An Investigation into Online Versus Face-To-Face Instructional Approaches to Interdisciplinary Learning about Discrimination in Technology

Maura Grossman and Dan Brown

Project Team

Dan Brown, Computer Science

Maura Grossman, Computer Science

Project Summary

We focus the curriculum on social implications of computing onto the specific topic of computing and discrimination.  By emphasizing societal harms to marginalized groups (including women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ folx, and Indigenous communities), and how students can address these harms, we can improve students’ understanding and prepare them for workplace situations where they can make things better.  This approach links with work-integrated learning, and students can also inform the class through their previous co-op experiences.

Our research also examines the effect of online versus face-to-face instruction as a form of teaching this material.

References

Barrett, B.  Is "safety" dangerous? A critical examination of the classroom as safe space.  Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, v1 n1 Article 9, 2010.

Brown, E. K.  Safe spaces in online learning: The role of faculty perceptions in design and practice.  Ph.D. Thesis, University of Georgia, 2011.

CC2020 Task Force.  Computing Curricula 2020.  DOI: 10.1145/3467967. Web resource: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3467967, 2020.

O. Lopez.  Creating inclusive virtual spaces.  Web resource https://serc.carleton.edu/advancegeo/resources/virtual.html, 2022.

McLoughlin, Catherine and Burgess, Jillian Elizabeth. (2009). Online is not always a safe space :Student perceptions of how and why cyberbullying occurs. In Miguel Baptista Nunes and Maggie McPherson (Ed.). IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems: Proceedings of e-Learning 2009. Algarve, Portugal: IADIS Press. pp. 83 - 88