Georgia State, Georgia Tech Researchers Receive Google Community Grant to Support Computer Science Teaching Assistants’ Inclusive Teaching Practices

ATLANTA—A team of Georgia State University and Georgia Tech faculty have received a three-year, $394,020 Google community grant to support teaching assistants (TAs) in university computer science (CS) programs to develop and incorporate more inclusive teaching practices.

The grant is a unique collaboration between education and computer science researchers led by Assistant Professor Ben Shapiro, Professor Anu Bourgeois, and Lecturer William Johnson at Georgia State and Professor Ellen Zegura and Lecturer Rodrigo Borela Valente at Georgia Tech.

Nationally, TAs play a crucial role in computer science courses – meeting with students one-on-one, leading CS labs and designing course assessments, among other tasks. Moreover, the role of TAs in CS continues to grow in response to rapidly increasing student enrollments in CS programs.

This grant project seeks to work with TAs to better understand their unique role at each university and use this research to inform the design of new training for TAs to further develop and reflect on their teaching, with a focus on supporting inclusive teaching practices.

“This work recognizes the growing importance and impact of TAs in CS,” Shapiro explained. “The project focuses on collaborating with TAs and educators at each university to advance the use of inclusive practices in their teaching, which includes the use of more diverse and dynamic content and incorporating a focus on ethics and responsible computing into CS courses. Such ideas are central to the larger goal of broadening participation in computer science.”

As they develop and test out their TA training, the grant team will create instructional guides, training videos and curriculum that can be used to expand TA training programs at both universities. The team also plans to make their training materials public so that other university-level computer science programs can benefit from their work.

"Many of the initiatives funded by Google at Georgia State University underscore their commitment to broadening participation in computing," Bourgeois said. "Their support significantly bolsters our efforts in cultivating inclusive teaching practices, empowering both educators and students in the field of computer science."

And thanks to Google’s support, the grant team’s work will help make university computer science programs more inclusive of all students.

“Google is proud to support Georgia State University’s efforts to broaden participation in computing,” said Anona Shugart Walker, Google’s Tech Education Outreach Lead for Atlanta.  “We're excited to sponsor this collaborative effort to help equip university computer science teaching assistants with the skills and knowledge they need to create inclusive learning environments for all learners.”