it means to ‘decolonise the curriculum’. While the movement began in the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in response to a student call for the statue of Cecil Rhodes to be removed, elsewhere this has become a top-down imperative from institutions themselves. In 2014 University College London hosted a panel discussion ‘Why Isn’t My Professor Black’ building on the previous year’s video asking, ‘Why is my curriculum white’. By 2020 the #BlackLivesMatter movement once again illuminated the need to rebalance the power of who decides the ‘facts’ with a call for a transformation of knowledge production. Arts and Humanities curricula have been more easily adapted in response to this call, but the argument for decolonisation of STEM subjects in general and computing in particular have been more difficult to articulate. Moreover, the decolonisation shift has been largely confined to bricks and mortar universities, with little exploration of online and distance learning. This paper reports on an initiative in a British distance learning university to decolonise the computing curriculum, with a focus on students’ perspectives and what barriers might be encountered. A survey of just under 400 undergraduate computing students revealed multiple understandings about decolonisation, and reactions ranging from hostility and resistance to strong support and endorsement. Students identified several challenges to student engagement including structural and practical concerns which should inform the computing education community in taking forward this agenda.