Introduction

The purpose of this ebook is to explore epistemic diversity in computing education. To better understand the concept of epistemic diversity, let’s examine the traditional paradigms in computer science. The discipline of computer science (CS) has concretely defined three paradigms of computing: mathematical tradition, scientific tradition, and engineering tradition, as noted by Tedre & Sutinen (2008). Fundamentally, these epistemic “traditions” act as gatekeepers, making it difficult to think of other futures, epistemologies, and ontologies. Numerous researchers have outlined the importance of incorporating epistemic values and identities into STEM (Douglas, 2016; Osbeck & Neressian, 2017). Fundamentally, this project started because computer science courses at the university level should incorporate other epistemologies – new ways of thinking about CS concepts, epestimic diversity.

The primary goal of this ebook is to showcase the creation of introductory computer programming modules and associate them with various pedagogies like accessibility pedagogy, Indigenous pedagogy, and culturally relevant pedagogy. The secondary goal of these modules is to embed critical algorithmic literacies into first-year computer science students. We would like students who complete these modules to recognize become critical aware of the real-world impacts they can have based on their coding decisions.