In this interview with Maya Israel, we discuss Maya’s shift from special education into CS education, the importance of universal design for learning (UDL) in CS classes, understanding the spectrum of accessibility for students with a diverse set of needs, the current status of accessibility and inclusion within the field of CS education, problematize deficit framings of students with disabilities, and so much more.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

01:01 Maya introducing herself

01:17 How Maya got into CS education

04:54 How Maya leanred about CS and recommends learning CS

07:06 Maya's specialty in disability research

09:45 What is Universal Design for Learning and why should educators know about it?

12:50 What does an accessible experience look like?

15:23 Teaching multiperspectivalism to teachers

20:23 Least to most prompting

21:54 CS education and accessibility/inclusion

24:46 External support for accessible and inclusive CS education

27:37 How to learn more about disability and accessibility

29:30 Biases and misconceptions teachers have with students with a disability

33:37 What Maya wishes more people understood about her research

35:23 What has surprised Maya about her research

37:26 If Maya had a magic wand...

40:22 How Maya iterates on her abilities

42:36 How Maya prevents burnout

47:22 Recommendations for improving equity and inclusion

48:25 What Maya wishes there was more research on

52:32 Something Maya could use help with from a listener

53:14 A question for the field

54:42 How to connect with Maya

55:00 Outro