The Evolving Culture of Computing: Similarity Is the Difference

A historical examination of the social factors affecting female participation in computing

“…While it is difficult to make CS "new" again, reducing the entrenched culture has proven benefits for attracting nontraditional students [9,14]. It should also be noted that CS is not homogenous: fields such as gaming and security [46] lag behind with regard to female representation, and explicit sexism continues to be a problem.…”

“…The work by Margolis and Fisher, and others such as Joanne Cohoon, Maria Klawe, and Camp and Gurer, led to many departments working to remove de facto barriers for their female students. Followup studies at places that have implemented Margolis and Fisher-style recommendations have found a cultural shift that helps female students [9,3].…”

A case study of retention practices at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“…Much research on the decreasing enrollment in computer science education focuses on two potential "solution" areas: recruitment and retention, which involve getting more students to join and to stay [2,5,14]. Some recruitment strategies involve outreach efforts which attempt to make computer science look "cool," exciting, useful, and rewarding, but do not involve student attitudes in developing solutions [8].…”

“…Such support structures can be fostered by providing role models via effective advising and mentoring relationships [2,9,17,13]. For undergraduates, advising helps the student select courses and fulfill requirements; it also frequently determines the level of interest in pursuing career options or even a graduate degree [11].…”

“…New research areas for solving the problem of decreasing enrollment work to create a flexible culture of computing which is open to diversity and allows students and faculty to define for themselves what is means to be a computer scientist [2,14]. New strategies acknowledge that the path to a computer science major is not linear [21]; others use concepts such as pair programming [15,20], undergraduate research experiences [18,19], or meaningful group projects [1] which focus on engaging and socializing students in the mainstream curriculum rather than helping them to simply cope with an unfriendly environment.…”