Lecia Barker

Making Visible the Behaviors that Influence Learning Environment: A Qualitative Exploration of Computer Science Classrooms

The authors conducted ethnographic research to provide deep understanding of the learning environment of a selection of computer science classrooms at a large, research university in the United States. Categories emerging from data analysis included (1) impersonal environment and guarded behavior; and (2) the creation and maintenance of informal hierarchy resulting in competitive behaviors. Both of these categories describe patterns of recurring communication taking place in the classroom learning environments. We identify particular and recognizable types of discourse, which, when prevalent in a classroom, can preclude the development of a collaborative and/or supportive learning environment. Alternative communication choices, both explicit and implicit, can lead to a more balanced and supportive climate for learning. An example of a successful effort to alter traditional patterns of interaction, without compromising the quality of learning, in a higher education astrophysics class is presented.

Defensive climate in the computer science classroom

As part of an NSF-funded IT Workforce grant, the authors conducted ethnographic research to provide deep understanding of the learning environment of computer science classrooms. Categories emerging from data analysis included 1) impersonal environment and guarded behavior; and 2) the creation and maintenance of informal hierarchy resulting in competitive behaviors. These communication patterns lead to a defensive climate, characterized by competitiveness rather cooperation, judgments about others, superiority, and neutrality rather than empathy. The authors identify particular and recognizable types of discourse, which, when prevalent in a classroom, can preclude the development of a collaborative and supportive learning environment.

Communication in computer science classrooms: understanding defensive climates as a means of creating supportive behaviors

All learning environments are characterized by numerous communication and interaction practices, which lend themselves to an overall characterization of the climate as defensive or supportive. A case study of public communication and interaction in a large, research-intensive universitys first year computer science courses illustrates a learning environment primarily characterized by elements and behaviors associated with a defensive communication climate. Descriptions of classroom interactions and behaviors illustrate what a defensive communication climate “looks like” in terms of behavior, based on extensive observational research. Interview data demonstrates that defensive communication practices can lead to attrition among women in the major and illustrates ways in which the communication climate that characterizes the major is experienced and interpreted by women in the courses. This data also links defensive communication behaviors with lower confidence among women toward their major --- results consistent with previous studies of the causes of attrition among women in other Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Classroom experiences and behaviors that reflect a more supportive communication climate will be discussed within the context of practices and interactions that professors can engage in to ensure that their courses lean toward a supportive rather than a defensive environment as a way of making computer science learning environments more inclusive.

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Research Experiences in Computing

Undergraduate research experiences are promoted and funded for their potential in increasing students’ likelihood of pursuing graduate degrees, increasing their confidence, and expanding their awareness of their discipline and career opportunities. These outcomes, however, depend on the social, organizational, and intellectual conditions under which students conduct research. Large-scale comparative studies suggest that computer science undergraduate researchers participate in fewer of the activities that lead to membership in a “culture of research.” This interview-based study illuminates the experiences of both undergraduates and their faculty research mentors in computer science summer and academic year programs. Twenty-five undergraduates and 31 faculty mentors, the majority women, were interviewed. Their stories reveal best and worst case research conditions for students, the special benefits to women who have experienced harassment in their classes, unconscious biases of faculty, the wisdom of faculty who guide undergraduates to successful research outcomes, and faculty’s perceptions of benefits for themselves, their departments, and the students they mentor.

What can computer science learn from a fine arts approach to teaching

Two pedagogical techniques of IT programs are compared, a traditionally taught computer science (CS) major and an IT certificate program using a fine arts approach to pedagogy. The latter graduates a higher percentage of women than of males. Although the two programs are quite different in the nature of the material and what students are expected to learn, CS instructors can borrow from the certificate program in ways that could increase attraction to and retention of women in CS, especially by allowing students to hear each other articulate what they are learning; mentioning practical applications of theoretical principles; and requiring that students display their knowledge and solutions to their peers.

Development and evaluation of indexed captioned searchable videos for STEM coursework

Videos of classroom lectures have proven to be a popular and versatile learning resource. This paper reports on videos featuring Indexing, Captioning, and Search capability (ICS Videos). The goal is to allow a user to rapidly search and access a topic of interest, a key shortcoming of the standard video format. A lecture is automatically divided into logical indexed video segments by analyzing video frames. Text is automatically identified with OCR technology enhanced with image transformations to drive keyword search. Captions can be added to videos. The ICS video player integrates indexing, search, and captioning in video playback and has been used by dozens of courses and 1000s of students. This paper reports on the development and evaluation of ICS videos framework and assessment of its value as an academic learning resource.

Results of a large-scale, multi-institutional study of undergraduate retention in computing

The recent upsurge in enrollments in computing means that student attrition has a substantial opportunity cost. Admitting a student who leaves both reduces graduation yield and prevents another equally qualified student from enrolling. Professors cannot change the background of students, but they can control many aspects of student experience in the computing major. This paper presents the results of a study to understand strongest predictors of retention in undergraduate computing based on a large-scale survey administered in 14 U.S. institutions. Although some factors have more influence for certain demographic groups, findings from this data set suggest that some teaching practices have more power for predicting retention in computing including: relevant and meaningful assignments, examples, and curriculum; faculty interaction with students; student collaboration on programming assignments; and for male students, pace and workload expectations relative to existing experience. Other interactions such as those that a student has with teaching assistants or peers in extracurricular activities seem to have less value for predicting retention. Faculty would be wise to protect their enrollment investments by inspecting course themes, assignments, and examples for student interest and ensuring that students have many opportunities to interact with faculty both in and outside of class.

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.

Managing cross-cultural differences in an open ended group project course

This paper includes a description of a trial version of using international student collaboration in an OEGP type course, the difficulties experienced, and suggestions for how to deal with them in preparing for a full-scale version of the course

A crowdsourcing caption editor for educational videos

Video of a classroom lecture has been shown to be a versatile learning resource comparable to a textbook. Captions in videos are highly valued by students, especially those with hearing disability and those whose first language is not English. Captioning by automatic speech recognition (ASR) tools is of limited use because of low and variable accuracy. Manual captioning with existing tools is a slow, tedious and expensive task. In this work, we present a web-based crowdsourcing editor to add or correct captions for video lectures. The editor allows a group, e.g., students in a class, to correct the captions for different parts of a video lecture simultaneously. Users can review and correct each others work. The caption editor has been successfully employed to caption STEM coursework videos. Our findings based on survey results and interviews indicate that this innovative crowdsourcing tool is effective and efficient for captioning lecture videos and has considerable value in educational practice. The caption editor is integrated with Indexed Captioned Searchable (ICS) Videos framework at University of Houston that has been used by dozens of courses and 1000s of students. The ICS Videos framework including the captioning tool is open source software available to educational institutions.