Beth A. Quinn

Efforts to Make Computer Science More Inclusive of Women

T wo decades ago, many academic and industry professionals had given little thought to the gender or racial composition of their classrooms or offices. In the early 2000s, that perspective shifted dramatically. The dotcom bubble burst and, with that, the computing field seemed to lose its luster with prospective students and employees. Some, however, recognized that computer science and engineering would remain critical to our nations economy and would, in fact, grow in importance. They also recognized that a lack of diversity in the field is not only an equity problem, it is problematic for innovation and workforce development. These forward-thinking individuals and entities focused on the need for women to be a much greater part of the equation as the field moved into its next phase. Among the many groups working on issues of diversity in the computer science discipline, three organizations have been instrumental in shifting the conversation and the composition of the technology workforce around the nation and the Information Technology works to develop and support change leaders in organizations across the computing talent pipeline, including faculty and administrators at our nations colleges and universities. NCWIT has a number of programs and initiatives to empower change leaders in the post-secondary arena including , but not limited to, the Academic Alliance, Pacesetters, Extension Services for Undergraduate Programs, the Aspirations Collegiate award and community, the Data Tracking Tool, and most recently, the EngageCSEdu platform. ACM-W. As the numbers of computing degrees awarded to women began to decline in the early 1990s, ACM reacted by forming the ACM Committee on the Status of Women in Com

EngageCSEdu: engaging and retaining CS1 and CS2 students

While the number of students interested in computer science is rising, the percentage of women and underrepresented minorities remains low. Many things influence whether a student will pursue a degree in computer science, but having a great experience in introductory courses is essential. The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) has partnered with Google to create EngageCSEdu, a comprehensive and growing collection of instructional materials and pedagogical strategies for engaging and retaining undergraduate students in introductory computing courses. This article introduces the key features of EngageCSEdu and the peer-reviewed system for creating and growing the collection.

EngageCSEdu Making interdisciplinary connections to engage students

T he National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Engagement Excellence Awards recognize the work of authors who have made significant contributions to the EngageCSEdu collection [5]. The 2016 awardees— Elizabeth Boese from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Mark LeBlanc from Wheaton College (Massachusetts)—were recognized for introductory CS course materials that made use of exceptionally creative interdisciplinary connections to computing. Recently, Beth Quinn, Director of NCWIT’s EngageCSEdu project, sat down with Elizabeth and Mark to talk about making interdisciplinary connections in introductory computer science courses.

The use of online materials in undergraduate computer science classrooms: Examining factors for adopting new curriculum and instruction

We examined how 63 instructors used the EngageCSEdu digital collection and their ratings of its ease of use and usefulness. The collection contains over 1400 digital resources for teaching CS1 and CS2 classes. Forty-four percent of instructors accessed materials and used them in their classrooms. Most common use was for in-class exercises; 25% used materials for homework assignments. Respondents used materials one time (48%) or a few times (58%); instructors did not use materials to redesign whole courses. Sixty-four percent adapted materials they found on the site by changing difficulty level, changing content such as programming languages or adding/deleting parts of the lesson. Many instructors used materials as background sources to create their own materials.

Repositories You Shouldn't Be Living Without

Over the last few years, a number of repositories of information relevant to the computing education community have come online, each with different content and purpose. In this special session, we present an overview of these repositories and the content that each provides. Demonstrations of the functionality of the repositories will be shown and attendees are encouraged to come with their questions and suggestions for improvement if they are currently users of the repositories.

EngageCSEdu The beautiful noise of peer instruction: an interview with Beth Simon

T he National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) recommends three general ways to retain women and underrepresented minorities in computing through improved pedagogy and content. We call them “Engagement Principles.” One that we’ve been focusing on in recent columns—and that you can explore on NCWIT’s EngageCSEdu platform [4]—is “Grow Inclusive Student Community.” A key way to do this is by using well-structured collaborative learning techniques. In this issue, we explore Peer Instruction, a technique with a large body of research in STEM education. We asked Professor Beth Simon from the University of California, San Diego, who both uses and researches Peer Instruction, to give us an introduction. (The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.)

EngageCSEdu Computation creativity: an interview with UNL's Elizabeth Ingraham and Leen-Kiat Soh

Introduction In 2006, Jeannette Wing (quoted above) presented a compelling case for making computation thinking “common place,” and sparked many initiatives toward this end. One example is the Computational Creativity group at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The team submitted two student-facing exercises to the EngageCSEdu as part of their dissemination plan. Not surprisingly, reviewers found the exercises highly creative and engaging. I recently sat down with two members of the Computational Creativity team, computer science professor Leen-Kiat Soh and art professor Liz Ingraham, to learn more about the project. (The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.)

EngageCSEdu expands to high school

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EngageCSEdu Exploring inquiry learning: an EngageCSEdu author and a user discuss POGIL

W hen structured well, collaborative learning can build computer science (CS) knowledge while growing a more inclusive student community [1,2]. In this issue, we explore a specific kind of collaborative learning—POGIL— Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning. As the developers of POGIL in CS describe it, in POGIL students work in teams on activities that are specifically designed to guide them to construct their own understanding of key concepts, and at the same time to develop important process skills such as communication, critical thinking, and problem solving. The instructor is not a lecturer, but an active facilitator of student learning [3].

EngageCSEdu Recognizing great intro CS teaching: the 2017 NCWIT engagement excellence awards

The NCWIT Engagement Excellence awards The Engagement Excellence awards were created by NCWIT, and funded by Google, to reward and recognize faculty for creating and sharing excellent, engaging materials for introductory computer science courses. All authors with materials accepted into the EngageCSEdu collection in a given year are eligible for the next year’s award. The awardees are selected by an interdisciplinary committee of computer science educators and social/ learning science researchers. Awardees receive a