Designing and Developing a Resource Center for Primary and Secondary Computing Education Researchers

This full research paper considers the resources needed to meet the research and evaluation needs of the many efforts to incorporate computing education throughout primary and secondary schools. In order to support these efforts, we developed csedresearch.org, a site designed to serve as a resource center for primary and secondary computing education research. We first considered criteria and recommendations for resource centers previously established by others. We provide a general description of the purpose of the csedresearch.org as well as a description of how we used quantitative and qualitative methods over numerous phases of development (pre-concept/research, concept, alpha, and beta, launch) to ensure that it meets the needs of potential users. We discuss how the current product compares against the general criteria for resource centers, its original intentions and expectations, and how it has fared through the phases of development one normally expects from a digital resource center. As the resource center evolves, we continue to seek feedback and resources to further meet the needs of the community. We also discuss the data that is being collected and could be collected to further benefit the community to define not only what educational practices work best overall, but what works best for particular demographic groups, including underrepresented groups in computing. And finally, we are faced with the challenge for maintaining the information so that remains robust and current.