A Review of Interventions to Recruit and Retain ICT Students

Abstract

This article reviews and analyses the educational research literature on interventions to increase the recruitment and retention of information and communications technology (ICT) students. The results show that three changes in computing pedagogy characterize successful interventions, and consequently offer promising ways to attract and prepare more people for careers in ICT. The most important selection criterion considered when choosing papers to review was that interventions had been tested in practice and their effectiveness measured. Interventions were arranged into two groups: recruitment and retention. Recruitment interventions described initiatives to motivate interest in computing among secondary schools students, whereas retention interventions described efforts to retain students in ICT majors at universities. The three pedagogical approaches that emerged from an analysis of the successful interventions were: (1) visual programming environments to teach introductory programming, (2) inquiry learning activities to engage students in computing, and (3) integration of interdisciplinary knowledge to attract students from diverse disciplines. This review draws attention to innovative teaching practices currently shaping computer science education. Wider adoption of these pedagogical strategies has the potential to significantly increase the number of qualified ICT professionals.

Effective measures to foster girls’ interest in secondary computer science education

“…Since numerous comprehensive studies have attempted to map the state of the art of the measures of girls engagement within computer science education (Brotman and Moore 2008;Siiman et al 2014; Boston and Cimpian 2018), we have decided to adopt a systematic aggregated review method by Gough et al (2013) and Aromataris et al (2015), who suggest approaching a systematic literature review via combining existing reviews with the later synthesis of further publications in the time period following the date of publication of the identified reviews.…”

“…Many of the interventions designed for lower-secondary populations aim to increase girls' initial interest in computing (Main and Schimpf 2017;Boston and Cimpian 2018;García-Peñalvo et al 2016;Nash 2017). At the upper-secondary level, many of the interventions are designed to increase computing-related knowledge and confidence (Main and Schimpf 2017;Gürer and Camp 2002;Siiman et al 2014;Milam 2012;Menon et al 2019;Brotman and Moore 2008;Murphy et al 2019;Crick 2017). Both, however, aim at increasing engagement and interest in computing as the key theme.…”

“…It is being acknowledged as a result of the differences in leisure-time preferences among girls vs. boys (Main and Schimpf 2017). In effect of that, boys, who are on average one year ahead of girls in computer usage, according to the findings tend to monopolize the instructor's time, computer labs, and the curriculum material (Siiman et al 2014;Willoughby 2008;Brotman and Moore 2008). Girls, often feeling less competent, take the position of a guest in the computer lab, and many tend to prefer to sit back and let boys take over.…”

“…(Gürer and Camp 2002;García-Peñalvo et al 2016;Barker and Aspray 2006) has a similar effect as separation based on previous experience (Rec.4.2.) (Siiman et al 2014). This needs further investigation.…”

“…While numerous studies examine the narrative and root causes of the low engagement of girls in computer science education (Craig 2016; Barker and Aspray 2006;Lye and Koh 2014;García-Peñalvo et al 2016;Siiman et al 2014), comprehensive guidance for assisting educators in navigating the findings and recommendations published in literature is missing (Craig 2016; Barker and Aspray 2006;Murphy et al 2019). Identification of practical and suitable guidelines is challenging, as the individual studies vary in scope, education stage (primary, secondary, tertiary), goals, and also results (Gorbacheva et al 2019;Craig 2016;Main and Schimpf 2017).…”