We are a community of researchers, educators, students who are passionate researchers and practitioners of computing education.
Our community spans faculty, students, and staff from:
- The Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
- The Information School (iSchool)
- The College of Education
- The department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE)
- The Department of Communication
- The eScience Institute
We also welcome center members from industry and government. Check out our People page to learn more about who we are.
Prospective PhD student?
See our education page for tips on doctoral admissions.
What do you mean by “computing”?
While many of us do research on CS education, and some of us teach CS, many of us are also interested in studying how to help anyone and everyone (who wants to) use computational methods (like programming, data science, and machine learning) to understand and improve the world, or to understand how computing is affecting the world around us, whether they want to be computer scientists or not.
For example, some of us care about how to help biologists use computational methods to improve their science, some of us want to find out how to help artists to use computers to make new art, some of us want to help students to critique society’s obsession of new technologies, and some of us want to create new programming languages that change how software engineers to do their jobs.
All of this involves learning and is about more than computer science. We use “computing” to refer to that broader focus, and “computing education” to refer the learning and teaching in that broader focus.
How do I meet people in the community?
We have a weekly research meeting and co-working lunch Wednesdays 11-1 pm during academic quarters, except finals week. Check our calendar for this and other events. Anyone engaged in research with LCI faculty are welcome attend.
If you’re not yet engaged in research with faculty, or just want to meet people in the community, you can:
- If you’re a UW student, join the RSO Association for Computing Education (ACE)
- Attend the quarterly Sound CS Ed meetup, which brings together researchers, teachers, policy makers, curriculum designers, learning technology creators, and other people passionate about computing education from across Puget Sound.
- Visit a Puget Sound CS Teachers Association meeting, which brings together CS teachers from around the region.
- Engage in a computing education research project by exploring the opportunities below.
- Engage in one of the ways to learn to teach computing above.
- Review the many opportunities to get involved in CSE.
How do I get involved in research?
There are many ways to get started:
- Read the Computing Education Research FAQ to learn about the field.
- Contact any of the People in the community to chat about research opportunities.