AccessComputing News - July 2021: All Articles

Each year, the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) and the NAPE Education Foundation honor individuals in education and work who embody a commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.

This year, DO-IT Director Sheryl Burgstahler won the Diversity in Technology Leadership Award. This award recognizes a role model to the national community of excellence in technology and/or STEM. Sheryl was chosen for her embodiment of the following values:

• Promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in her organization
• Collaborates, mentors, and advocates to inspire and develop future leaders from underrepresented groups
• Is innovative, creative, and agile in moving her community forward to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in technology and STEM
• Uses research- and evidence-based mechanisms to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Demonstrates measurable outcomes showing increased participation of underrepresented groups in technology and/or STEM

The awardees were honored on April 29, 2021 at the end of NAPE’s annual summit. She gave the following words: “I would like to thank NAPE for recognizing the accomplishments of my Accessible Technology Services unit at the University of Washington along with our partners and collaborators. Projects led by our DO-IT Center and the IT Accessibility Team have increased the successful participation of people with disabilities in college and careers, using technology as an empowering tool. The speed at which thousands of on-site courses and services at our postsecondary institutions were moved to online formats in response to the pandemic was impressive, but it also shined a light on the many shortcomings with respect to accessibility. Much work remains to be done in making these offerings fully accessible to and inclusive of people with disabilities. We will continue to collaborate with like-minded individuals and organizations to work toward leveling the playing field in academic opportunities and careers for people with disabilities. Through this award, NAPE highlights the importance of considering people with disabilities in all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.”

Learn more about the award.
 

There are a lot of computing education (CS) conferences—far more than I’m used to in other academic fields. There’s the (big) SIGCSE Technical Symposium, the (rigorous) International Computing Education Research conference, the (European) Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE), the (Finnish) Koli Calling, the (originally German) Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, the Australasian Computing Education Conference, the (Asian) CompEd, the (North American) Computer Science Teachers Association Conference, and I’m sure many others I’ve forgotten. Historically, computing education has been far more regional than most global research communities: This could be due to different amounts (or lack thereof) of funding or the national and cultural ties to public education.

There is, however, one thing that all of these conferences have had in common over time: A broad disregard for issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in CS. I don’t think that’s as true anymore—the SIGCSE venues above have an increasing focus on diversity, and certainly many existing education and learning sciences venues that have long centered diversity are beginning to examine computing—but it’s still the case that diversity is not central. For anyone who studies diversity in CS, or anyone with a marginalized identity in CS, the feeling of attending a SIGCSE event can be one of disregard. It often feels as if the broader community is tacitly saying, “Yes, diversity matters too, but I really want to tell you about this new tool that raises average grades.” Diversity simply feels like an afterthought. And for many marginalized and oppressed people in CS, it is unavoidably and inescapably a central focus.

This is where IEEE RESPECT (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Annual Conference on Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology) comes in. Originally founded by Tiffany Barnes in 2015, the conference was intended to be a venue that explicitly focused on diversity in computing. It began with a slightly more narrow focus on broadening participation in computing, mirroring the many NSF-supported projects in North America that had that same framing. It’s grown over time to draw computing education researchers and practitioners who center diversity, equity, and inclusion in their scholarship and teaching, tending to draw many more education researchers than other venues.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but when I first heard of RESPECT, I naively thought, “Do we really need another conference?” And in some ways, I still think that’s true: Fragmentation of a research community is rarely helpful, and splintering diversity work into a separate venue only reinforces the idea that other venues don’t have to deal with it. I certainly don’t have the bandwidth to attend SIGCSE, ICER, ITiCSE, and RESPECT, along with other conferences to engage with other communities. On the other hand, there can be great power in focus. After being invited to give the closing keynote this year at RESPECT 2021, I was excited to give diversity my full attention. And as I quickly learned, that focus can be productive.
 
For more information on this topic, read the full article on my blog.

I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan School of Information, and I identify as being neurodivergent. The key to my success has been an unyielding focus on scholarship, service, and self-care.

This past semester, I published my first CHI paper entitled “Problem-Solving Efficiency and Cognitive Load for Adaptive Parsons Problems vs. Writing the Equivalent Code.” This research found that, on average, novice programmers put in less mental effort into solving drag-and-drop problems than equivalent write code problems. But after reading a paper by Drs. Lauren R. Milne and Richard E. Ladner about disabled students’ experiences with block-based/drag-and-drop programming environments, I was left wondering how my results would generalize to students with cognitive and/or learning disabilities like myself. Consequently, I applied for and was awarded a $3,000 grant to investigate how students with learning disabilities learn to program using interactive eBooks with adaptive Parsons problems. My background in English, library, and information science, as well as human-computer interaction, have primed me for working with Dr. Barbara J. Ericson, who is passionate about creating free computing education eBooks.

I also mentored two undergraduates (one of whom was accepted to Google's Computer Science research mentorship program), participated in the hiring of our university’s new student accessibility and accommodation services director, was nominated to attend this year’s Human-Computer Interaction Consortium, and hiked the Garden of the Gods.

My greatest accomplishment, however, is right around the corner. I’m currently working on my dissertation proposal and plan to graduate next year. And I’m even more committed to my goal of working at a tier one research university after participating in the Preparing Future Faculty Seminar facilitated by the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at my university. Seminars like this expose details about the job search to first-generation college students and give disabled students a chance to ask questions.
 
The pertinent takeaway from the seminar was that students and faculty with and without disabilities can excel in academia with the right support. "I’ve been fortunate to have a partner (Nathan) whom I can talk to about the complexities of being at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, a mother who has 10+ years’ experience providing specialized services for individuals with brain injuries, autism, and intellectual disabilities, in-laws (Patti and Jim) whose higher education- and disability-related guidance have been invaluable, and friends to laugh with.

Inspiration has also helped guide my path and push me forward. I’m inspired by people like Amy J. Ko, Marcelo Worsley, Michail Giannakos, Maya Israel, Katta Spiel, Richard Ladner, Fred Paas, and Hariharan Subramonyam.

I’m most looking forward to engaging with the communities at the Conference on International Computing Education Research and the International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. If you’ve never attended them, consider it. I attended them both for the first time last year and found both to be welcoming—special thanks to Lauren Margulieux, Colleen Lewis, and Robin Brewer.

I’ll leave you with three things: If you haven’t seen Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, go check it out. If you plan on working in academia, join the Association on Higher Education and Disability. And a life lesson in the quote from my friend and former professor Sarah Schulman: “What’s normal is what’s human.”

AccessCSforAll hosted a series of four webinars called Accessible Computer Science: Teacher to Teacher, funded by the Infosys Foundation USA. In these webinars, computer science (CS) teachers who specialize in teaching blind and visually impaired students, deaf and hard of hearing students, and learning disabled and neurodiverse students shared strategies that other K-12 educators can use to include students with disabilities in their classroom. Recordings of each webinar are available on our AccessCSforAll Infosys webinar page.

Teaching CS to Blind and Visually Impaired Students

In this webinar, Gina Fugate shared lessons learned teaching CS to students who are blind and visually impaired. Gina is an assistive technology teacher at Maryland School for the Blind and has also taught students who are blind and visually impaired in a public school setting. She earned her M.Ed. in special education with an emphasis on visual disabilities. She co-coaches the DOT5UDOGS and 180 Optimum using Quorum Lego Robotics for First Lego League.

Teaching CS to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

In this webinar, Elizabeth (Beth) Kimball shared lessons learned teaching computer science to students who are deaf and hearing impaired. Beth is a graduate of multiple universities with a passion for anything new. Currently, Beth teaches computer science at Indiana School for the Deaf in the middle and high school STEM departments.

Teaching CS to Students with Learning Disabilities

In this webinar, Sarah Ciras shared lessons learned teaching computer science to students with learning disabilities. Sarah is a special education teacher at Landmark School in Beverly, MA and has been teaching for 11 years. This year she was named a CSTA Equity Fellow. She has spoken at several conferences about making CS accessible to students with language based learning disabilities.

Teaching CS to Neurodiverse Students

In this webinar, Robert DeFillippo shared lessons learned teaching CS to neurodiverse students. Mr. Robert DeFillippo is a 25-year educator who has worked with varied exceptionalities throughout his career. In 2008 Mr. DeFillippo earned the Annie Sullivan award for excellence in education, along with being named the 2018 national Champion of Computer Science award winner for his work with equity and accessibility to computer science for students with severe cognitive and emotional disabilities.

Shiri Azenkot, former AccessComputing Team member, is now an associate professor in the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and the Technion. She is also a faculty member in Information Science at Cornell University. She received her undergraduate degree at Pomona College in California in 2005 and her PhD at the University of Washington (UW) in 2014. Between her graduation from Pomona and entering UW, she worked in industry for four years. Her research area is human-computer interaction (HCI) with a focus on accessibility. While at UW, she won the UW Graduate Medal that recognizes PhD candidates whose academic expertise and social awareness are integrated in a way that demonstrates an exemplary commitment to the University and its larger community. Most recently in 2021, she was named Honorable Mention for the Skip Ellis Early Career Award given by the Computing Research Association that recognizes early-career individuals underrepresented in computing research that best exemplify the pioneering spirit of Skip Ellis, the first African American to earn a PhD in computer science. The award is for individuals who have made significant research contributions in computer science and/or engineering and have also contributed to the profession, especially in outreach to underrepresented groups. 

Shiri has made many research contributions that have had significant impact. She is a leading contributor to the ACM SIGACCESS Conference On Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) and has won several best paper awards there. Her research spans accessible technologies for smartphones, 3D printing, and augmented and virtual reality (XR). She has a special interest in innovative technology for people who are blind or have low vision. For her work in accessible XR, she won a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2020. She is one of the founders and leaders of XR Access, an initiative of academics, practitioners from industry, and advocacy groups with a focus on making XR accessible. She has supervised two PhD students who have gone on to careers: Lei Shi who is at Google and Yuhang Zhao who is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin. She currently supervises five PhD students.

Since joining Cornell Tech, Shiri continues to be involved with AccessComputing by being a partner. She has hosted several AccessComputing Team members as summer research interns. She was a keynote speaker at the OurCS@UW+AccessComputing workshop, a UW event held in 2019 that introduced research to undergraduate women with disabilities. During this workshop, she also led a small group of students in a short research project. She will be recruiting AccessComputing Team members for a new XR Access focused summer research program.

ACM SIGCHI is the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction. Its premier conference is the Computer-Human-Interaction (CHI) Conference. It also sponsors 20 other conferences. The CHI conference hosted over 3,000 attendees and was held virtually from May 8-13, 2021. Every year, a major feature of the conference is for people to meet in special interest groups (SIGS) to exchange ideas that are of common interest to the participants. A SIG on Access at SIGCHI was co-sponsored by ACM SIGACCESS, AccessSIGCHI, and AccessComputing. SIGACCESS is the Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing and AccessSIGCHI is a group, independent of SIGCHI, that focuses on the accessibility of SIGCHI conferences and publications. 

There were about 60 participants from many different countries. The 75 minute discussion centered on three questions:

• What are the key barriers to accessing SIGCHI events (virtual and and in-person)?
• What are the key barriers to publishing in SIGCHI venues?
• What are the experiences of people with disabilities who are also members of marginalized groups in SIGCHI?

There was a wide ranging discussion that was documented in a 20-page report that is too long to summarize here. One discussion point was about SIGCHI adjunct co-chairs of accessibility, Soraia Prietch and Stacy Branham, who were appointed in 2020. They can currently advocate directly with the elected leadership of SIGCHI about accessibility concerns and solutions. With SIGCHI leadership changing soon because of the current election, it is not clear whether these positions will continue under new leadership. Since conferences and their proceedings are often contracted to outside vendors, there was concern about how to make those vendors accountable for making the conference and publications accessible. It was suggested that conferences could consult with AccessComputing, and in particular, Co-PI Sheryl Burgstahler and her team in UW-IT, who has extensive experience in putting language in contracts that hold vendors accountable for making their products and services accessible.

AccessComputing congratulates our partner Salesforce on being chosen Employer of the Year by Disability:IN.

According to Disability:IN, "The Employer of the Year recognizes exemplary policies, strategies and initiatives that have resulted in measurable results in the areas of disability inclusiveness in the workplace, marketplace and supply chain."