Partner Interview Protocol

PARTNER¹ INTERVIEW PROTOCOL²

CPATH Project Title:

Grantee Institution(s):

Interviewee Name/Title/Contact Information:

Interview Date:

Interviewer(s):

Introductory Remarks:

My name is ______ and I work for SRI International, a non-profit research firm that is responsible for the evaluation of the NSF CPATH Program. The purpose of this interview is to learn more about your CPATH project, how it is being implemented, the organizations and stakeholders involved, and the effect that it has been having on various groups and organizations. Beneficiaries of this project may include students, faculty members, administrators, institutions of higher education, K-12 school districts, professional associations, government and non-profit organizations, and businesses and industry. Throughout our discussion, please feel free to interrupt me to ask any questions you may have or include information that you believe we should know.

Before we start, I need to have you review and sign this consent form. SRI International’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) has approved this project as well as the U.S. government’s Office of Management and Budget. Your signature on this form indicates that your participation in this interview is voluntary and that you understand that we will never directly identify or quote you based on what you tell us today.

After they review consent form: Do you have any questions before we get started?

Introduction and Background

1. Please tell me about your organization. Probe for each of the following:

1. Primary mission and focus

2. Size of organization

3. Brief history and year established

4. Other major projects organization is involved in

5. Main sources of financial support

2. Please describe how you became involved with this CPATH computing education project. Probe using the following:

1. How did you first hear about it?

2. What motivated your organization to become involved?

3. What has been your organization’s role and involvement?

Project Strategies

3. (1a, 3d) Please describe the nature of the teaching/learning environments for computing that the institutions you are working with are trying to implement. What is it designed to do at the institutions? Probe using the following:

1. How might this environment look different from traditional settings for computing?

2. What are the core strategies you’re using to create this environment?

4. (1f) How will you and your partners know when you’ve been successful in creating this kind of learning environment? Probe using the following:

1. Student competencies, learning, behaviors, future career success

2. Teachers and faculty

3. Partners/Employers

5. (1c) What are the core computing competencies being addressed in the project from your perspective?

Implementation Factors

6. (2a) What steps are you and your partners taking to accomplish this vision? Probe using the following:

1. Short-term steps to implement?

2. Long-term steps to sustain and expand (i.e. keep it going)?

3. How long do you think it will take?

6. (2b) What conditions might either facilitate or hinder your ability to realize your goals? Probe using the following:

1. Institutional or organizational cultural differences/synergies

2. Institutional or organizational inertia

3. Resources (material, human, technological)

6. (3d) How is computational thinking being diffused across different disciplines and organizations through this project? What are some examples of promising models emerging from this project?

7. (4a) What are the ways you can learn about and share best practices around computing education? Probe using the following:

1. Type of communication for sharing best practices

2. Conferences and colloquia

3. Informal networks and other venues for sharing best practices.

6. (4c, 4e) To what extent do you believe different stakeholders in the field have come to agreement about the basic competencies of computational thinking? What role has NSF and the CPATH program played in promoting a shared understanding about computational thinking among different stakeholders?

7. (4f) How has the collaboration between the partners contributed to the building of strong linkages and synergies for this particular project? What is the evidence for these results?

Partnership Development

6. (5a) To what extent has the NSF funding for the CPATH project opened up opportunities for partnership between multiple sectors (e.g., industry, K-12, professional associations) around computing? Please describe these new opportunities.

7. (5b, 5c) To what extent have these partnership arrangements taken advantage of pre-existing relationships or new opportunities created by market demand or policy drivers in the environment? Probe using the following:

1. What elements outside each organization were initially perceived as needed to enhance their ability to accomplish goals?

2. How much did members believe that partnership activities would be reciprocally helpful and involve “give and take”?

3. How much did members believe that their respective stand-alone identities would be improved through a continual partnership operation and attainment of goals?

14. (5d) How much does the work done by each partner depend on the work of other members? Probe using the following:

1. To what extent do you think the work is shared equally among the partners?

2. How does the partnership assess the effectiveness of the partnership? What measures are you using to make that assessment?

3. How would you describe any challenges to building and maintaining effective partnerships?

15. (3f, 5e) How can multi-sector partnerships support the replication of promising models of computational thinking over the long term? What are the barriers that would inhibit sustaining these partnerships?

Conclusion

15. Is there anything else you would like to say about partnerships and how they can support computing education reform that was not discussed earlier?

Thank you for your time.

1 Partners are any collaborating organizations that are not institutions of higher education. These partners may be industry, K12 schools or districts, or community organizations collaborating on CPATH project activities.

2 Throughout this interview protocol, numbers and letters in parentheses—e.g., (1a, 3d) refer to research questions and are included as a tool for evaluation analysts.