A statewide survey on computing education pathways and influences: factors in broadening participation in computing

In computing education, we have only just started developing methods for accurately measuring a student's understanding of introductory computing, let alone characterizing a whole classroom, school, or university system. As part of evaluating the impact of "Georgia Computes!" we sought an understanding the factors influencing undergraduate enrollment in introductory computing for an entire state in the United States of America. We gathered surveys from over 1400 undergraduate students in introductory computing classes from 19 higher-education institutions in a single state. The analysis provided insight into the impact of "Georgia Computes!", into the connections between stages of the computing education pathways, and how factors that influence students' pursuit of computing differ between genders and majority/minority group students.

[1]  Mark Guzdial,et al.  Tracking an innovation in introductory CS education from a research university to a two-year college , 2005, SIGCSE '05.

[2]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[3]  Michael W. Matier,et al.  Choosing and leaving science in highly selective institutions , 1994 .

[4]  R. Estrella,et al.  Stuck in the Shallow End Education , Race , and Computing , 2008 .

[5]  Barbara Ericson,et al.  "Georgia computes!": improving the computing education pipeline , 2009, SIGCSE '09.

[6]  Mark Guzdial,et al.  Developing a validated assessment of fundamental CS1 concepts , 2010, SIGCSE.

[7]  Sylvia Beyer,et al.  The Accuracy of Academic Gender Stereotypes , 1999 .

[8]  W. Richards Adrion,et al.  Integrating evaluation into program development: benefits of baselining a NSF-BPC alliance , 2010, SIGCSE.

[9]  Barbara Ericson,et al.  Improving secondary CS education: progress and problems , 2007, SIGCSE.

[10]  Mark Guzdial,et al.  The FCS1: a language independent assessment of CS1 knowledge , 2011, SIGCSE.

[11]  Joanne McGrath Cohoon,et al.  Female graduate students and program quality , 2003, IEEE Technol. Soc. Mag..

[12]  Beth Simon,et al.  CS majors' self-efficacy perceptions in CS1: results in light of social cognitive theory , 2011, ICER.

[13]  Sylvia Beyer,et al.  Gender Differences in Attitudes toward and Confidence in Computer Science. , 2002 .

[14]  Susan M. Haller,et al.  Gender differences in computer science students , 2003, SIGCSE.

[15]  Amy Bruckman,et al.  What is computing?: bridging the gap between teenagers' perceptions and graduate students' experiences , 2007, ICER '07.