Justice-Centered Educational Programming Languages

In this one-hour lecture, Professor Amy Ko from the University of Washington explores how educational programming languages (EPLs) can be designed with justice at their center. Examine how current EPLs often exclude learners through embedded assumptions about ability, class, culture, language, and identity. Learn about Ko's proposed seven justice-centered design requirements for programming languages: they should be accessible, liberatory, transparent, cultural, obtainable, democratic, and enduring. Discover examples of languages that succeed or fail at meeting these requirements, understand the constraints that make justice-centered design challenging, and explore potential solutions to overcome these barriers. This EECS Colloquium presentation draws on Ko's extensive research in computing education, human-computer interaction, and her work on making technology more equitable and just.