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In Computer Science (CS) education, instructors use office hours for one-on-one help-seeking. Prior work has shown that traditional in-person office hours may be underutilized. In response many instructors are adding or transitioning to virtual office hours. Our research focuses on comparing in-person and online office hours to investigate differences between performance, interaction time, and the characteristics of the students who utilize in-person and virtual office hours. We analyze a rich dataset covering two semesters of a CS2 course which used in-person office hours in Fall 2019 and virtual office hours in Fall 2020. Our data covers students' use of office hours, the nature of their questions, and the time spent receiving help as well as demographic and attitude data. Our results show no relationship between student's attendance in office hours and class performance. However we found that female students attended office hours more frequently, as did students with a fixed mindset in computing, and those with weaker skills in transferring theory to practice. We also found that students with low confidence in or low enjoyment toward CS were more active in virtual office hours. Finally, we observed a significant correlation between students attending virtual office hours and an increased interest in CS study; while students attending in-person office hours tend to show an increase in their growth mindset.
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Experiences of Undergraduate Computer Science Students Living with Mental Health Conditions
Along with the growing number of students with disabilities in higher education comes an opportunity to explore the difficulties they experience, especially in the post-pandemic era, as well as how to better support them, thus making post-secondary education more inclusive. A considerable amount of research has been done in providing accommodation for students with physical disabilities, but other hindrances to accessibility such as mental health conditions are prone to be overlooked, perhaps in part due to the stigmatization and subjective invisibility of this topic, specifically in rigorous, competitive fields such as Computer Science (CS). In order to bridge this gap, we conducted a nationwide survey in which 53 undergraduate CS students who identify as living with a mental health condition shared their experiences in their CS courses, instructor and TA office hours, interactions with other students, and the rest of the field. This paper summarizes the most common negative and positive experiences, as well as respondents' recommendations for CS instructors, including recognizing these students' struggles, making themselves approachable, and providing flexible formats of lectures and office hours. The results of this study provide a glimpse of the academic lives of CS students living with mental health conditions, so that CS instructors could foster a more inclusive environment by supporting more students in their paths of pursuing higher education.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2137312
- PAR ID:
- 10541665
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400704239
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 597 to 603
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland OR USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3626252.3630846
