Mentoring and Role Models

1. Mentoring and Role Models Mary Lou Soffa Department of Computer Science

2. Mentoring? • Mentoring has become a “buzz” word in education - what is it? • Is a role model a mentor? • Mostly to promote the advancement of women and minorities, especially in S & E. Why do only women and minorities need mentoring? • Why mentoring is important in computer science? • Strategies for mentoring high school students in computer science

3. What is a mentoring? • Mentoring is establishing a very special relationship • is professional (ultimate goal to help someone achieve success) but also personal • care about the personal development as well as professional • develops and can last over an extended period of time, with varying intensity - • provides information, help, advice, and contacts • provides encouragement and advocacy

4. Effective mentoring • The teacher-student bonding that although it might not be recognized as mentoring, it is mentoring • In general, effective mentoring relationship is characterized by • mutual respect, • trust, • understanding and • empathy • by both mentor and mentee

5. What is a role model? • Someone who is admired for their skills and achievements • Can be a mentor • Don’t have to know them – important for women and minorities • Can be teacher – K-12, undergraduate, graduate, professional

6. Studies importance of mentoring • Researchers have identified mentoring as the most crucial need for success and advancement at all levels and fields • Mentoring is a career long activity and involves both mentoring and being mentored. • Comes in different forms: • ad hoc • systematic and part of a program or policy

7. How do we learn to mentor? • Education • Lesson plans • Area content • Interest students • Mentoring students?? • We “parent” like our parents did – no training • We “mentor” like our teachers/advisers did – no training!! • I thought about how to mentor – did not mentor like my adviser

8. Importance of mentoring in CS • Students don’t know what computer science is • Lack of understanding of skills required • Negative perceptions about technology careers • No interaction with humans • Negative stereotypical images of computer users – more prominent in high school than elementary school

9. Why mentoring is important in CS • Attitudes and perceptions toward specific careers have an enormous impact on choices that HS students make • Importance of shaping positive attitudes

10. Study • Asked students what skills are necessary to be successful in computer science • Skills necessary • Keyboarding was first – both boys and girls • Computer skills • Programming • Mathematics

11. Why mentor girls and minorities in CS • Girls rank themselves less qualified than boys regardless of how they are doing • Girls do better in collaborative environments • Schools offer classes about how to use a computer rather than their use and applications – turn off for girls • Ad hoc mentoring is done by “likes”

12. High school girls in CS • Girls comprise fewer than 15 percent of all AP computer science exam-takers – the lowest representation of any AP discipline • Biology 58% • Calculus 40% • Physics 35% • Computer Science 15% • High School seniors in 2006 taking SAT – only 1% computer and information science as major • 50% decline – in 1996 25% of all students intending to major in CS were women

13. Bachelor degrees in CS (2006) • Between 1983 and 2006, the share of computer science bachelor’s degrees awarded to women dropped from • 36 to 21 percent overall • Bachelors Degrees – • 12% Ph.D. producing institutions go to women • Other sciences & mathematics – • Engineering +32.0% (current 16.9%) • Physical Sciences +39.1% (current38.4%) • Computer science is only science % falling

14. Graduate degrees • Master’s Degrees: 23% for women - stable • Ph.D. degrees: 19% for women (increase from 11% in 1990) - 48% non-resident aliens; Domestic 36%; 2.5% African Americans • More M.S. and Ph.D. than B.S. percentage wise - why

15. Graduate school? • % of US CS grads enrolled in grad or professional school after one year • 9.2% of men and 2.9% of women • with a 3.5 GPA its 29.2% of men and only 2.5% of women National Center for Educational Statistics, 1994 If rates continue as in the last 10 years, women will achieve parity with men in earned doctorates • across all fields in 2008 • across S&E in 2013 • in CS&E in 2088 !! Moskal, 2002

16. Minorities (2006-2007) • BS degrees – total 10,284 • 3.4% African American (261) • 5.4% Hispanic (412) • M.S. degrees – total 7,561 • 2.0% African American (132) • 1.6% Hispanic (109) • Ph.D. – total (1,599) • 1.2% African American (19) • 1.3% Hispanic (20)

17. Faculty and Industry Women • Women Faculty: • 20% are assistant professors (16% in 1998) • 13% are associate professors • 11% are full professors • Women hold more than half of professional positions overall, but fewer than 22% of software engineering positions

18. Academia - Minorities • New hires (188) • 0.6% African American (1) • 1.2% Hispanic (2) Current faculty African American Hispanic Full 0.5% (8) 1.6% (28) Associate 0.9% (11) 2.6% (31) Assistant 2.1% (21) 1.9% (19)

19. What can we do? • Mentoring • enormous impact mentors often have on students. • Role models: • Many students learn how to behave by observing faculty members and treating them, consciously or unconsciously, as role models. • Poor mentoring and role models can cause considerable damage.

20. What Research tells us • Students need a broad overview of the field – what does it do • Learning must include both theory an practice • Instruction should focus on problem solving and algorithmic thinking • Teaching and learning activities should be designed to address common misconceptions about CS

21. Gender and programming • In studies when computer use was associated with programming, gender differences were more prominent and striking than non programming • When computer use was associated with problem solving, little gender difference

22. Mentor – role of encouragement • Encouragement important – self confidence • Great job, doing great – any kind of success

23. Examples • Problem solving • Riddles • Fibonacci Rabbits • What is programming • A program is a set of instructions telling a machine what to do • Problem, solution and then solving the solution via computers and programming

24. Three qualities of exemplary teachers of CS • Problem solving approach – examine problems from different angles and perspectives and formulate solutions • Real world focus: motivate students by having them create real-world artifacts - essential like between problem, user and solutions • Welcoming environment for all students – especially women and minorities – and find creative ways to engage all students with examples and exercises that are relevant to their lives

25. Strategies of mentoring • Teachers and staff • Peer to peer • Tele-mentoring • Outreach

26. Peer to peer mentoring • Students mentor students • Senior students mentor junior students • One on one • Group of students

27. Telementoring • MentorNet http://mentornet.net/ •  Big Sisters/Little Sisters, WICS, Stanford University http://wics.stanford.edu/mentor.htm • E-network for women in engineering and science. http://www.mentornet.net/ • EECS Summer School for High School Students, MIT http://wtp.mit.edu/ • GEM-SET: Girls' E-Mentoring in Science, Engineering, and Technology http://www.gem-set.org/ • Mentor Girls <http://www.mentorgirls.org/> • http://www.cs.panam.edu/~mentoring/ • http://emissary.wm.edu

28. Role Models • http://www.cs.washington.edu/WhyCSE • http://www.womenswork.org/girls/compsci

29. Outreach and mentoring • Universities, colleges in area • Students and faculty willing to meet and mentor students • UVA – part of our project • Contact the Department

30. Resources • Gotta Have IT http://www.ncwit.org/work.campaigns.gotta.html Gotta Have IT is an all-in-one computing resource kit designed with educators' needs in mind. • CRA-W – http://www.cra.org/~craw • NCWIT – National Center for Women in Information Technology – K-12 Alliance - http://www.ncwit.org/ • ACM-W http://women.acm.org/ • ACM/CRA Coalition to Diversity Computing http://www.cdc-computing.org/ • Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity Conference – http://www.tapiaconference.org/2009

31. Break out Two questions • What do you or your schools do to mentor? Programs? Ad hoc? • What strategies do you think might work and you would like to try them?