Broadening participation in computing (BPC) has been a key focus of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for over two decades. Its aim is to support students and faculty from historically underrepresented groups, including women, people with disabilities, and certain racial and ethnic groups. Within these communities, the diverse range of gender and sexual identities remains overlooked in computing education research (CER). To address this invisibility, this panel will discuss the benefits of integrating LGBTQIA+ perspectives. The moderator will provide context, define relevant terms, and set ground rules for discussion. The panelists will offer insights from a variety of perspectives, including: a discussion of the policy landscape impacting LGBTQIA+ students and the importance of incorporating their perspectives as researchers and participants; the erasure of queer history in computer science and advocate for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, considering the humanitarian calling for the field and CS educators in our tech-driven world; the current resistance to supporting LGBTQIA+ scholarship in computing, advocating for an inclusive approach; and finally, the experiences of marginalized individuals in CS education and ways to support them, emphasizing inclusivity through storytelling and personal narratives. The panel aims to increase visibility, understanding, and collaboration between the computing education research community and LGBTQIA+ individuals. By acknowledging and integrating diverse perspectives, we can begin to create a more inclusive, equitable computing landscape.

Many K-12 educators who are new to computer science (CS) may have a lack of confidence or sense of intimidation when starting their CS teaching journey. To mitigate this, Massachusetts DESE contracted CSforMA to create a three-day "Introduction to Computer Science for Educators" workshop (ICSW) focused on CS fundamentals. The ICSW covered grade-level CS terminology and concepts including computational thinking, physical computing, and programming. Evaluation of the ICSW showed 98% of respondents reported increased knowledge of CS. In a survey administered later that summer, 100% of respondents who took the ICSW reported that it helped them better understand curriculum materials. This replicable, scalable, and successful ICSW model could benefit other State DoEs and CS professional development coordinators. This work also shows the benefits of using an external evaluator.

Lack of diversity and high dropout rates among underrepresented students plague the CS discipline. We developed, administered, and validated survey scales measuring social factors that impact the retention and graduation of under-represented CS undergrads at two institutions. Results revealed significant differences between students who identify as men vs. women in terms of computing identity and confidence, and between black and non-black students in terms of familiarity with future opportunities.

There is currently an existing gap between Computer Science Education (CSE/CSEd) academia and the industry (e.g., government, profit, non-profit organizations, and research centres). It was evident in the findings for our recent research, "Identifying Opportunities and Potential Roadblocks for CSEd Professionals," presented at the ICER 2021. We discovered that the industry is unaware of CSE as a discipline, and qualification requirements for jobs relevant to CSEd exclude CSEd expertise. On the other hand, our study revealed that graduate students are interested in industry jobs. Still, their advisors discourage them from considering such employment. This disarticulation negatively impacts students, academia, and industry. Graduate students are left with little or no information and guidance to develop their career pathways and use their learned skills. Innovative research from academia is developed as theory without application to the industry. Also, the industry does not benefit from the CSE research and expertise. This Birds-of-Feathers (BOF) will bring together academic faculty members, graduate students, and industry representatives to bridge the existing gap by discussing the challenges and potential solutions. For additional information, visit https://www.csedgrad.org/birds-of-a-feather.

Are you a funding proposal author, a researcher thinking about your data, or someone who is interested in open science? Over the course of three hours we will explore opportunities and challenges associated with preserving and sharing your data, review what the NSF requires of project Data Management Plans and explore tools to help you prepare your data management plan and sustainability strategy. Data sustainability is crucial to contributions to the broader CS education research community and a potential solution to the need for more high-quality datasets available for secondary analyses. There are several challenges associated with maintaining and sharing data, including practical considerations (e.g., sustainable funding, hosting platforms) and ethical concerns (e.g., confidentiality, appropriate contextualization of data in future usage). It is our responsibility to engage with these difficulties and work towards responsible field-wide solutions. This workshop will 1) facilitate participants' discussions of a data sustainability framework, with attention to practical and ethical challenges; 2) introduce participants to tools designed to help enable better data management and data management plans; and 3) allow time for participants to reflect on their current projects? Data Management Plans and brainstorm ways to create processes for facilitating data sharing and sustainability. We invite you to bring plans you may have to the workshop.

In 2017 a project was started to form a connected community of practice (CCOP) of projects funded to conduct computer science education research through a research practice partnership methodology. In this poster, organizers from that CCOP detail strategies to encourage ongoing exchange and collaboration in the community of researchers. Strategies began with offering resources broadly useful to all projects in an early phase of their RPP work. Over time, through surveying participants, a more theme-based strategy to appeal to subsets of the community was employed. The poster explores the themes used in the third year of the project and share attendance and engagement data. Generalizable recommendations for encouraging shared data gathering goals and resource curation are offered for similar communities of practice devoted to researching computer science education, and ideas on how organizers can measure the success of such communities are shared.

In the summer of 2017, the National Science Foundation funded a cohort of Research Practice Partnership (RPP) projects focused on expanding access to Computer Science Education in the United States. Funded as one of the RPP projects was the RPPforCS project, a collaboration between Sagefox Consulting Group and CSforALL. The project operates as a community of practice for the individual RPP projects, holding regular webinars, producing a newsletter, and curating a discussion forum on Slack. In this special session we propose a structured poster session specifically for the RPP projects funded by the NSF.