We are thrilled to invite you to the launch event and inaugural seminar of the Computer Science Education (CSE) group at the University of Edinburgh, School of Informatics. This event will take place both in person and online to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate.
We thank The Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) for sponsoring the event.

About the Computer Science Education group:

The CSE group is a platform that brings together peers from the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics who are passionate about Computer Science Education. Our members come from diverse backgrounds and professions within Informatics, including academics, students, learning technologists, and administrators. This diversity enriches our collective knowledge, enabling us to engage in mutual learning, improve out teaching, foster innovation, leverage our wide-ranging skill sets for interdisciplinary research, and continuously enhance educational practices.

Event Details:

Date: October 4^th

Time: 10:30 AM - 1:00 PM (GMT)

In Person Location: Informatics Forum Room G.07, University of Edinburgh

Online: Microsoft Teams Link

Registration: Please RSVP your attendance (online or in-person)

Agenda:

10:30 AM: Morning coffee and refreshments

10:45 AM: Welcome and Introduction to the CSE group, by Felipe Costa Sperb (University of Edinburgh)

11:00 AM: *Keynote presentation: "Evaluating the Sense of Belonging of Undergraduate Computing Students in the UK and Ireland - an invitation to collaborate", by Catherine Mooney (University College Dublin), Brett Becker (University College Dublin), and Fiona Mcneill (University of Edinburgh) 

12:00 PM: CSE presentation: "Providing Students Opportunities to Learn about Accessibility and Designing for Inclusion”, by Aurora Constantin (University of Edinburgh)

12:20 PM: CSE presentation: "Highlights from the UK and Ireland Computing Education Research (UKICER) 2023 Conference”, by Cristina Alexandru (University of Edinburgh) 

12:40 PM: Membership of the CSE group, closing notes and discussion, by Cristina Alexandru (University of Edinburgh)

1:00 PM: Networking Reception and Lunch served at the concourse of the Informatics building (for in-person attendees)

This event is open to all colleagues interested in CS education topics.
*You are also welcome to join us solely for the keynote presentation.

If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at lcostas@ed.ac.uk.
We look forward to your participation to the launch of this exciting initiative. 


Keynote Presentation Abstract:

During this presentation, we will introduce our plans for our forthcoming collaborative project - which we are running as a RIPPA (Research in Practice Project Activity), a year-long multi-institute research project, part of the UKICER (UK and Ireland Computing Education Research) programme. As well as sharing our plans with the community, we are looking to engage those interested in collaborating as part of this project from institutions across the country.
Sense of Belonging, or belongingness, is an individual's personal conviction regarding their acceptance as a valued member within an academic community. The significance of student belongingness lies in its correlation with various outcomes including motivation, persistence, mental health and well-being. However, the experience of belongingness is subject to variations influenced by factors such as race/ethnicity and gender. Previous research has demonstrated notable statistical differences in the belongingness experienced by computing students who identify as women or as part of other minoritized groups.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed a decline in belongingness among male and female students who do not identify as minoritised, while an increase was observed among women who identify as minoritised. Although students have returned to campus, current surveys reveal that the belongingness levels among men and women who do not identify as minoritised have not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, a statistically significant decrease in belongingness is observed among men who identify as minoritised. This emphasizes the necessity for continued efforts to restore student belongingness to its pre-pandemic state and shed light on the positive impact that moving to a virtual environment appeared to have on sense of belonging of minoritised women.
We have been studying the sense of belonging of undergraduate students in the School of Computer Science at University College Dublin since 2017, and at the University of Edinburgh since 2021. We have recently extended this work across Ireland and Northern Ireland, and would now like to expand further across Scotland and into Wales and England. We invite interested parties to participate in our RIPPA (Research in Practice Project Activity), a year long project starting in Autumn 2023.