How do computing faculty adopt curriculum innovations?: the story from instructors

Authors:
Lijun Ni;Tom McKlin;Mark Guzdial
Affiliations:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA;The Findings Group, Atlanta, GA, USA;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Year:
2010

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Abstract

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory, qualitative study revealing computing instructors' experience in adopting curriculum innovations. We interviewed eight instructors a year after they attended workshops on several innovative introductory Computer Science (intro CS) courses at undergraduate level. The interview was designed to elicit the extent to which instructors had adopted or adapted what they learned from the workshops, and what drove or prevented their efforts to make curriculum change. The results of this study reveal that the adoption and adaptation of computing curriculum innovations in new situations may involve systemic change affecting instructors, departments and institutions as a whole. The findings of this study suggest a list of questions that a computing instructor might ask before committing to a new innovation. We also consider implications of this study for disseminating computing education innovations.