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There is a rapidly growing demand for individuals in cybersecurity and a deficit of persons able to fill those roles. To help meet this need, students not majoring in computing can be utilized to fulfill this demand by exposing them to date mining, cybersecurity practices, and applications of these concepts in the field. This paper presents findings from a twenty-one-week program in which minority undergraduate college students all members of the Reserve Officer Training Coprs (ROTC), were taught computer programming, natural language processing, data visualization, and computer vision fundamentals. Midshipmen and cadets used their newly gained knowledge, teamwork, planning, and communication skills to develop a threat dectection prototype using publicly available social media data. Resuls from pre and post python assessments and post-program interviews that recorded participant attitudes and sefl-efficacy are reported to highlight the programs' effectiveness. 

Effective advisement can help to address the disproportionately lower self-efficacy, identity, and sense of belonging experienced by Black students in computing degree programs.. Black social media influencers who produce video log (vlog) commentary content on the YouTube platform were investigated to determine the influence they have on improving computing identity for Black students. This exploratory study consists of three studies: (1) a synthesis of vlog commentary college and career advisement videos, coding for the quality of advisement, usability, and user experience; (2) an advisor effectiveness and user experience survey using a selected Black social media influencer who provides computing college and career advisement; and (3) a user experience and interaction preference survey using a selected Black social media influencer. Findings suggest YouTube influencers could be effective, particularly for beginners in the computing field. Future studies intend to further explore Black computing advisement through social media over a long term and at varying levels of interaction. 

Abstract: First-year students who enter college pursuing a STEM degree still face challenges persisting through the STEM pipeline (Chen, 2013; Leu, 2017). In this case study, esearchers examine the impact of a utilitarian scientific literacy based academic intervention on retention of first-year students in STEM using a mixed methods approach. A sample (n = 116) of first-year students identified as at-risk of not persisting in STEM were enrolled in a for credit utilitarian scientific literacy course. Participants of the semester long course were then compared with a control group of first-year students identified as at-risk of persisting in STEM. A two-proportion z test was performed to assess the mean differences between students and participants of the course were given a survey to gauge student experiences. Quantitative results (ϕ 0.34, p < 0.05) indicate that the utilitarian scientific literacy course had a statistically significant impact on retention among first-year students at-risk of persisting in STEM. Moreover, qualitative data obtained from participant responses describe internal and external growth as positive outcomes associated with the intervention. 

A critical challenge facing institutions of higher education is the integration of a sustainable energy curriculum into interdisciplinary education. This case study will evaluate the campus-wide development, adoption, and evaluation of an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary sustainability education, at a small liberal arts college. The process and outcomes of the development of this sustainability curriculum are reported. The efficacy of the development and adoption of the curriculum was assessed by student surveys and faculty interviews. The interview results indicated substantial faculty interest and approval of implementing sustainability education at the institution. Survey results reveal an increased interest in pursuing studies and careers in sustainability and energy among students. Upon the completion of the study it was concluded that the sustainability initiative was successfully developed and infused at a historically black college and university (HBCU). The implications of this study advance the importance of incorporating sustainability education within all academic disciplines throughout a minority-serving, small, liberal arts college to increase the presence of African Americans in future careers in energy, green jobs or energy policy/economics. 

Past studies on the differential effects of active learning based on students’ prior preparation and knowledge have been mixed. The purpose of the present study was to ask whether students with different levels of prior preparation responded differently to laboratory courses in which a guided-inquiry module was implemented. In the first study, we assessed student scientific reasoning skills, and in the second we assessed student experimental design skills. In each course in which the studies were conducted, student gains were analyzed by pretest quartiles, a measure of their prior preparation. Overall, student scientific reasoning skills and experimental design skills did not improve pretest to posttest. However, when divided into quartiles based on pretest score within each course, students in the lowest quartile experienced significant gains in both studies. Despite the significant gains observed among students in the lowest quartile, significant posttest differences between lowest and highest quartiles were observed in both scientific reasoning skills and experimental design skills. Nonetheless, these findings suggest that courses with guided-inquiry laboratory activities can foster the development of basic scientific reasoning and experimental design skills for students who are least prepared across a range of course levels and institution types. 

Poor computing identity contributes to a deficit in performance of Black American computing students compared to their other ethnic counterparts. As the demand for computing careers continues to increase, it is imperative to discover novel ways to improve the deficit of minority college and career performance in computing. Black American social media influencers that produce video log (vlog) commentary content were investigated on the YouTube platform to determine the influence they have on improving computing identity of minority students through computing and academic advisement. This exploratory study consists of two studies: (1) a synthesis of vlog commentary college and career advisement videos, coding for the quality of advisement, usability, and user experience, and (2) an advisor effectiveness and user experience survey using a selected minority social media influencer who provides computing college and career advisement. Findings suggest YouTube influencers were effective (over a series of measures), particularly for beginners in the computing field. As minorities heavily participate in and enjoy the use of YouTube and social media, computing advisement influencers on social media allow for supplemental advisement at a wide scale. Future studies intend to further experiment minority computing advisement through social media over a long term and at varying levels of interaction. Findings help validate existing academic advisement influencers and prompts new approaches for organizations and industries to engage with prospective Black American students and members for preparation and training purposes. 

Computing is not only a fundamental part of our daily lives — our national security depends on it. It is essential that members of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) be well-versed in computing techniques designed to combat cyber-attacks that continually improve in sophistication and frequency levels. Through computer science education, prospective military leaders are being taught the critical and analytical thinking skills necessary to address these threats. This paper outlines and discusses how underrepresented minority Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) midshipmen, with the majority having little-to-no programming skills or background, were taught the foundational aspects of computer science and exposed to specific cybersecurity concepts in a 15-week program. The program produced many insightful outcomes, one being the development of a tool that collected and analyzed publicly available social media data through the application of data mining algorithms and techniques. Additionally, interviews, which were conducted upon the completion of the program, documented notable findings on the program’s effectiveness and on key concepts for teaching computer science to minority beginners. 

Hip-hop pedagogy is the use of hip-hop artifacts and culture as resources to a curriculum or instruction. Applying hip-hop pedagogy to academic interventions has been suggested to effectively increase the value and connection to course content as well as the ability to re-envision content into ones that reflect underrepresented students of color’s lived experiences. As there is a gap in African American and non White Latino American performance in STEM compared to their White and Asian American counterparts, and a high demand in prospective STEM occupations (namely computer and information technology), hip-hop pedagogy can be leveraged to improve STEM identity to successively improve STEM performance. This paper represents the first stage of a case study to analyze and validate hip-hop pedagogical tools for computing and STEM instruction and outreach. This paper describes a qualitative meta-synthesis of hip-hop pedagogy and associated STEM outreach programs. Findings on hip-hop pedagogy in computing and STEM outreach interventions are discussed to aid in supporting and creating future hip-hop pedagogical interventions. 

To improve the academic and professional achievement of underrepresented minorities in computing, a newfound interest in innovative mentoring practices has captivated STEM education researchers. Studies suggest that virtual mentoring conversational agents can be leveraged across multiple platforms to provide supplemental mentorship, offsetting the lack of access to in-person mentorship in disadvantaged communities. A within-subjects mixed-method experiment was carried out to assess the usability of a mentoring conversational agent. Mobile interfaces (Twitter and SMS) were compared to each other and against a web-based embodied conversational agent (ECA). Results suggest that mobile interfaces are more usable than the web-based ECA. The findings from this study help to identify areas for improvement in virtual learning alternatives and other potential applications for pervasive conversational interfaces.