Abstract
This design case documents the creation of open educational resources for preservice and inservice teachers at Brigham Young University (BYU). The purpose of this interdisciplinary project was to design and develop training, assessments and credentials to help the learners become competent in teaching computational thinking (CT) and coding in developmentally appropriate ways for their students. In accordance with the needs and desires of the stakeholders, the assessments for the project took the form of open badges, and the training consisted of corresponding tutorials to assist individuals earning those badges. The badges, tutorials and some related resources were compiled into the Tech with Kids website (https://iptedtec.wixsite.com/techwithkids) in order to make them accessible for all target learners. Evaluation data suggests, among other findings, that most learners were able to successfully complete badge requirements; that the intervention was effective at helping students improve their understanding of CT; that learners generally perceived the materials as effective; and that the intervention may be implemented in a variety of ways.
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Acknowledgements
This project and article were supported by funds from the Child and Family Studies Laboratory and Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University.
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This project was supported by research funds from the authors’ institution and the client of the design project. There was no grant involved. For the purposes of peer review, the names of these organizations has been omitted from this manuscript, but they are included on the separate title page with author information.
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
Informed consent was not required by the institution in this case, as the design case was written using existing data that had been used for the design product, and since the article and attached datasets do not disclose any personal information.
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Enoch Hunsaker was paid to conduct this design project and design case article. Rick West declares that he has no conflict of interest.
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Hunsaker, E., West, R.E. Designing Computational Thinking and Coding Badges for Early Childhood Educators. TechTrends 64, 7–16 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00420-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00420-3