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Engaging undergraduates in research has been shown to improve retention, increase students' sense of computer science identity, and increase their chances of continuing to graduate school. Yet research experiences at most universities are ad hoc, and many undergraduates-particularly those from groups underrepresented in computing-do not have the opportunity to participate. The Early Research Scholars Program (ERSP) is a structured, academic-year group-based undergraduate research program designed to help universities vastly increase participation in research for early computing undergraduates. ERSP launched at UC San Diego in 2014 where it now annually engages over 50 second-year undergraduates, 59% of whom are women, and 22% of whom are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. The program's portable design has enabled its expansion to 7 other colleges and universities. This workshop will train participants in launching ERSP (or any part of it) at their university to increase and diversify the undergraduates participating in research. Workshop leaders are the ERSP directors at four universities. They will address how to launch and run the program in different contexts. They will provide an interactive, hands-on experience of running the program covering the following topics: developing and teaching a research methods class, student application and selection to ensure a diverse and supportive cohort, and creating a dual-mentoring structure to engage and retain early undergraduates without overburdening faculty. Workshop participants will be invited to join the ERSP virtual community to get support launching their own version of ERSP.
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Customizing a field experience for CS undergraduates in teaching computer science
This workshop’s goal is to help faculty who want to establish a course (or alternate vehicle) for mentoring undergraduates with some computer science background to participate in K-12 teaching computer science in local schools with engaging pedagogy. The workshop leverages the experiences and lessons learned from ten semesters of the organizers leading a course that meets once a week on campus for mentoring to support the undergraduates’ field experience in local schools and libraries. The workshop will dive deep into logistics including how to establish and maintain strong teacher partnerships, establishing student-teacher matches and weekly field experience schedules, weekly in-class activities and assignments to support the field experience, weekly student reflective journal prompts, and surveys for formative evaluation. Participants will actively reflect on their own contexts with potential opportunities and challenges, and organizers will facilitate small group discussions of how to address the challenges, different models for different contexts, and how to get started. Participants should leave with a plan for next steps toward offering a mentored undergraduate field experience in teaching computer science and access to a community of faculty who are working to help to broaden participation in computer science in K-12 while providing opportunities for undergraduates to hone their communication and leadership skills, increase their self confidence, and participate in giving back to the community using their technical skills.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1639649
- PAR ID:
- 10062877
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- SIGCSE Conference
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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