Diversity Statement
To begin, I want to recognize that I have privilege in many ways, and thus do not have personal experience with many of the difficulties my students will face, both within the classroom and in their ability to access courses. My goals within the classroom are thus to continuously educate myself on the ways I can best support my students and create a welcoming classroom (without expecting students to take on that burden), to keep open communication with my students so they can comfortably share their own experiences and what would help them in the classroom, and to pre-emptively introduce flexibility into my course design to make a course that is welcoming and educational for all students.
Some of my inspiration comes from Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which emphasizes flexible learning environments (multiple methods of engagement with the material), so that all students have the opportunity to engage with the material and succeed. I focus on allowing—and more importantly, aiding—my students to engage with the material in ways that are conducive to their individual learning. In the same vein, I analyze my classes and find ways to remove barriers to success that are orthogonal to understanding the course material. Figure 1 (showing this concept of removing systemic barriers to access) is hopefully a familiar graphic.
The most important panel of Figure 1 is on the right: the removal of the opaque fence as a barrier entirely, allowing the same access for all three people, without requiring accommodations or feeling singled out by using a visibly different method of access. This is something I strive for when designing my courses. Some concrete strategies that I employ are: not assigning required textbooks, making material accessible to students who have to miss class, and providing a clear and flexible extension policy.
I do not list any required class materials such as textbooks (especially not digital textbooks that cannot be borrowed or bought used from students in prior years) to not burden students with that cost. I believe that the material I present in courses should be more than enough for understanding the subject. However, I do list optional textbooks so that students who find their learning is aided by reading textbooks have something to follow along with.
While I believe attending class is valuable, I make sure students who have to miss classes are able to keep up with the material by posting detailed slides and other notes after each class, and by making myself available for further support. There are many reasons why students may have to miss class, including (but not limited to) struggles with mental health, physical health, and economic insecurity. For example, a student working full time to afford school may not be able to attend class regularly due to their work schedule. However, I want to make sure attending class is a valuable learning experience—in addition to being available for questions I include problem solving and discussion activities like Think Pair Shares (consider a problem alone, discuss with a partner, then I call on someone to share with the entire class) [1] to engage students with the material and form connections with their classmates.
I keep this flexibility in mind for homework extensions as well—students are not guaranteed to have enough time available for homework every week, especially if they are dealing with many things outside of the classroom. I keep deadlines however, rather than having everything due at the end for every student, to make sure that students who struggle with self-imposed deadlines are not falling behind. Additionally, regular feedback can help students learn from mistakes for greater cumulative understanding, and helps me find if students are struggling with the material and reach out early to help them.
My students have expressed appreciation for these strategies:
From here onwards I shift focus to my efforts in providing a welcoming environment for all students. To start, one of the parts of my "get to know you" survey at the beginning of each course is to ask students for their preferred name and pronouns—I want to make sure I address every student how they wish to be addressed, and students (especially LGBTQ+ students) may not be comfortable going by the name listed on their official records. Additionally, asking for pronouns helps the students know that I care about them, and helps me make sure not to alienate students by using incorrect pronouns during the course. I also ask students for the pronunciation of their names in the pre-class survey—within a larger lecture class, it is likely I will not have a chance to interact face-to-face with every single student, so asking the students specifically makes sure they know I am dedicated to getting their names right, and clears up any confusion if a name has multiple common pronunciations.
It is likely that students will come into introductory computer science classes with vastly different prior knowledge, especially since getting exposure to computer science before college is dependent on factors such as being able to afford a computer, attend a school that has some sort of computer science curriculum, or be in a demographic that is encouraged to pursue computing. For example, in California schools in low-income communities are 3x less likely to have a computer science curriculum [2] and in the vein of encouragement, only 561 black students and 44 indigenous students across the entirety of California took AP computer science courses in 2019. For introductory classes, I make sure my students know that no prior experience is required and remind students who do have prior experience to be respectful to their classmates. During class, I highlight which student questions are within the scope of the class and direct more advanced questions to after the lecture, to not let the more experienced students dominate my time in lecture and remind students with less experience that these questions are not something they need to understand yet.
Additionally, when I was an undergraduate working as a tutor and grader in my school's computer science department, the yearly tutor orientation included a portion of discussion where we worked in groups to discuss good responses to bias students might express to us while tutoring, and I want to bring this discussion to my own TAs to prepare them for creating a welcoming environment, addressing bias they see when interacting with students, and if necessary, analyzing their personal biases. This activity is guided by a set of situation cards [3], as part of the CS Teaching Tips project [4]. An example situation from the cards:
In this activity, tutors/TAs discuss amongst themselves possible responses to these comments to prepare them in case they encounter these forms of bias during their teaching. Each of the cards also has a couple suggested comments (like in the example above) in case people are unsure where to start with addressing the bias.
Overall, I strive to create a classroom environment that is supportive for all of my students and flexible to their needs. Solving the larger inequities within computer science must of course extend far beyond a single classroom, but I aim to hopefully encourage a few more students who otherwise might not choose to continue in the field to stick with it.
[1] Kaddoura, M. (2013). Think pair share: A teaching learning strategy to enhance students' critical thinking. Educational research quarterly, 36(4), 3-24.
[2] S. Koshy, L. Hinton, L. Cruz, A. Scott, and J. Flapan. (2021) The california computer science access report. [Online]. Available: https://www.kaporcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/KC21007_CSCA_Access_Report.pdf
[3] C. Lewis and P. Conrad, “Teaching practices game,” 2018.
[4] Cs teaching tips. [Online]. Available: https://www.csteachingtips.org
Some of my inspiration comes from Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which emphasizes flexible learning environments (multiple methods of engagement with the material), so that all students have the opportunity to engage with the material and succeed. I focus on allowing—and more importantly, aiding—my students to engage with the material in ways that are conducive to their individual learning. In the same vein, I analyze my classes and find ways to remove barriers to success that are orthogonal to understanding the course material. Figure 1 (showing this concept of removing systemic barriers to access) is hopefully a familiar graphic.
Figure 1: Equality (left), Equity (middle), and Removal of Systemic Barriers (right). Image from https://theinclusionsolution.me/equity-vs-equality-eliminating-opportunity-gaps-education/
The most important panel of Figure 1 is on the right: the removal of the opaque fence as a barrier entirely, allowing the same access for all three people, without requiring accommodations or feeling singled out by using a visibly different method of access. This is something I strive for when designing my courses. Some concrete strategies that I employ are: not assigning required textbooks, making material accessible to students who have to miss class, and providing a clear and flexible extension policy.
I do not list any required class materials such as textbooks (especially not digital textbooks that cannot be borrowed or bought used from students in prior years) to not burden students with that cost. I believe that the material I present in courses should be more than enough for understanding the subject. However, I do list optional textbooks so that students who find their learning is aided by reading textbooks have something to follow along with.
While I believe attending class is valuable, I make sure students who have to miss classes are able to keep up with the material by posting detailed slides and other notes after each class, and by making myself available for further support. There are many reasons why students may have to miss class, including (but not limited to) struggles with mental health, physical health, and economic insecurity. For example, a student working full time to afford school may not be able to attend class regularly due to their work schedule. However, I want to make sure attending class is a valuable learning experience—in addition to being available for questions I include problem solving and discussion activities like Think Pair Shares (consider a problem alone, discuss with a partner, then I call on someone to share with the entire class) [1] to engage students with the material and form connections with their classmates.
I keep this flexibility in mind for homework extensions as well—students are not guaranteed to have enough time available for homework every week, especially if they are dealing with many things outside of the classroom. I keep deadlines however, rather than having everything due at the end for every student, to make sure that students who struggle with self-imposed deadlines are not falling behind. Additionally, regular feedback can help students learn from mistakes for greater cumulative understanding, and helps me find if students are struggling with the material and reach out early to help them.
My students have expressed appreciation for these strategies:
"[I appreciated] the ease of access to content. It was very comfortable to complete this course as a hybrid course which made it much easier to learn and soak in every lecture."
"Professor Downing is a very understanding, helpful professor. She always got back to me in a timely manner and did whatever she could to aid me in this class!! I had a concussion at one point during the quarter, and she helped me get through the material and coursework while giving me ample time to heal. I really appreciated how helpful and kind she was."
"Professor Downing is a very understanding, helpful professor. She always got back to me in a timely manner and did whatever she could to aid me in this class!! I had a concussion at one point during the quarter, and she helped me get through the material and coursework while giving me ample time to heal. I really appreciated how helpful and kind she was."
From here onwards I shift focus to my efforts in providing a welcoming environment for all students. To start, one of the parts of my "get to know you" survey at the beginning of each course is to ask students for their preferred name and pronouns—I want to make sure I address every student how they wish to be addressed, and students (especially LGBTQ+ students) may not be comfortable going by the name listed on their official records. Additionally, asking for pronouns helps the students know that I care about them, and helps me make sure not to alienate students by using incorrect pronouns during the course. I also ask students for the pronunciation of their names in the pre-class survey—within a larger lecture class, it is likely I will not have a chance to interact face-to-face with every single student, so asking the students specifically makes sure they know I am dedicated to getting their names right, and clears up any confusion if a name has multiple common pronunciations.
It is likely that students will come into introductory computer science classes with vastly different prior knowledge, especially since getting exposure to computer science before college is dependent on factors such as being able to afford a computer, attend a school that has some sort of computer science curriculum, or be in a demographic that is encouraged to pursue computing. For example, in California schools in low-income communities are 3x less likely to have a computer science curriculum [2] and in the vein of encouragement, only 561 black students and 44 indigenous students across the entirety of California took AP computer science courses in 2019. For introductory classes, I make sure my students know that no prior experience is required and remind students who do have prior experience to be respectful to their classmates. During class, I highlight which student questions are within the scope of the class and direct more advanced questions to after the lecture, to not let the more experienced students dominate my time in lecture and remind students with less experience that these questions are not something they need to understand yet.
Additionally, when I was an undergraduate working as a tutor and grader in my school's computer science department, the yearly tutor orientation included a portion of discussion where we worked in groups to discuss good responses to bias students might express to us while tutoring, and I want to bring this discussion to my own TAs to prepare them for creating a welcoming environment, addressing bias they see when interacting with students, and if necessary, analyzing their personal biases. This activity is guided by a set of situation cards [3], as part of the CS Teaching Tips project [4]. An example situation from the cards:
Someone says "women just aren't interested in CS".
The card response is "I would ask if there might be other reasons we see relatively few women in CS, and if any of these reasons might lead to women expressing less interest in CS. I'd probably try to talk to them about who gets access to CS and who gets encouraged to pursue CS."
The card response is "I would ask if there might be other reasons we see relatively few women in CS, and if any of these reasons might lead to women expressing less interest in CS. I'd probably try to talk to them about who gets access to CS and who gets encouraged to pursue CS."
In this activity, tutors/TAs discuss amongst themselves possible responses to these comments to prepare them in case they encounter these forms of bias during their teaching. Each of the cards also has a couple suggested comments (like in the example above) in case people are unsure where to start with addressing the bias.
Overall, I strive to create a classroom environment that is supportive for all of my students and flexible to their needs. Solving the larger inequities within computer science must of course extend far beyond a single classroom, but I aim to hopefully encourage a few more students who otherwise might not choose to continue in the field to stick with it.
[1] Kaddoura, M. (2013). Think pair share: A teaching learning strategy to enhance students' critical thinking. Educational research quarterly, 36(4), 3-24.
[2] S. Koshy, L. Hinton, L. Cruz, A. Scott, and J. Flapan. (2021) The california computer science access report. [Online]. Available: https://www.kaporcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/KC21007_CSCA_Access_Report.pdf
[3] C. Lewis and P. Conrad, “Teaching practices game,” 2018.
[4] Cs teaching tips. [Online]. Available: https://www.csteachingtips.org