Social discussion of CS in K-12

["Wolske, Martin B" <mwolske AT illinois.edu>]

I agree, George. Back in my undergraduate peace fellowship days we called it intellectual masturbation, but in avoiding it at all costs we did sometimes end up in the ditch of death -- the repeated redirection of what should be transformative practices and pedagogies to instead build further ditches that further entrench existing systems. I don't have to look any further than the latest DCEO grant we were just awarded. Our budget was slashed in the award because although DCEO highlighted the ISTE Standards as the metrics we should especially focus on, they felt that all the proposed staffing and material to support a project-based, critical thinking approach to digital literacy was flash, and that the sole important metric is how many completed courses on keyboarding, opening and closing programs, and using the Internet so that they can become employed and help grow the economy. Computational thinking for all, Makerspaces, even progressive education have all likewise been used to champion goals and values far from the roots of the initial purposes of these. I think capability approach might give a theory to help give a clearer statement of "for what". I'm also including a paper by Dorothea Kleine in which she proposes a Choice Framework that tries to operationalize capability approach to allow a better evaluation of achieving the "for what". I also think Bruce and Rubin's situated evaluation fits well with capability approach in that vein.

-- Martin

P.S., The Stillman and Denison paper was a good starting point for me, but might not be the best sole paper for our purposes. I'm still looking for the right summary paper myself.

On Jul 29, 2014, at 10:56 AM, George Reese <reese AT illinois.edu>
 wrote:

> Hi Martin,
>
> I'm very interested in doing a bit of reading on this. Particularly if there
> is a concise summary. As long as we keep our focus on action, theory to make
> action intelligent, or to maximize intelligent action is what I think we're
> looking for.
> Can you send me the Stillman and Dennison paper?
>
> George
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ctrl-shift-bounces AT lists.mste.illinois.edu
> [mailto:ctrl-shift-bounces AT lists.mste.illinois.edu] On Behalf Of Wolske,
> Martin B
> Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2014 9:53 AM
> To: ctrl-shift AT lists.mste.illinois.edu
> Subject: [Ctrl-Shift] Capability Approach
>
> Hi all,
>
> Last Tuesday evening I mentioned that some colleagues, Larry Stillman and
> Tom Denison, who do similar work with communities around technology but
> internationally through Monash University pointed me to capability approach.
> I finally got to digging into it more and I think there's a lot to like as a
> compliment to Dewey's pragmatism, computational thinking for all, and other
> shared frameworks. A strong theoretical case is made for taking a
> multi-dimensional approach to human development and flourishing that goes
> beyond just employable skills and economic growth without diminishing those
> factors. It especially focuses on the importance of developing agency and
> freedom of choice/empowerment in individuals so that they can develop the
> capabilities they value and have reason to value -- that is, the theory
> focuses on processes and means, not the ends. It further recognizes that the
> resources needed to accomplish that will be different for each individual
> depending on their personal biographies -- that is, it calls into question
> generalized approaches that gloss over personal histories, economic and
> physical status, values, culture, etc.
>
> The reason Larry and Tom put it forward was because they felt it resonated
> well with the work many of us do within the field of community informatics,
> and I'd suggest it seems to also resonate well with our group. Larry and Tom
> further hoped it might serve as a theoretical framing for that work that
> could help others, both academic and community, better appreciate why we
> suggest our approach is so valuable. It is in a similar vein that the United
> Nations and UNESCO have adopted capabilities approach to frame their human
> development reports and their work more broadly.
>
> There's an introductory book available on capability approach that my
> students are finding useful available online at:
> http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/Pages/IDRCBookDetails.aspx?Publ
> icationID=62
> The first several chapters and the chapter on education seem especially
> helpful. I'd be very interested to hear others thoughts on the theory and
> its appropriateness for our work together as I continue to work to wrap my
> brain around this. I also have the paper Larry and Tom published on
> capability approach and community informatics, and perhaps a dozen papers
> that have also been published on capability approach and technology for
> development, including papers on capability approach, technology, and
> disabilities and a couple others on capability approach and design of
> technology, if anyone is interested in reading more.
>
> -- Martin
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Attachment: Capability Approach and Community Informatics copy.pdf
Description: Capability Approach and Community Informatics copy.pdf

Attachment: The capability approach and the medium of choice- steps towards conceptualising information and communication technologies for development copy.pdf
Description: The capability approach and the medium of choice- steps towards conceptualising information and communication technologies for development copy.pdf