Each year, NSF asks fellows to submit a year summary report online and indicate their action for the following year. The submission should include experiences, awards, and publications. The last portion is a written report about the year. Your advisor must also sign a form stating that they have read and approved the report.
I have included my written reports below to serve as exemplars for the reader who comes across this page and may need one; I know I did.
Intellectual Merit: This year, I have had the opportunity to share what I learned through my research by presenting at computing education conferences (i.e., SIGCSE-TS, PLATEAU, and ITiCSE). My first published work comes from my main research project and discusses the challenges teachers face when teaching programming in a classroom with students who are learning English as a second language.
Through talking with the teachers in my study, I have found that students sometimes do not always connect with the technical parts of programming and can easily “tune out” for reasons such as cognitive load and negative transfer of terms they learn in computing and other STEM disciplines, like math. The SIGCSE paper explains the creative ways teachers try to help, like encouraging different ways for students to translate (to and from their native language), using color-coded visuals to help learning, and explaining complicated ideas in simpler ways. This shows that teachers are coming up with good ideas on their own, even without specific training.
Another paper that will be published is for people who design programming languages. It discusses the choices teachers have to make when selecting a programming language for their classes, so that EB students can easily understand and access it. The last paper published came from a unique working group collaboration with an international team of scholars interested in exploring computer science education in Africa. We produced a literature review and also built contextualized materials for African CS faculty, and an empirical study looks at all the research that's been done in this area and helps create learning materials for computer science teachers in Africa. The other paper looks at how using students’ own cultures and languages can help them learn programming in African classrooms.
Besides writing papers, I have also shared my research by giving talks at various computing education events, such as the Illinois Computer Science Summer Teaching Workshop and the University of Georgia. I also helped run a workshop for graduate students at the SIGCSE-TS conference. And as I look forward to the future studies ahead of me, I want to design a programming tool and supporting activities (an intervention) that will help teachers with some of the challenges I have learned about. My “end” goal is to make learning programming easier and more engaging for EB students.
Broader Impact: Beyond research, I am contributing to inclusive teaching practices in engineering. For example, as a temporary Program Assistant for the New Faculty Orientation at CRLT-ENGIN, I support initiatives to integrate Generative AI into Canvas modules while ensuring all materials are digitally accessible. These broader impacts reflect my commitment to equity and workforce preparation in K-12 and higher education. With my final year of coursework now complete, I am excited to continue my work that bridges classroom realities, programming language design, and global perspectives in computing education (e.g., in Africa) and to deepen connections between my research and both U.S. and international communities. My work aims to connect the challenges and opportunities I have learned about in K-12 teachers’ classrooms in the US with my exploration of bilingual contexts in computing education in Africa, with the goal of developing more universally effective and culturally relevant teaching strategies. Although I currently work with teachers who teach a majority of Spanish-speaking students, this work can also be extended to students who speak other non-English languages. I am also considering how these strategies could be adapted and applied to support undergraduate students and faculty in computing classrooms, particularly those working with culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
Intellectual Merit: My academic focus has significantly changed over the last year. I was generally curious about the intersection of computer programming within STEM (Discrete Math), initially, but I have seen the narrowing down of my research interests. Currently, my focus is directed towards exploring the applicability of non-English languages in programming tools and probing the potential of leveraging this integration to scaffold the support provided by educators to emergent bilinguals in computing and maths courses, particularly at the K-12 level.
Through coursework, I have honed my skills while concurrently engaging in research. Central to my interest is an investigation into the pedagogical practices employed by K-12 educators when teaching computing to emergent bilingual students. Conducting interviews with teachers has given me a better understanding of the methods they use to support teachers, but also the perceptions they hold about bilingual programming tools. Despite the challenges brought on by language barriers, educators are eager to find ways to support all students; this support includes professional development opportunities and collaborative networks, which can help teaching efficacy.
Then, I had the privilege of immersing myself in an internship in Gaborone, Botswana, collaborating with CSEdBotswana, a pioneering initiative within the Faculty of Maths and Science Education at the University of Botswana. Alongside the founder, we headed the Hour of Code, a national programming outreach program introducing K-12 students and teachers to coding fundamentals. To make the national programming outreach activity successful, we collaborated with other researchers based in the Netherlands and the UK, worked with teachers, lecturers, and students who were from Botswana, and together, through meticulous planning meetings, we successfully reached all 34 sub-regions of Botswana, impacting over 6,000 students, 200+ schools, and 400 teachers.
In my leadership capacity, I oversaw various project items, which included:
Conducting participatory design sessions on a gradual bilingual programming tool,
Delivering instructional sessions to both teachers and student facilitators,
Facilitating fundraising efforts with the director/founder of CSEdBotswana,
Mentoring 22 student facilitators, and
Conducting both qualitative and quantitative data analyses. The analysis contributes to the results that we are currently working to publish.
Through this work, I have demonstrated my commitment to advancing educational equity and fostering inclusive learning environments, particularly for a country and continent not usually included in research conversations surrounding computing.
Broader Impact: I completed my presidency with the Graduate Society of Black Engineering and Scientists (GSBES) and transitioned into a supportive role as a general member, remaining engaged in the organization's initiatives. Alongside my leadership responsibilities, I published two research papers, one of which I co-presented with colleagues at the Frontiers of Education (FIE) 2023 conference, while the other went to Communications of the ACM.
Building upon these accomplishments, I have been selected to participate in a working group at the Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE) conference. This exciting opportunity arose during my internship, sparking anticipation for future possibilities. Additionally, I was invited to join COMPED's Regional Program Advisory Committee, furthering my involvement in educational initiatives. Currently, I am working on two papers that are in progress and will be submitted to WiPCSE.
Intellectual Merit: As a second-year PhD student at the University of Michigan, I have engaged in coursework and seminars to enhance my qualitative skills (e.g. ethnography) and expand my research interests. Working with my co-advisors Mark Guzdial and Lisa Lattuca, I have started the first project of my dissertation while also contributing to another research project. One project involves exploring how programming-based e-books can facilitate the learning of combinatorics. At the same time, the other, funded by my GRFP, aims to investigate how scaffolded bilingual programming tools can be used to improve CS teaching in K-12 classrooms. This project involves interviewing teachers about their pedagogical practices, perceptions of English-Only (EO) and not-English/bilingual (NEB) programming tools (e.g., Scratch, C++, Java, Hedy code, PixelEquations) and asking them about what challenges they face when teaching these emergent bilingual students. The intellectual merit of this research lies in its contribution to understanding how to serve emergent bilinguals better and broaden their participation in computing.
Broader Impact: In addition to my research activities, I have been actively involved in professional development and service activities in the Computer Science and Engineering Education communities. As the President of the Graduate Society of Black Engineering and Scientists (GSBES), I have participated in discussions to increase graduate student involvement while assisting with graduate student affairs within the College of Engineering. I have also presented at conferences, including the Frontiers of Education (FIE), volunteered at the Special Interest Group of Computer Science Education (SIGCSE-TM), and continue to engage with the computer science community through conferences like SIGCSE and ICER. These efforts have contributed to broader impacts by promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in computing and engineering education.
