A support program for introductory CS courses that improves student performance and retains students from underrepresented groups (original) (raw)
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Examining Race/Ethnicity Diversity in the Enrollment of a 4-year CS University Program
2018
Computing departments in the United States are not producing the number of graduates that the workforce needs. At the same time, they lack gender and racial diversity. Therefore, it is important to attract students from minority groups that comprise a significant part of the US population and can bring an enriching, diverse perspective to the development of new technology. In this paper, we study patterns of enrollment and retention among minority students in a 4-year CS university program in order to better understand the challenges for increasing racial and ethnic diversity. We use student data from three core CS classes with a special focus on the introduction to programming (CS1) class. We compare the ethnic makeup of our CS enrollment with that of the student population at our university, that of the state and with nationwide numbers, and examine how the ethnic gap changes from an introductory programming class to an upper level class. We also analyze how different factors such as intent to major, prior experience in computing, and CS1 grades correlate with student retention.
Addressing the CS capacity challenge by improving undergraduate peer mentoring
ACM Inroads
T he increasing enrollment in undergraduate computer science (CS) programs has led to a myriad of capacity challenges for post-secondary institutions across the United States. Because CS programs vary significantly from institution to institution, addressing these challenges without diminishing students' academic experience negates a one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, a variety of interventions need to be conceived, developed, and tested to ensure that CS programs can choose interventions and tools that best suit their circumstances. One solution that seems to be gaining popularity involves increasing the number of undergraduate peer mentors and teaching assistants. This solution, however, is most effective when paired with some method of preparing these students to succeed in this role [6]. At Mount Holyoke College, over the past two years we have developed a novel curriculum for preparing students to be peer mentors to beginning students in CS1 and CS2, emphasizing effective teaching and learning, diversity in CS, and the role of social identity in learning. This article presents the content in the context of the enrollment crisis, describes our goals and early results, and offers suggestions as to how it might be incorporated, in whole or in part, at other institutions. The curriculum is openly accessible online [3].
It is a well-documented concern that at every stage of the CS pipeline, talented students are dropping out, particularly women and ethnic minorities. While many researchers have studied the reasons for this within the scope of their own institutions, there has been less work done around the comparison and synthesis of findings across cultural and regional contexts. This paper presents a broad overview of existing literature concerning factors affecting enrollment and dropout in CS programs, and in particular how the experience may differ for women and ethnic minorities. A key finding from this literature review is that the underrepresentation of women in CS is culture-specific and not universal. Furthermore, the results of this review highlight the value of early formal exposure to CS concepts for all students, the need for additional research on the relative importance of math skills as a determinant of success in CS, as well as a clear presence of both structural and individual motivators towards dropout.
Proceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2015
While computer science (CS) continues to permeate every aspect of society, the number of high-school students that are adequately prepared to enroll in university computer science programs is declining. To address the nation's needs it is clear that the retention rates of underrepresented minorities in CS programs across the country must increase, including the instruction and retention of students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). At the university, a multi-phased program was developed that first partnered the department with Google to develop a unique program that incorporated Google software developers and undergraduate students, as well as course restructuring to better prepare underclassmen in their first three courses of study. First-year results indicated the program was successful in increasing student retention and interest in CS.
Gender, achievement, and persistence in an undergraduate computer science program
ACM SIGMIS Database, 2006
The proportion of computer science (CS) bachelor's degree recipients who are women has consistently been small and is declining. This study investigates factors that predict performance and persistence in an undergraduate CS program and explores why even high-achieving students leave the undergraduate "CS pipeline." The factors that predict achievement and retention sometimes interact in complex, unexpected ways. Male students who earned less than a B in an introductory CS course were more likely to take the next course in the curriculum than were women who earned less than a B. Achievement is a factor in even high-achieving students' decision to leave CS; loss of interest can accompany loss of confidence. Level of achievement was predicted by various background factors including Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, the number of Calculus courses taken before entering the CS program, amount of access to a computer at home, prior computing experience, and having a mentor or role model during high school. Most of these factors also predicted persistence beyond the first two courses required for a CS major. Curiously, women in the introductory CS course who reported having low exposure to specific programming skills outperformed women who reported having a high level of programming experience. The reverse was true of men. Further investigation provided evidence that women who develop programming skills while in high school might do so at the expense of developing other skills that strongly predict CS achievement, particularly math skills.
Improving the persistence of first-year undergraduate women in computer science
ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 2008
This paper describes a study of undergraduate women's retention in the first-year of the computer science major at the University of Pennsylvania for the purpose of identifying the underlying issues responsible for attrition. The subsequent steps taken by the faculty to improve women's retention is also discussed.
Improving Perceptions of Underrepresented Students towards Computing Majors through Mentoring
Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1
The low sense of belonging and self-efficacy have been identified as key factors for underrepresented students not choosing computing careers and retaining in computing disciplines. Researchers advised that without adequate mentorship and role models, many of these students do not view computing as a viable option. Even though several works utilized mentoring, they do not provide detailed guidelines on how this may have been accomplished and how it could be applied to other settings. In this study, we explore the efficacy of incorporating mentoring into the curriculum of an introductory undergraduate computing course. In this work, we seek the answer to the following two research questions: (1) How do culturally diverse mentor-mentee relationships impact the sense of belonging, computing identity, and self-efficacy of underrepresented students in computing programs? (2) How does the integration of mentoring initiatives influence the perceptions of underrepresented students toward computing majors? We implemented mentoring practices in the Fall of 2022 and results show that our mentoring interventions were able to improve participants' sense of belonging and computing identity. Mentors and mentees also shared positive opinions toward our initiatives. CCS CONCEPTS • Applied computing → Interactive learning environments; Collaborative learning.