Inclusivity, creativity, and coding: Inside of the Scratch Education Collaborative with Elaine Atherton
By Valerie I
This post is the first in a series highlighting the work of the Scratch Education Collaborative (SEC). In this series, we’ll introduce you to some core principles, people, and practices that help shape how we think about creative, collaborative learning.
Community voices and partnerships are deeply woven into the fabric of Scratch’s history. They have been, and continue to be, integral in helping us increase accessible and equitable coding opportunities worldwide. In 2021, we launched the Scratch Education Collaborative (SEC), an initiative that connects organizations around the world that are committed to identifying and eliminating the barriers to access to creative coding.
Today, the SEC supports and engages participating organizations in a two-year, collaborative cohort experience to strengthen their commitment to and implementation of equitable creative coding using Scratch and ScratchJr. By the end of the cohort experience, organizations will have formed meaningful partnerships with each other and with the Scratch Foundation and will have established new models for designing equity-centered creative coding resources.
We recently talked with the Director of the SEC, Elaine Atherton, about the immeasurable value of equity-based approaches in creative learning spaces. Before joining the Scratch Foundation, Elaine was the Director of Academics for Duke TIP, a Durham, North Carolina-based organization that provides learning experiences for academically gifted students. She considers herself a lifelong teacher who is committed to eliminating barriers and gaps in education.
What does equitable creative coding mean to you?
We don’t have a set definition yet. I’m particular about that because the SEC has only been doing this work for about 15 months.
Right now, we just have our approach to how we do that work. An effective approach acknowledges the gaps while inviting more perspectives to the table. These different perspectives provide insight into cultural context and ways to collaborate. A lot of SEC organizations are rooted in communities that are already doing the work.
Equitable creative coding is about the intentional approach to creating opportunities based on multiple perspectives, inclusivity, and fairness.
Why is access to creative coding opportunities significant for children? How may these opportunities support them in broader areas of their lives?
I think it starts with the word in that question: opportunities.
We understand why there is a solid Computer Science career pipeline. At conferences, we hear actual language that says, ‘we want to build one million coders by 2030.’
The challenge is that there may not be one million coding jobs by 2030. The other component is that everyone may not want to be a coder.
So how do we then provide experiences where kids can build mindsets and transferable skills across a wide range of professions? Engaging in productive play in Scratch moves the conversation around Computer Science education by helping kids think beyond coding.
Scratch helps young people develop different interests and connect with peers while fostering digital well-being in a caring, communal space. Scratchers can become productive digital citizens regardless of what they pursue.
The SEC came over ten years after the development of Scratch. Why is it crucial right now?
The pandemic revealed a pre-existing digital divide and a lack of access and resources to experiences that allow kids and educators to imagine, be creative, and facilitate collaborative experiences.
Remote learning amplified that divide.
We started the SEC at a time when people craved community. They craved just having someone else excited about doing this work alongside them. They didn’t have to worry about finding a way to do it safely in person because it was designed to be done virtually in SEC Workshops.
How have participants taken what they’ve learned in the SEC and used it to partner with organizations and communities external to the SEC?
A lot of times, participants will facilitate activities similar to what we have facilitated as a part of a workshop. They may also use new hardware like Makey Makey or Micro:bit. They may co-facilitate an event with someone else from the SEC that they met, co-design something, or simply visit someone.
Aside from that, SEC participants also design directory pages and Equitable Creative Coding Resources (ECCRs). This was something that we felt was important to move beyond initial connections. ECCRs are creative learning or creative coding learning resources that you create using an equitable approach. We developed guidance in collaboration with Ariam Mogos from the Stanford D School, with checkpoints encouraging participants to pause and reflect on whether or not they are using an equitable approach.
In what ways do these kinds of collaborations inform our work at Scratch?
We recently received a message from an organization that we met with in Kenya. He said,
‘Elaine, we were working with students who have visual impairments and are blind, and they wanted to use a calculator, and we couldn’t find something that worked well for them. So we created a calculator using a Makey Makey and Scratch for them.’
I immediately shared that with our engineering and product teams. These collaborations remind us to be more intentional about our work and open our eyes to things we hadn’t considered.
What’s your favorite memory from working with the SEC participants thus far?
My favorite moments are what others may quantify as the smaller ones.
I’m used to facilitating non-traditional online learning experiences, and I practice remembering the names and details about the participants. In our first workshop, I noticed a woman named Rosa from Bridges to Science.
I said, ‘Oh, Rosa, you teach homeschool students; that’s fantastic. I’d love to learn more.’
I genuinely was excited to see her presence and see we had representation from an organization focused on homeschooled students.
Later she shared how profound that moment of acknowledgment was to her.
I didn’t think twice about it, but it reminded me of the importance of people wanting to feel seen, especially during a pandemic.
If you had to choose one lesson that you’re taking into your work with our second SEC Cohort that you learned from Cohort One, what would it be?
Collaboration looks very different for adults; that’s the lesson.
The SEC is like an onion. You can start and say collaboration looks different for adults. And then the next layer is collaboration is different in virtual spaces. And then another layer of collaboration is different with adults in virtual spaces from a global audience.
As we peel back these layers, we must constantly ask ourselves questions that ground our work in equity to ensure that it’s fair, inclusive, and welcoming for multiple perspectives.
The SEC is just one of many building blocks Scratch uses to foster community and generate intentional and equitable pathways to creative learning. Our next post will explore how one of our SEC organizations exercises this equity-centered approach.
You can learn more about the SEC here. Follow us on Twitter @Scratch for current updates on the SEC.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
