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Broadening Participation in Computing via Professional Development for Community College CS/IT Faculty

Published: 21 February 2018 Publication History

Abstract

This paper describes the creation of a virtual, interactive professional development course to build the capacity of community college faculty to recruit and retain women and underrepresented minorities in computing programs. The project was designed in response to community college faculty reporting need for practical methods to broaden participation in their programs and their feelings of isolation from like-minded faculty. The 12-session prototype has been piloted with eight community college faculty. The finalized PD will be available as free, standalone web-based modules. The course includes instruction on research-based practices for recruiting and retaining women and underrepresented minorities in computing. Evaluation mechanisms are developed to assess the impacts of the PD on faculty attitudes and teaching practices, and the effect of changed practices on introductory computing students' engagement and persistence. Here we report preliminary findings from interviews. The project outputs will include polished online content modules, validated student survey instruments, a classroom observation protocol, and student and faculty interview instruments.

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Cited By

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  • (2025)Supporting Inclusive Computing: A Graduate Course to Prepare Future FacultyProceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3641554.3701887(374-380)Online publication date: 12-Feb-2025
  • (2024)Broadening Participation in Adult Education: A Literature Review of Computer Science EducationProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630797(11-17)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
  • (2023)Arguments for and Approaches to Computing Education in Undergraduate Computer Science ProgrammesProceedings of the 2023 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3623762.3633494(160-195)Online publication date: 22-Dec-2023

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    SIGCSE '18: Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
    February 2018
    1174 pages
    ISBN:9781450351034
    DOI:10.1145/3159450
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    Published: 21 February 2018

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    Author Tags

    1. broadening participation in computing
    2. community college
    3. faculty professional development
    4. gender
    5. longitudinal research

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    SIGCSE '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 161 of 459 submissions, 35%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 1,787 of 5,146 submissions, 35%

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    View all
    • (2025)Supporting Inclusive Computing: A Graduate Course to Prepare Future FacultyProceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3641554.3701887(374-380)Online publication date: 12-Feb-2025
    • (2024)Broadening Participation in Adult Education: A Literature Review of Computer Science EducationProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630797(11-17)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
    • (2023)Arguments for and Approaches to Computing Education in Undergraduate Computer Science ProgrammesProceedings of the 2023 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3623762.3633494(160-195)Online publication date: 22-Dec-2023

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