Developing Evidence-based Best Practices for Broadening Participation in Computing Education

Computing Research Association, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The demand for a motivated and capable computing workforce continues to grow. However, efforts to address this demand continue to fall short of expectations. This project aims to provide potential solutions, based on scientific evidence, to address our nation's need to expand the computing talent pool. The project team will analyze student and department-level data, and track students over time. The project team expects that results of this analysis will identify ways to help students of all backgrounds persist in computing. The project aims to understand departmental practices that support or discourage students' persistence in computing career tracks. In doing so, this project has the potential to aid broadening participation efforts in computing, and by extension in all STEM fields. This project plans to support computing departments through consultations and workshops, and encourage social and cultural change within computing environments. The project expects to disseminate evidence-based best practices through an established website devoted to disseminating tips for teaching computer science, customized reports to departments, media outlets, workshops, and academic venues. This project has the potential to stimulate social and cultural change in the computing education community through intervention-style consultation and workshops, and the dissemination of evidence-based best practices built upon research developed through this project. Department-level data will be collected through three mechanisms: faculty surveys, faculty interviews, and department website data. Department-level characteristics representing education practices within the computing community will be obtained from the data. The analysis of one-on-one meetings and workshops for faculty and department chairs in computing will measure strengths and weaknesses of department cultures. Customized actionable strategies will be developed through the CSTeachingTips initiative. In addition, national, longitudinal survey data will be collected from students in computing departments across the United States. These data will track changing experiences over time and identify potential linkages between students' persistence and departmental practices. These data will represent various demographic groups' learning experiences and persistence in computing career paths. The combined data collection infrastructure and CSTeachingTips have the potential to result in an influential longitudinal research program. The project team will work with an advisory committee to translate research findings into a set of best practices for computing departments, with a focus on preparing and retaining a broad, diverse student population to work in computing and STEM fields. The team will actively disseminate those best practices through the team's professional network of leaders in the computing education community, conferences that bring together key stakeholders, other relevant academic venues that reach STEM education audiences, and customizable reports and tip sheets. 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.