Computational Participation

Yasmin Kafai's short article describes computational thinking as an inherently "social and creative practice" (Kafai, 26) that has evolved into a community-driven endeavour and not a space of siloed learning. There is a active and social element to the coding platforms that students are now using to learn code, one that asks students to explore and comment on the work of others and remix existing programs and applications towards an open-source space of collaboration.

I found myself nodding in agreement with so many of Kafai's assertions about the place that computational thinking has to take as an ongoing act of participatory learning. My own digital arts exploratory classes have been set up so that students can help each other through coding practices and have to agree to ask two peers before they seek out my help with a difficult challenge. When learning coding concepts during our CODE.ORG 20-hour course sessions, they are welcome to use the hint button and are encouraged to help each other out in a "phone a friend" moment. Likewise, the social presentation of shared games and code is a big part of our project building time.

I hadn't considered the need for students to learn the participatory language of coding as they set out to share their work with members of their community of practice through message boards or in the comment section of Scratch and other platforms. For them to truly excel, they'll not only need to learn how to ask the right questions but also develop a fluency for the way that online communication takes places behind the veil of online anonymity. There is a level of vulnerability that comes along with receiving feedback on your creative work in any context, and receiving feedback from strangers can be a new experience for many young people. All the more reason why the pieces of digital citizenship that encourage kindness and care online should be taught.

Questions:

1. How can we ensure safety in online communication while encouraging students to develop their own communities of practice?

2. How can students work to protect their own intellectual property in a digital realm that requires sharing and feedback?

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Works Cited

Kafai, Yasmin B. “From Computational Thinking to Computational Participation in K-12 Education.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 59, no. 8, Aug. 2016, pp. 26–27. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1145/2955114. Accessed 24 July 2021.