Title: Legitimation Code Theory (LCT)
Speaker: Professor Paul Curzon
Short Description: Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) is a powerful, general sociological framework developed by Karl Maton at the University of Sydney, that can be used to reveal the knowledge practices involved in teaching and learning. It is a useful reflective toolset for both teachers and students. We have been exploring its application to improve Computer Science. We will overview our research with LCT as well as key research of others. We have used the LCT Semantics dimension (which focuses on the complexity of knowledge and how abstract/concrete the context) as away to improve lesson plans based on our simple heuristic method as well as to show how to ensure unplugged teaching is effective. We have also used it to help undergraduates improve their writing and so learning. We have used the LCT Autonomy dimension as a way to reflect on improved interdisciplinary teaching. It focuses on relations between content and purpose (eg using Maths for the purpose of teaching Computer Science or vice versa). We are now exploring how we can use the LCT Specialisation dimension. It looks at the emphasis placed on the importance of Knowledge (what you know) versus Knowers (who you are) in knowledge practice. It is therefore useful, for example, when considering graduateattributes and diversity barriers.
Short Bio: Paul Curzon is a Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London. His research areas include Computer Science Education, Interaction Design and Healthcare Informatics. In teaching, he has specialised in teaching introductory programming and Interaction Design. He has run ‘Computer Science for Fun’ (https://cs4fn.blog) a public engagement project inspiring school students about CS for almost 20 years, and Teaching London Computing (https://teachinglondoncomputing.org) providing unplugged resources and other research to practice support for teachers. He was awarded the global IEEE Computer Society Taylor L. Booth Education Award: “For outstanding contributions to the rebirth of computer science as a school subject.” He has written two books with Peter W McOwan: “The Power of Computational Thinking” and “Conjuring with Computation”.