Informal Learning in Computer Science: Social and Conceptual Factors Related to Women's Persistence

Etr Associates, Watsonville CA

Investigators

Abstract

This study addresses two problems: the difficulty of using informal resources to learn to write computer code for job and career advancement and the lack of women in computer science (CS). The work will make a contribution to the literature on informal learning in the workplace through an in-depth investigation into the specific field of CS. It will focus on the specific task of using informal resources to learn to code and explore ways to improve those resources so learners can more effectively teach themselves to code. As Exploratory Pathways project, it will provide the pilot of a protocol investigating the contexts of informal CS learning by career women. It is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports work that provides multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. Little is understood about this phenomenon of how women in the workforce learn CS skills that enable them to rewrite their career paths. This project will take an ethnographic approach to studying the informal learning (both through online, written resources and through sharing of knowledge with others) of women involved in a grassroots, informal, volunteer group that has formed in order to help women help themselves and others learn to write computer code. The women's coding group will be made up of experienced administrators on the phenomenally successful Salesforce Customer Relationship Management software platform who are moving from end users of the software to end user programmers that extend the software by writing computer code to customize applications for particular business needs. This study aims to answer the overarching research question: In what ways are informal CS learning opportunities being used and created by adult women, what are their experiences with those opportunities, and how does this suggest ways to enhance those opportunities in the future to increase effectiveness in broadening access to and engagement in informal CS learning experiences for women? Specifically, the study will focus on personal context (e.g. what the learner brings to the learning situation), sociocultural context (e.g. interactions with others when learning to code), and physical context (e.g. the resources used and the virtual learning sessions) as well as how persistence and identity develop over time as the women are influenced by the contexts. The research is a collaboration between CS education and learning researchers, informal practitioners, and training practitioners who create resources to help end-users to learn to code. The work will complement learning sciences research on STEM learning by providing some depth to what is known about informal learning in the STEM field of CS and by focusing on an understudied adult population. This study will make contributions to the literature on females learning STEM in informal environments by focusing on adult women in the workplace and the sociocultural barriers to their learning of CS, which is an area of sparse research.