(February 2021) Equality and Diversity: Issue 7: February 2021 –  The Success of CS_INC By Karen Nolan (Lecturer of Computing, TU Dublin, MSc, PhD Candidate.)

Ireland is a strong player in the global IT industry but there is an ongoing concern among employers in the sector about the inability to fill related jobs in the market (FIT, 2018; L&RS, 2017).  Falling numbers pursuing Computer Science in Higher Education and a low female uptake of the subject compound the labour market challenge. Computer Science as a third level subject suffers from a litany of significant obstacles. One is that female students comprise a maximum of 20% of participants.

This is disconcerting for educators, as female students out-perform their male counterparts in the discipline (Quille et al, 2017).  In addition, the student attrition rate in Computer Science is the highest of any third level discipline (Mooney et al, 2010; Liston et al, 2016).  All of this may present a negative perception of Computer Science to students who might otherwise consider taking the subject at third-level.  These perceptions are formed between late primary and early secondary education. Breaking down these barriers and misconceptions is the mission of the Computer Science Inclusive (CSINC) research group, of which I am a member.  Founded in 2017, CSinc consists of four computer science lecturers - Roisin Faherty, Karen Nolan, Keith Nolan and Keith Quille – who devote their spare time to promoting inclusivity and inclusive practices in Computer Science at primary and second-level.

Research has shown that pre-university students and their parents have an incorrect perception of the field.  One of the top reasons why students with an apparent aptitude for Computer Science did not consider it as a future subject choice was their lack of desire to sit in front of a computer all day (Carter, 2006).  Gender stereotypes (e.g. computer science is for boys) and cultural expectations (e.g. parents’ discouragement) were also significant factors that could influence the decisions of females not to study Computer Science (Alshahrani et al., 2018).  The goal of our work in CS_INC is to try and address these concerns.

Enabling students to take Computer Science in second level has been shown to lead to more students choosing the subject in higher education (Armoni, 2014).  While many third- level institutions are developing outreach models, the format, methodology, and pedagogical approach differs significantly between these models.  CS_INC focuses on the development of an inclusive outreach model that lends itself to longitudinal evaluation, as it incorporates a large number of schools and varying student profiles. If proven, this model would be a valuable contribution to the community where we could positively influence students’ perceptions and identify with more precision where in the pipeline students fall away.

Ireland is a strong player in the global IT industry but there is an ongoing concern among employers in the sector about the inability to fill related jobs in the market (FIT, 2018; L&RS, 2017).  Falling numbers pursuing Computer Science in Higher Education and a low female uptake of the subject compound the labour market challenge. Computer Science as a third level subject suffers from a litany of significant obstacles. One is that female students comprise a maximum of 20% of participants. This is disconcerting for educators, as female students out-perform their male counterparts in the discipline (Quille et al, 2017).  In addition, the student attrition rate in Computer Science is the highest of any third level discipline (Mooney et al, 2010; Liston et al, 2016).  All of this may present a negative perception of Computer Science to students who might otherwise consider taking the subject at third-level.  These perceptions are formed between late primary and early secondary education. Breaking down these barriers and misconceptions is the mission of the Computer Science Inclusive (CS_INC) research group, of which I am a member.  Founded in 2017, CS_INC consists of four computer science lecturers - Roisin Faherty, Karen Nolan, Keith Nolan and Keith Quille – who devote their spare time to promoting inclusivity and inclusive practices in Computer Science at primary and second-level.

 

Research has shown that pre-university students and their parents have an incorrect perception of the field.  One of the top reasons why students with an apparent aptitude for Computer Science did not consider it as a future subject choice was their lack of desire to sit in front of a computer all day (Carter, 2006).  Gender stereotypes (e.g. computer science is for boys) and cultural expectations (e.g. parents’ discouragement) were also significant factors that could influence the decisions of females not to study Computer Science (Alshahrani et al., 2018).  The goal of our work in CS_INC is to try and address these concerns.

Enabling students to take Computer Science in second level has been shown to lead to more students choosing the subject in higher education (Armoni, 2014).  While many third- level institutions are developing outreach models, the format, methodology, and pedagogical approach differs significantly between these models.  CS_INC focuses on the development of an inclusive outreach model that lends itself to longitudinal evaluation, as it incorporates a large number of schools and varying student profiles. If proven, this model would be a valuable contribution to the community where we could positively influence students’ perceptions and identify with more precision where in the pipeline students fall away.

• The programme is available at no cost to any interested school in Ireland.

As part of this work, CS_INC currently run three separate student outreach programs, each with different criteria, in an effort to promote Computer Science nationally, which are completely free for the students and their school. These are:

A general introductory outreach programme which aims to address negative perceptions of the subject. Pedagogies are developed to demonstrate what Computer Science really is and more importantly what it is not; and to highlight the skills needed for the domain. This outreach programme is aimed at students who have never experienced a formal Computer Science class and range in level from 3rd and 4th class in primary school up to Leaving Certificate (Nolan et al, 2020). It has been delivered to over 10,000 students to date.

A specific Transition Year (TY) Computer Science Programme, providing a scaffolded MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to enable schools that may not have the facilities, resources, equipment or qualified teachers to deliver formal Computer Science curricula, to access a collection of eight week mini-courses. This is currently piloting in over 50 schools and to 2700 students. A Leaving Certificate Computer Science (LCCS) set of outreach camps. This new LCCS subject is in its third year of a national roll-out (Quille et al, 2018). The CS_INC outreach consists of workshops targeting specific components of the Leaving Certificate subject specification.

Since going virtual with these camps in October 2020 we have had a total of 478 students, from 30 schools attend sessions (by end of January 2021). The longest running of the above outreach programs is the introductory one aimed to address negative perceptions of the discipline and demonstrate the skills needed for the domain. This program is open to all primary and secondary schools across Ireland. Booking for the programme is on a first come first served basis and information regarding the programme is disseminated through our social media advertising and our email list. The camp incorporates on-site school delivery (one of the four volunteers travels to the school, no matter where in Ireland it is located). The programme is available at no cost to any interested school in Ireland.Over the last three academic years, the four CSinc volunteer members have worked with over 100 schools and approximately 3300 students per year (Figure 1 and Figure 2).

Over the last three academic years, the four CS_INC volunteer members have worked with over 100 schools and approximately 3300 students per year (Figure 1 and Figure 2). Overall, we have engaged with students from every county in Ireland. This amounts to about 40 hours of volunteer outreach per week.

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