Share Paper: Using Online Learning Communities to Motivate Students to Explore Computing Majors

  1. Anu Gokhale, Illinois State University, United States
  2. Kenton Machina, Illinois State University, United States
Tuesday, June 25 3:25-3:45 PM Oak Bay 2

Abstract: Research suggests that the perceptions of students, educators, and other stakeholders play a large role in discouraging women and minorities from pursuing computing-related majors and participating in technical occupations. This NSF-funded project utilizes online learning communities to make computing disciplines more attractive to prospective students — particularly female and minority students — by providing them with a better sense of the range of opportunities in computing and the role of computing in addressing real issues that people care about. Additionally, students are challenged to examine stereotype constraining definitions of “femininity” and “ethnicity” and overcome these barriers. Findings show that these ...