Cultural-Centric Computational Embroidery

Many computer science education efforts promise liberation and equality, but that promise often goes unfulfilled. Teaching computation through E-textiles has been one way to achieve this promise because it has increased student engagement and enabled identity work. Although some approaches to teaching CS through E-textiles have been demonstrated as effective, there is not yet work using a programmable electronic embroidery machine (computational embroidery), or work that makes culture itself a topic of learning. In a six-week summer school course, we explored this opportunity, teaching a culture-centric embroidery class that combined hand embroidery and computational embroidery. Students incorporated their identities into their projects by using a block-based coding language to create embroidered patterns. They enthusiastically engaged with the programming aspects of the course and sought to make complicated and beautiful work that interwove their diverse cultures and identities. This paper offers insights into what it is like to teach computing with a cultural lens. Our curriculum and pedagogy offer instructors a template to incorporate these technologies and topics into their courses.