HOPE for Computing Education: Towards the Infrastructuring of Support for University-School Partnerships

The state of computing education in the UK is described as "patchy and fragile" with universities tasked to provide further support to schools. However, little guidance exists towards the provision of this support. To explore the development of university-school partnerships, we present findings of an extended educational engagement coordinated by Newcastle University, as part of the national "Create, Learn and Inspire with the micro:bit and the BBC" initiative. Following an action research approach, we explore the experiences of undergraduate students, schoolteachers and an educational broker through the process, including recruitment, content development, and delivery of over 30 computing lessons by nine undergraduates. We identify a number of design considerations towards the development of High Opportunity Progression Ecosystems for the improvement of computing education, such as student identity, workload model,and process visibility. We then discuss the potential role of technology in infrastructuring support for university-school partnerships