Elizabeth Patitsas

My area of focus is the sociology of computer science education. Computer science education (also known as computing education) is the study of the teaching and learning of computer science (e.g. algorithms, programming, computer logic). Those of us who take a sociological approach to CS education look at issues such as access and equity in CS education programmes, policy issues facing CS education, and the effect of CS education on society.

Recently there's been a lot of effort to teach CS for all students, and to bring CS into the K-12 school system. There's also been an enormous increase in demand for undergraduate CS classes. I'm interested in the policy issues surrounding access to CS education, as well as what it means to have universal CS literacy. I'm currently studying how policy decisions surrounding access to CS education affect gender balance in CS undergraduate programmes, how the beliefs of CS educators affect their teaching, and how most appropriately teach CS to non-CS audiences.

I am cross-appointed (50/50) between DISE and the School of Computer Science. See my website https://patitsas.github.io/ for more information including whether I am accepting graduate students.