1. A Computer Science Linked-courses Learning Community
Amber Settle, DePaul University
Joint work with John Lalor and Terry Steinbach
The 20th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education
6 July 2015

2. Our project Linked-courses learning community
First-term freshman
Men of color and women
Python programming and gen ed class together
Extra-curricular and co-curricular activities
Goal: Improve retention
Does it make a difference for the students?
Intense effort for the instructors
Initial evaluation approach
Survey to measure attitudes and study habits
Attitudes are connected to retention
Spoiler: It does make a difference!

3. Why worry about retention?
Enrollments are booming
Taulbee survey 2013
Three straight years of double-digit increases in undergrad majors
+1.2% degrees awarded, +25.3% enrollments
Diversity still lags
85.5% male, 61.2% white
Retention still matters
Men of color and women remain underrepresented

4. Learning communities Learning communities have a long history
Six-year experiment at the University of Wisconsin in 1927
Several models
Linked-courses learning communities
Simultaneously enroll in courses from different disciplines
Restructure courses to connect faculty and students
Proven impact on students
Reduce attrition
Increase student/faculty enthusiasm
Increase student-student and student-faculty interaction

5. Our community Target population Fall 2014 cohort First-term freshman
Men of color and women
Development-focused major
CS, IASE, game development, math & CS
Fall 2014 cohort
21 students
17 male, 4 female
5 white, 6 Latino/a, 6 Asian, 3 African-American, 1 multiracial
14 CS, 5 gaming, 1 math & CS, 1 math
Two students dropped, leaving 19 in final group

6. The courses CSC 241: Introduction to Computer Science I
Required by development-focused majors
Problem-solving using Python
Research-recommended interventions
Differentiated courses, closed labs, collaborative activities
LSP 111: Explore Chicago
General-education class required of all freshman
Our section: The Digital Divide
Includes a Common Hour
Addresses issues of transition for new college students

7. Activities Co-curricular Extra-curricular
Study sessions for midterm and final exam
Tour of physical computing lab
Employer visits
Extra-curricular
Open house at Digital Divide instructor’s house
Gaming afternoon at Python instructor’s house
Group seating for basketball game

8. Evaluation Goals of community Connection to diversity efforts
Improve sense of belonging and confidence
Improve study habits
Improve retention in program
Connection to diversity efforts
Student-student interaction is largest predictor of students’ intention to persist past first course
More important for underrepresented students
Other factors connected to persistence in major
Opportunities for collaboration
A positive classroom environment
Faculty-student interaction

9. The survey Based on previous surveys Demographic information
Computer Science Attitude Survey, USG Student Computing Survey, and Science Interest Survey
Demographic information
33 attitude questions
5-point Likert scale: 5 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree
Question about utilization of resources for study
Rank all used from most (1) to least used
Paper survey administered in class by research team
Pre-quarter: First week
Post-quarter: Tenth week

10. CSC 241 demographics
Control group: Other students taking CSC 241 during Fall 2014
171 responses
Gender
# (%)
Female
31 (18%)
Male
138 (81%)
Not specified
3 (2%)
Major
# (%) CS
100 (58%)
Game dev
25 (15%)
Other
24 (14%)
IASE
11 (6%)
Other CDM
7 (4%)
Undecided
4 (2%)
Quarter
# (%)
First
138 (81%)
Second
6 (4%)
Third
Fourth+
21 (12%)

11. LC demographics 15 responses to both the pre- and post-quarter survey
Gender
# (%)
Female
4 (27%)
Male
11 (73%)
Major
# (%) CS
9 (60%)
Game dev
6 (40%)
Quarter
# (%)
First
15 (100%)

12. Significant attitude differencesQ
241 Pre
241 Post
LC Pre
LC Post
Result 29
4.00
3.84
4.64
F(1, 44) = 11.27,
p = .001 33
3.97
4.57
4.42
F(1, 44) = 9.611,
p = .01
Q29: I have a lot of support that will help me succeed in computer science courses
Q33: I have had good teachers in my computer science courses

13. Significant attitude changesQ
241 Pre
241 Post
LC Pre
LC Post
Result 25
3.031
2.718
3.928
4.143
F(1, 44) = 11.97,
p = .001
Q25: I am a part of a community of programmers

14. Effectiveness of learning community
More likely to indicate they have a lot of support
Not significant pre- to post-quarter
Being recruited was most important
More likely to indicate they had good CS teachers
Good CS teachers make more of a difference for targeted populations
More likely to indicate they were part of a community of programmers
Significant change pre- to post-quarter
Improved sense of belonging!

15. Conclusions and future work
Initial results are positive
Feel supported and part of a community
More analysis of existing data
Comparison with CSC 241 responses
Changes to learning community
Larger population
More women necessary for statistical analysis
Classes only for LC students
Extended evaluation
More demographic information on survey: ethnicity
Retention data

16. Questions? Amber Settle John Lalor Terry Steinbach
John Lalor
Terry Steinbach

17. Survey On Likert scale (5 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree)
I plan to major in a technology- related degree
I am sure that I can learn programming
I am sure that I can do advanced work in computer science
I think I could handle more difficult programming problems
I can get good grades in computer science
I have a lot of self-confidence when it comes to programming
I’m not good at programming
For some reason even though I work hard at it, programming seems unusually hard for me
Computer science has been my worst subject
It would make me happy to be recognized as an excellent student in computer science
I’d be happy to get top grades in computer science
If I got good grades in computer science, I would try to hide it
I’ll need programming for my future work
Knowing programming will help me earn a living

18. Survey I will use programming in many ways throughout my life
Taking computer science courses is a waste of time
Once I start trying to work on a program, I find it hard to stop
I am challenged by programming problems I can’t understand immediately
I am easily frustrated by difficult programming problems
I do as little work in computer science courses as possible
I like talking with my friends about programming
I like to program in my spare time
I belong in the computing field
I feel isolated in computer science courses
I am part of a community of programmers
Computer science offers good financial opportunities after graduation
Computer science allows me to be creative
Computing offers diverse and broad opportunities

19. Survey
I have a lot of support that will help me to succeed in computer science courses
Computer science provides opportunities to make a difference in the world
I have a lot of friends who are interested in computing
My family is happy that I am taking computer science courses
I have had good teachers in my computer science courses
Outside of your classroom studies, what are your resources for learning/obtaining new computing skills? Mark all that you use and rank them in order of use. The one you use most should be ranked as 1.
Friends/peers
Internet/web sites
Professional organizations
Self study
Family members
Tutors
Faculty
Other (please specify)