| 1. |
- Bradley, Steven, et al.
(author)
-
A Methodology for Investigating Women's Module Choices in Computer Science
- 2023
-
In: ITiCSE 2023. - : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9798400701399 ; , s. 569-570
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- At ITiCSE 2021, Working Group 3 examined the evidence for teaching practices that broaden participation for women in computing, based on the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Engagement Practices framework. One of the report's recommendations was "Make connections from computing to your students' lives and interests (Make it Matter) but don't assume you know what those interests are; find out!" The goal of this 2023 working group is to find out what interests women students by bringing together data from our institutions on undergraduate module enrollment, seeing how they differ for women and men, and what drives those choices. We will code published module content based on ACM curriculum guidelines and combine these data to build a hierarchical statistical model of factors affecting student choice. This model should be able to tell us how interesting or valuable different topics are to women, and to what extent topic affects choice of module - as opposed to other factors such as the instructor, the timetable, or the mode of assessment. Equipped with this knowledge we can advise departments how to focus curriculum development on areas that are of value to women, and hence work towards making the discipline more inclusive.
|
|
| 2. |
- Bradley, Steven, et al.
(author)
-
Modeling Women's Elective Choices in Computing
- 2023
-
In: ITiCSE-WGR '23. - : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9798400704055 ; , s. 196-226
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Evidence-based strategies suggest ways to reduce the gender gap in computing. For example, elective classes are valuable in enabling students to choose in which directions to expand their computing knowledge in areas aligned with their interests. The availability of electives of interest may also make computing programs of study more meaningful to women. However, research on which elective computing topics are more appealing to women is often class or institution specific. In this study, we investigate differences in enrollment within undergraduate-level elective classes in computing to study differences between women and men. The study combined data from nine institutions from both Western Europe and North America and included 272 different classes with 49,710 student enrollments. These classes were encoded using ACM curriculum guidelines and combined with the enrollment data to build a hierarchical statistical model of factors affecting student choice. Our model shows which elective topics are less popular with all students (including fundamentals of programming languages and parallel and distributed computing), and which elective topics are more popular with women students (including mathematical and statistical foundations, human computer interaction and society, ethics, and professionalism). Understanding which classes appeal to different students can help departments gain insight of student choices and develop programs accordingly. Additionally, these choices can also help departments explore whether some students are less likely to choose certain classes than others, indicating potential barriers to participation in computing.
|
|
| 3. |
- Kunkeler, Thom, et al.
(author)
-
Broadening participation of biology students in computing : a mixed methods study among bioinformatics students
- 2022
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite the rapid evolution of bioinformatics over the past decades, a lack of computing skills and a widening skill gap among biologists can be observed. It is therefore of increasing importance to understand why biologists are motivated in studying bioinformatics and computing, and what the challenges are that they face. To this end, a computing capital mixed methodology has been developed, inspired by the concept of science capital. A total of 13 master’s level bioinformatics students with a biology background participated in the computing capital survey, of which 10 agreed to a follow-up interview. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis suggest that, while biology students are driven by career opportunities, as well as positive beliefs and values when it comes to computing, they perceive barriers such as low levels of computing confidence, and a gap between their skills and future careers. Future research can build onto the developed methodology, and explore other aspects of capital and their role in computing education. The aim of such efforts is to broaden participation in computing education by developing an understanding of why people engage with computing, and what they aspire to do with it.
|
|
| 4. |
- Kunkeler, Thom
(author)
-
Capital and the Social Reproduction of Inequality in Computing Education
- 2024
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Computing education in Western countries has traditionally been characterised by low levels of participation and diversity among its student population. In order to broaden participation in the field, it is fundamental to understand the various mechanisms through which power structures and inequality are reproduced. From a Bourdieusian perspective, this licentiate thesis sets out to understand the interaction between capital, class, and habitus which allows a dominant class to thrive at the expense of other classes. Paper I shows that capital serves as a barrier for non-computing students entering the computing field, whereas in Paper II a dominant class is identified as possessing higher levels of capital, which is then related to their higher levels of participation in the field. In addition, Paper I provides insight into the ways the non-dominant class internalises and acts upon their lower levels of capital. This licentiate thesis lays out the groundwork for studying capital in computing education by developing and validating research instruments which can be used for further study. In addition, relevant theories to educational participation are discussed, with a particular focus on capital theory. More work is needed to understand the reproductive mechanism through which the dominant class legitimises their capital within the field of computing education, thereby establishing their class position. Future work is recommended in the domain of habitus and capital-inclusive pedagogy. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce the reproduction of inequality in computing education by assessing the various mechanisms involved, and designing pedagogy which can be used for successful engagement of students with varying levels of capital.
|
|
| 5. |
- Kunkeler, Thom, et al.
(author)
-
Computing skills, beliefs and identities in young people from underserved communities
- 2021
-
In: 2021 Conference on Research in Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT). - 9781665449052 - 9781665449069
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite increasing access to computing curricula within schools, the number of young people from diverse backgrounds choosing computing qualifications and careers is still low. It is important to understand the reasons for this lack of engagement directly from young people in order to identify potential avenues for intervention. Furthermore, it is vital to consider these reasons within their specific educational and social contexts. This qualitative pilot study aimed to provide insight into how young people from underserved communities in the United Kingdom viewed computing and how it related to their current lives and future aspirations. We interviewed thirteen young people, aged 9-22, who were at risk of educational disadvantage. Thematic analyses identified a mismatch between a stereotyped computing identity and the identities or personal interests of the young people. Although they felt comfortable with using computers in general, the young people seemed to lack belief in their own ability, or to understate it, during the interviews. Future research should expand on these themes and take an intersectional approach to promote context-specific interventions and support to encourage a more diverse workforce in computer science.
|
|
| 6. |
- Kunkeler, Thom, et al.
(author)
-
From Science to Computing : A Study of Capital Among Bioinformatics Students
- 2024
-
In: IEEE Transactions on Education. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 0018-9359 .- 1557-9638. ; 67:2, s. 202-208
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Contribution: This article applies science capital research to computing education in order to understand why students engage with a programme involving computing, and what they aspire to get out of their education. Background: Capital is a concept which has been used in educational research to study inequality, aspiration and achievement. Previous work has looked at capital in science education, but misses out on discipline-specific capital. This article applies science capital research to the field of computing education, providing insight into students' views and dispositions of computing, their confidence and knowledge, and other factors which are important for understanding student engagement with the subject. Research Questions: How can science capital research be adapted to computing education? Further to this, what insights can be generated from such a methodology? Methodology: Inspired by the concept of science capital, a survey has been developed and tested among 29 bioinformatics students with a biology background. These students were selected since they recently switched to a programme involving computing, allowing them to reflect on their motivation, aspirations, and outcome expectations. Informed by the initial results, a follow-up interview was designed, and ten students participated. Findings: Science capital research proves useful for studying factors underlying participation in computing. Students in this study are driven by career opportunities, as well as positive beliefs and values when it comes to computing, while perceiving barriers such as low levels of computing confidence, and a gap between their skills and future careers. In addition, gender differences among survey results were observed (p= 0.002).
|
|
| 7. |
- Kunkeler, Thom
(author)
-
Inequality in Computing Education through the lens of Social Capital: a Methodology
- 2022
-
In: Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research. - New York, NY, USA : ACM Publications.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Since the 1980s, social capital has emerged as an influential concept in the social sciences, used to study inequality and an individual’s socioeconomic position in society. Despite its popularity, capital studies in computing education are less common, a field which traditionally lacks diversity in terms of access and participation. The goal of the proposed methodology is to develop an understanding of why people engage with computing education and succeed in it, while others do not.
|
|
| 8. |
- Kunkeler, Thom, et al.
(author)
-
Supplement - Capital in Computing Education : Investigating Factors Underlying Participation
- 2024
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This document provides the supplementing material for the following publication:[1] Thom Kunkeler and Aletta Nylén. Capital in Computing Education: Investigating Factors Underlying Participation. 2024. In Proceedings of the 2024 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (Milan, Italy, 2024-07-08) (ITiCSE’24).In this publication, we developed a validated survey instrument to measure capital in computing education. Capital refers to the legitimate, valuable and exchangeable resources that individuals use to generate social advantage withinspecific fields [2]. In computing education, a theoretical model has been developed highlighting the forms of capital which influence participation and successin the field [3]. This study assessed the theoretical model through careful survey design and Confirmatory Factor Analaysis (CFA). The hypothesised survey structure was assessed in terms of model fit to the observed data, and adjusted to achieve a survey with high internal consistency among the items and factors (robust: X2p = 0.119; CFI/TLI = 0.97/0.95; RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.041).This document contains a detailed presentation of the pre- and post-validated survey instrument, in addition to the factor analysis diagram.
|
|
