Search for: All records

Creating inclusive learning environments is important for retaining students, particularly those from historically marginalized groups in computing. However, both faculty and graduate students -- who are responsible for teaching and mentoring activities - often receive little, if any, training on creating inclusive learning environments. Using a higher education approach, I developed and taught a semester-long course to prepare future faculty members to create inclusive computing learning environments. This experience report describes the process for creating the course including topics, readings, assignments, and approaches for facilitation and learning. I also provide analysis, reflection, and insights from students' surveys and their written reflections throughout the course. The primary contribution of this experience report is to document the learning gains in graduate students' self-efficacy, awareness, and preparation for faculty roles, and to share insights on the implementation of the course to serve as a guide for other departments in the development and execution of similar training approaches. 

Students from historically underrepresented communities in computer science (CS) report being told that their successes are due to special treatment based on their gender and/or racial identity. We refer to this microaggression as the discounting-success microaggression. We analyzed survey responses from 4,327 CS majors across 221 institutions in the U.S. We found that students who identify as women, Black, and/or Asian were more likely than men and white students, respectively, to report the discounting-success microaggression. This discounting-success microaggression significantly and negatively predicts students’ self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and plans to persist in CS. Our results elucidate the negative influence of the discounting-success microaggression on CS student outcomes. Efforts are needed to improve the culture and interactions in CS to eliminate the prevalence of this harmful microaggression.