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Title: Taking the Next Course: Barriers and Facilitators Reported by Computer Science Majors
This research paper studies barriers to students continuing in undergraduate computing programs. On the journey to a computing profession, every course has the potential to be an off-ramp away from students’ goals. Every student who leaves a computing degree has a last class they took before not continuing, and a reason they didn’t continue. Based on qualitative analysis of open-ended questions in surveys of students in eight undergraduate computer science and engineering (CSE) courses, we identify common barriers students anticipate, and learn what encourages them to persist onto the next CSE course. For example, even for students within the major, a commonly reported barrier was the perceived inability to enroll in their next computing course due to unclear enrollment systems and requirements. We disaggregate the data by three demographic categories—race/ethnicity, gender, and admissions-type—to understand potential disparate impacts of CSE majors at our large, research- intensive university. Solutions to the reported barriers faced by students may include student-focused interventions, policy and programmatic changes at the department level, and broader institutional or external support. Keywords: 5.b.vii. Computer science, 10.f. Retention, 3. Diversity  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2137928
PAR ID:
10469298
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Date Published:
Format(s):
Medium: X
Location:
Baltimore , Maryland
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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