As a researcher of computing education at the College of Engineering, Mark Guzdial sees the growing role computing plays in every layer of people’s lives. “I suggest that programming is a literacy,” he writes in a recent essay on the goals of his field. “It’s a way of expressing thought, communicating with others, and testing and exploring new ideas.”
Computing literacy has become so important in modern society that Guzdial believes expanded access to computing education is a social justice issue and that it is a responsibility of education to make sure no one is left behind in this changing landscape. “Programming gives you this other way of viewing the world, and that’s part of what makes this so interesting,” he says. “It now behooves us to figure out how you give everybody access to this literacy.”
