Background and context: We address the question of what computer science students take the discipline to be. How students conceive the discipline can influence whether a student pursues computer science, what particular area within computer science they focus on and whether they persist in the discipline. In this paper, we examine the epistemic…

Initiatives geared toward broadening participation in computing research have addressed the longstanding underrepresentation of various populations - including women, Black people, Latinx people, and persons with disabilities. Although there has been an increase in underrepresented populations participating in computing, building upon these…

Computer Science (CS 1) offerings in most universities tend to be notoriously difficult. Over the past 60 years about a third of students either fail or drop out of the course. Past research has focused on improving teaching methods through small changes without changing the overall course structure. The premise of this research is that…

Pair programming is a form of collaborative learning in computer science that involves two students working together on a coding project. Previous research has identified mostly positive outcomes from this practice, such as course grades and the quality of the resulting code. Pair programming may also facilitate interactions that improve the…

There is persistent underrepresentation of female and ethnic and racial minority students in computing. While community colleges provide a unique opportunity to increase diversity in computing fields, many students do not persist. This study aims to understand the factors that predict students' momentum--completion of a certificate, degree, or…

Many interventions have been proposed to improve the retention and graduation rates of engineering students. One such intervention is to use study groups for first-year college students; such groups provide a structured environment in which the students can learn course material from each other outside of class and can provide the students with a…

Research suggests growth mindset, or the belief that knowledge is acquired through effort, may enhance women's sense of belonging in male-dominated disciplines, like computing. However, other research indicates women who spend a great deal of time and energy in technical fields experience a low sense of belonging. The current study assessed the…

Purpose: Self-efficacy and outcome expectations influence the development of career interests, which, in turn, affect career choices. This study aims to understand self-efficacy beliefs and expectancy outcomes for African-American graduate students and faculty with a focus in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degree programs,…

The report provides a portrait of science and engineering (S&E) higher education in the United States, including trends over time and comparisons with other nations. S&E fields, as defined in this report, include astronomy, chemistry, physics, atmospheric sciences, earth sciences, ocean sciences, mathematics and statistics, computer…

The effective integration of African American students into previously segregated careers was one of the main goals of the "Brown" decision and, in turn, the outcomes of such efforts have been the subject of much scholarly interest). This qualitative study, drawing on critical race theorist Derrick Bell's critique of "Brown,"…

The COMPUGIRLS: Culturally relevant technology program for adolescent girls was developed to promote underrepresented girls' future possible selves and career pathways in computer-related technology fields. We hypothesized that the COMPUGIRLS would promote academic possible selves and self-regulation to achieve these possible selves. We compared…

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the attitudes of computer science faculty members towards undergraduate teaching. The questions addressed in this study are: (1) How important is effective teaching to computer science faculty members at the undergraduate level and how important do they perceive effective teaching to be to their…

Engineering programs suffer a high attrition rate, which causes the nation to graduate much less engineers. A survey of the literature reveals that the high attrition rate is due mainly to the fact that the first year of an engineering program is all fundamental theory and students don't see the connection to their future engineering careers. To…

These proceedings contain the papers and posters of the 5th International Conference on Educational Technologies 2017 (ICEduTech 2017), which has been organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and co-organised by the Western Sydney University, held in Sydney, Australia, 11-13 December 2017. ICEduTech is…

The under representation of women and minorities in undergraduate computer science and information systems programs is a pervasive and persistent problem in the United States. Needed is a better understanding of the background and psychosocial factors that attract, or repel, minority students from computing disciplines. An examination of these…