How to Recruit More Students and More Diverse Students for your Computing C lass?

1. How to Recruit More Students and More Diverse Students for your Computing Class? Barb Ericson Director, Computing Outreach College of Computing Georgia Tech

2. Today's story • The percentage of females and Blacks taking the AP CS A exam in Georgia is way too low • Below historical highs in Georgia • Below what we see in other AP exams in Georgia • There are way too few students who take AP CS A compared to other similar AP exams • Hundreds versus thousands in Georgia • There are not enough females and under-represented minorities in computing at Georgia Tech • What can you do to effectively recruit more students and more diverse students to computing? • You can make a difference!

3. 2010 AP CS A in Georgia - Gender • The percentage of females taking AP CS A in Georgia was 17% (118 out of 692) • The high was 27% in 1999 (155 of 571) • The low was 14% in 2005 (56 of 388) • 19.21% nationally (3,726 of 19,390)

4. 2010 AP CS A in Georgia - Race • The percentage of blacks was 9.8% (68 of 692) • The high was 28.5% in 1999 (163 of 571) • The low was 9.4% in 2007 (40 of 422) • 4.25% nationally (825 of 19,390)

5. Compared to other Georgia AP exams? • 2010 Calculus AB – total 7,256 • % female 49.9% (3,621) • % black 16.35% (1187) • 2010 Biology – total 5,358 • % female 56.8% (3,045) • % black 17.59% (943) • 2010 Chemistry – total 3,683 • % female 48.4% (1,785) • % black 14.79% (545) • 2010 Statistics – total 5,115 • % female 52.7% (2,696) • % black 17% (873)

6. Georgia Tech – Spring 2011 by Gender • Ranges from 9.27% to 22.73% • Freshman (95 male and 23 female) 19.49% female • Sophomore (169 male and 34 female) 16.74% female • Junior (225 and 23) 9.27% female • Senior (300 and 43) 12.53% female • Masters (282 and 83) 22.73% female • PhD (252 and 57) 18.44% female • Back in the mid 80's women were about 35% of CS majors

7. Georgia Tech – Spring 2011 by Race • Undergrad in the College of Computing • Total - 912 • Asian – 214 – 23.46% • Black – 61 – 6.68% • Hispanic – 48 – 5.26% • White – 559 – 61.29% • Graduate • Total – 681 • Asian – 391 – 57.41% • Black – 25 – 3.67% • Hispanic – 14 – 2.05% • White – 232 – 34.06%

8. Interest in Computing Careers • According to a WGBH foundation study of over 1400 college-bound teens in 2008 • 74% of college bound males consider a career in computing to be a "very good" or "good" choice for them. • 32% of college bound females consider a career in computing to be a "very good" or "good" choice for them. • Black and Hispanic teen boys were even more interested in a career in computing than their white peers. • So, why aren't there more Black and Hispanic males in computing? • Lack of access and exposure? • Many are going to low-level schools such as DeVry and Un. Of Phoenix

9. What do middle school girls want to be? • Vet / work with animals (> 400) 25% • Doctor (> 400) 19% • Don't know (> 400) 19% • Engineer (> 200) 10% • Performance Artist (> 200) • Teacher - 9% • Lawyer – judge - 9% • Forensics-related • Scientist • … • Computer-related was near the bottom of the list (41)

10. What do high school girls want to be? • Health and allied services - 34% • Social science and history – 13% • Business and commerce – 12% • Education – 11% • Arts – Visual and performing – 9% • Biological Sciences – 7% • Communications – 5% • … • Computer or Information Sciences was near bottom.

11. How to recruit students to computing? • Send letters to parents of high school students who do well on the PSAT • See http://home.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/50 for sample letters • Hand deliver letters to females and under-represented minorities • Include a talking points card from NCWIT for females • See http://www.ncwit.org/resources.res.talking.young.html • Recruit student leaders and have them recruit their friends • Females often prefer to take a class with a friend

12. Other recruiting ideas • Send out your current computing students to recruit for next year • Give a talk in other AP classes (especially math and science) • Give a talk in web design classes (high percentage of women) • Create a short video that can be played on the school news • Have an open house at your school for parents • Display job ads • Show student work • Hand out information on computing careers • http://www.computinginthecore.org/impacts/#jobs • http://computingcareers.acm.org/?page_id=58

13. What appealed to current majors? • Both men and women • Positive experiences in computing • Encouragement • Confidence in math and science • Enjoy programming • Belief that career could be rewarding and flexible • More important for women • Computing as a form of communication • Leads to helping others • Means of self-expression • Persuaded by friends • Defy stereotypes • Encouragement from family

14. What does research tell us? • 80% of college freshman don't know what a person with a major in computer science does • Many hold negative stereotypes about computing • Boring, anti-social, not creative, too hard • White and Hispanic women's confidence is based on others • They need encouragement and praise • Women who leave Computer Science often have higher grades then men who stay in the major • Males are often taught to be self-reliant • Not willing to ask questions or show that they are having trouble

15. What is important to mention? • Economic Security • Flexibility both in types of industries and geographic • Jobs in computing and math are expected to be some of the fastest growing through 2016 • First or second highest starting salary of any 4 year degrees • Job Satisfaction • Socially relevant • Challenging and problem solving • Work with others • Time for personal life • In Georgia AP CS A counts as a science for graduation • And as a science or math for entry into Georgia colleges and universities

16. What does Georgia Tech do? • Weekend events with Girl Scouts and Cool Girls • Summer camps for 4th – 12th graders at Georgia Tech • And we trained and gave "seed" money to 11 other colleges and universities in Georgia • Weekend events for elementary students • Competitions • Alice • Scratch • AP Bowl • Cool Computing Days • Student panel • Research talks • Corporate panel • Lending library • Teacher workshops

17. Pictures from Georgia Tech

18. Pictures from Georgia Tech • Media Computation for high school students

19. Awards for females • NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Awards • http://www.ncwit.org/work.awards.aspiration.html • National Award • $500 in cash • a laptop computer, provided by Bank of America • a trip to attend the Bank of America Technology Showcase and Awards Ceremony in Charlotte, North Carolina • an engraved award for both the student and the student's school • Georgia Aspirations in Computing Awards – 15 in 2011 • http://www.cc.gatech.edu/events/ncwit-aspiration-awards-ceremony

20. Videos • You can use videos from the Un of Washington http://www.cs.washington.edu/WhyCSE/ • Pathways in computer science • Power to change the world • A day in the life – 3 women in computing • Dot diva videos – for females on combining computing and other fields http://www.dotdiva.org/ • NCWIT – Aspirations in Computing Award Winners • http://www.ncwit.org/resources.multimedia.html

21. Use Engaging Contexts • Scratch – 2D animations, simulations, presentations, games • Alice – 3D animations and games • Media Computation – communication, creative, expressive • Culturally relevant • http://csdt.rpi.edu/african/African_Fractals/index.html • http://csdt.rpi.edu/african/cornrow_curves/ • Mobile Devices – computing for good, social networks • Apps for homeless • Apps to report sexual harassment • Apps to handle logistics in earthquakes

22. Make computing social • Have students share their results • In class • On a website • In student newspaper • Use pair programming • Research has shown this to be effective • Encourage group work • Counter the myth that programmers work alone • Use peer and near-peer mentors • High school students helping middle school students • College students helping high school students

23. Books to read for more info • Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing • Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing

24. New CS Principles Course This is a new Advanced Placement course designed to be an introduction to the important ideas in computer science and to appeal to more women and minorities • See http://csprinciples.org/ • Piloted 2010-2011 by 5 colleges • http://csprinciples.org/pilots.php • NSF wants 10,000 teachers teaching this course by 2015 • NSF wants a higher percentage of women and minorities • They are currently recruiting for the second pilot courses • http://csprinciples.org/pilots/

25. Summary • There are too few women and under-represented minorities in computing • Doing "nothing" only perpetuates the problem • And can lead to your classes being cancelled • Continues the economic injustice • You need to act to give more females and under-represented minorities an introduction to computing • Recruit for your classes • Be sure to use appropriate messages when recruiting • Be sure to use engaging and inclusive content in your classes • Hold summer camps • http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/1080 • Create an afterschool club • Encourage students to enter competitions and apply for awards