Women in CS: an evaluation of three promising practices

Historically, Harvey Mudd College (HMC) has had very little success attracting women to the study of computer science: women have chosen CS less than any other field of study. In 2006 HMC began three practices in order to increase the number of women studying and majoring in CS; these practices have now been in place for 3 years. With this paper we describe these practices and present a thorough evaluation of the quantitative and qualitative differences that have accompanied them. In sum, these efforts have rebalanced our department by significantly increasing women’s participation in our computer science program. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.3.2 [Computers and Education]: Computer and Information Science Education—Computer Science Education, Curriculum General Terms Human Factors, Design, Measurement Keywords gender, women in CS, CS1, promising practices

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: SIGCSE
• Authors: Christine Alvarado, Zachary Dodds
• Keywords: Computer Science, Education, Harvey Mudd College, SIGCSE 2010, Success Attracting Women