Large-Scale Analysis of Discussions by CS Educators Across the Stack Exchange Network

2026-08-04

AI Summary

This study investigates the professional concerns and their evolutionary trends among computer science educators on knowledge-sharing platforms. Drawing on nearly 80 million posts from the Stack Exchange network, with a focus on English-language content from the CS Educators community, the research integrates large-scale text mining, topic modeling, and manual annotation to construct, for the first time, an interpretable hierarchical taxonomy of discussion topics. The analysis comprehensively maps the discourse landscape of CS educators, revealing that programming and software development dominate as the most prevalent technical themes, while mathematics, pedagogy, and the humanities constitute significant non-technical areas of interest. These findings underscore the educators’ diverse intellectual engagement and the dynamically shifting emphases in their teaching practices.

Abstract

Stack Exchange is a widely used question-and-answer network that facilitates knowledge exchange across diverse domains. Within this network, the Computer Science (CS) Educators Stack Exchange provides a dedicated platform where CS educators exchange ideas, seek advice, and discuss teaching practices. In this study, we analyzed 79,854,463 Stack Exchange posts, comprising 32,187,805 questions and 47,666,658 answers, with a particular focus on English-language posts contributed by CS Educators participants. Using topic modeling, we identified, manually labeled, and hierarchically organized the underlying discussion topics, then examined their distribution and complexity. Our findings reveal evolving discussion patterns spanning both technical (IT) and non-technical (Non-IT) domains. Within the IT category, programming and software development were the most prominent topics, whereas mathematics, education, and the humanities received substantial attention within the Non-IT category. These results highlight the broad range of interests and expertise shared by CS educators and provide insights into their evolving priorities. We hope this work contributes to a better understanding of CS educators' knowledge-sharing practices and informs future efforts to better support their professional and educational needs.

Problem

• CS educators
• Stack Exchange
• discussion topics
• knowledge sharing
• topic analysis

Innovation

• topic modeling
• large-scale analysis
• knowledge sharing
• CS education
• Stack Exchange