Ask HN: Are there computing education research jobs not at a college?

3 points by hshoebridge 5 years ago | 4 comments

Hi HN,

I've been teaching people how to code pretty much since I learned how to code myself. In high school I made (now embarrassing) YouTube tutorials, taught my friends how to make games, ran classes with an after school carer. While at university I've been working as a tutor (I think in the US they're called TAs) for a first and second year course: and the work I've done there has been the highlight of my week (in particular, i've been working in a course that introduces art too CS students, and art students to CS --- which I've found particularly rewarding).

I've made friends with the course conveners, taken on extra responsibility in helping run the courses, and last semester I did a research project designing a system to collect information about the roadblocks our students run into when learning to code. Through that project, I found an interest in CS education research (teaching people is cool --- but teaching people how to teach people or finding the best way to teach people? baller).

Somewhat naively, perhaps, it seems to me that I could pursue a PhD in Computing Education Research. The problem is, at least here in Australia, it looks like we're entering into a pretty poor time to go and get a PhD. While perhaps it's still something I'd like to do in the somewhat distant future, I'm curious about what other options there are for someone who wants to do CeD research but in a non-formal capacity. Anyone have any ideas?

elonmollusc 5 years ago |

It's great that your interested in education research. It's a great area to study and you have the potential to have a lot of impact on students.

There are exceptions, but the reality is that it's hard to be established as a researcher without a PhD in the field. CS ed researchers tend to fall into one of three categories:

1. A small number of professors at major research universities who pursue CS education as their main area of scholarship and supervise grad students in the area.

2. Professors at smaller colleges where pedagogy is a big part of the culture (this is me). My college likes it when faculty think critically about teaching and learning and translate that into scholarship, but almost all of us did our original PhD work in areas other than teaching and learning.

3. Faculty (usually called lecturers in the U.S.) who are hired specifically to each intro classes at large universities. Many programs like for faculty in these roles to have PhDs, but there are also options for people with Master's degrees.

Here are the other options I can think of. There are a number of companies that provide infrastructure for coding classes (GitHub, Codio, Mimir, repl.it) and are involved as sponsors or presenters within the CS Ed community. You might also have options at nonprofits or foundations that are focused on equity and access in STEM. A third option could be a teaching position at a private high school, where you could work with students and publish about your experiences, although it might be hard to get institutional support for scholarship at the pre-college level.

One last comment: in the U.S., demand for faculty at teaching-oriented colleges has been far higher than supply for several years. From personal experience, I can tell you that PhD graduates from good programs with proven teaching experience are hard to find. Hiring is going to be rough for the next few years while we work through the enrollment implications of the pandemic, but demand for CS courses will continue to remain high and I expect that hiring for CS faculty will be among the first to rebound in a couple of years.

hackermailman 5 years ago |

Ask people who do education research https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/

There's also private companies like brilliant who would pay you to do curriculum research if you got a PhD in the field, or who knows make your own.

sushshshsh 5 years ago |

I doubt it exists. Your best bet would be to create a non-profit and be the changing force in the world that you invision :)

probinso 5 years ago |

Enthought

You also may enjoy Amiga Learning, although it's not quite the same