Abstract: For over half a century, computing and information technologies have not only reshaped how we learn, communicate and work, but have also fostered new industries and ecosystems of learning and play. Within the past two decades alone, the United States has increased its investment in STEM education, utilizing increasingly affordable and novice-friendly platforms and maker tools to expand access to coding, digital media design and engineering to youth of all backgrounds. While many aspects of computing and technology education have benefited from this investment, longstanding disparities remain (as accentuated by the recent pandemic). This talk underscores an ecological view of informal STEM learning, which considers interest-driven learning activities and pursuits in and through a range of out-of-school environments, including museums, libraries, camps, virtual worlds, online communities and social media. Foundational to Dr. Richard’s work are critical and intersectional frameworks, which uncover how STEM learning and professional cultures present opportunities as well as historic barriers and inequities across gender, culture, race/ethnicity and (dis)ability that systematically and structurally limit equitable and representative participation in casual, formative and formal ways. In this talk, she will highlight two interrelated projects – one on interest-driven STEM learning in gaming, livestreaming and online content creation and the other that centers youth from historically minoritized backgrounds as co-designers in informal integrated making, coding and engineering activities – to discuss implications for computing and engineering education, and to describe opportunities for critically conscious innovation in media and technology design and practice. 

Professional Bio:
Gabriela T. Richard, Ph.D. is a researcher, designer and educator of learning technologies, media, games and play. She is currently an Associate Professor of Learning, Media and Technology & Math, Science and Learning Technologies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where she conducts research on formal and informal computing and engineering education, and how diverse youth and adults engage in learning, collaboration, identity formation and career pursuits with participatory learning cultures, emerging media, and computing and information technologies. In particular, she explores ways that multimodal technologies and tech environments can be culturally-situated and inclusive, and employs intersectionality as a frame for understanding complex sociocultural relationships across gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality and (dis)ability in media and design. She has written extensively about media, diversity and inclusive design, and co-edited Diversifying Barbie and Mortal Kombat: Intersectional perspectives and inclusive designs in gaming (ETC/Carnegie Melon Press), the third book in an influential series on gender and diversity in video games and culture, first launched in 1998 (MIT Press). She was a National Academy of Education/Spencer fellow (2018-19), a Belfer Fellow (2019-20) with the ADL Center for Technology and Society, and a William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Finalist (2021, 2022). She was recently named as a Jan Hawkins Award Honorable Mention awardee (2023) and has received fellowships, grants and awards for her research from organizations including the National Science Foundation, the American Association of University Women, and the American Educational Research Association.