POSE: Phase I: An Open-Source Ecosystem for EarSketch

As the importance of computational thinking skills continues to grow across the entire modern workforce, it is necessary to engage a broad and diverse population of students in learning these skills. Combining the subject of computing with creative arts, such as music production, has shown success in increasing interest and engagement among diverse groups of learners. EarSketch is a learning tool and curriculum that teaches computer science concepts through computer-based music composition and remixing within a music production frame. EarSketch currently reaches approximately 280,000 K-12 students per year as a free web-based platform. This project will plan the creation of an Open-Source Ecosystem for EarSketch along with an organization dedicated to the governance and long-term sustainability of the EarSketch platform. This project will approach the planning of an Open-Source Ecosystem in three phases. First, an Ecosystem Discovery phase will use interviews and focus groups of teachers, students, community partners, and peer organizations to inform the final design and guiding principles of the Open-Source Ecosystem. A second phase will focus on a virtual community summit with users, developers, and community partners to further develop and gather feedback on details of the Open-Source Ecosystem as well as the governance model of the EarSketch platform. Finally, a steering committee will be charged with finalizing and adopting the guiding principles and design of the Open-Source Ecosystem. The goal of this project is to ensure that the EarSketch platform has a long-term model of community-driven governance and support so that it continues to be an open, freely available educational resource that engages more students in computing education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.