Quinn Burke

Quinn is a Senior Director of Computational Thinking and Learning Pathways at the national education non-profit Digital Promise in Redwood City, CA. His research at Digital Promise examines the effectiveness of different activities by which to introduce students to programming and how computational thinking (CT) can support core curricula coursework. His research has been supported by a number of state and federal grants, including awards from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Education. He has written numerous articles around integrating computing into the school day, as well as co-authored two books on K-12 coding and digital gaming through MIT Press.

• Computer science education research
• Research practice partnerships (RPPs)
• Research methods in design-based research

• Multimedia & digital literacies
• Computational thinking
• Organizational behavior

• Convening Member, DataScience4Everyone: K-12 Data Science & Literacy Learning Progressions. (2024).

• Convening Member, Reimagining Computer Science (CS) Pathways. Bridge to Postsecondary Computer Science National Science Foundation (DRK-12 #2101547; 2023-24).

• Advisory Board, TeachAI (2023-Present).

• Advisory Board, National Science Foundation (Small Business Innovation Research #2052404)    EcoSystemOne Virtual Reality Platform (2020-21).

• University of Pennsylvania, EdD in Learning Sciences, 2012
• Columbia University, MA in English Literature, 2003
• Boston College, BA in English, 1999

• Senior Director, Computational Thinking & Learning Pathways, Digital Promise Global
• Computational Thinking Research Director, Digital Promise Global
• Senior Research Scientist, Digital Promise Global
• Associate Professor, College of Charleston
• Head Grant Writer/Curriculum Consultant, Digital Network Group
• English Department Chair & Teacher, Maritime Academy Charter High School

• Dunbar, K., Burke, Q., Coenraad, M., & Rangel, A.(submitted). Why?, What?, How?: Teacher and administrator perspectives on district-wide computational thinking pathways. For inclusion in Computer Science Education.

• Burke, Q., Angevine, C., Proctor, C., & O’Donnell, K. (2022). “Credentialing computation: Empowering teachers in computational thinking through educator microcredentials.” In Professional Development for In-Service Teachers: Research and Practices in Computing Education (Eds., C. Mouza, A. Yadav, & A. Leftwich). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

• Burke, Q. & Bailey, C. (2020). "Becoming an “adaptive” expert: Investigating students’ knowledge-transfer and metacognitive activities at college computer science departments and at coding bootcamps." Communications of the Association of Computing Machinery (CACM), 63(9).

• Burke, Q. (2016). "Mind the metaphor: Charting the rhetoric about introductory programming in K-12 schools." On the Horizon. 24(3).

• Burke, Q., O’Byrne, W., & Kafai, Y.B. (2016). "Computational participation: Understanding coding as an extension of literacy instruction." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(4),371-75.