Developing a Computer Science Education Community of Practice for Early-Career Academics in the UK

Crick, Tom, Davenport, James H., Hayes, Alan, Irons, Alastair and Prickett, Tom (2021) Developing a Computer Science Education Community of Practice for Early-Career Academics in the UK. In: Proceedings of the 26th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education. ACM, New York, p. 663. ISBN 9781450383974

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Abstract

The early career of a computer science (CS) academic in the UK is increasingly challenging in terms of balancing research aspirations, learning and teaching responsibilities, wider academic service commitments, alongside their own professional development. The quality of development for an early-career CS academic is mediated in part by the strength of the community of practice they are able to access and engage with. And not just ones that operate within their department or institution; but also communities of practice that exist at a national and international level, often through professional bodies, learned societies and research networks. This poster presents the emerging work-in-progress to address some of these social, cultural and structural challenges in developing a CS education community of practice in the UK. Building on recent work, we identify a number of specific actions and recommendations to supplement the current formal institutional requirements with enhanced national-level academic practice support and professional development, alongside local and regional professional mentoring.

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