The Impact of a Community of Practice Scholarship Program on Students’ Computing Identity

While computing programs in the U.S. are experiencing growth in enrollment trends, they are still grappling with matters related to retention and persistence of computing undergraduates. One construct identified by scholars as having an impact on persistence in computing is computing identity which is shaped by constructs such as recognition, performance/competence beliefs, sense of belonging, and interest. Likewise, participation in what scholars call communities of practice (CoP) can aid in the development of their computing identity. To help foster computing identity development, an initiative was designed at three large public universities named Flit-Path (Florida IT Pathways to Success). Flit-Path was established using the principles inherent to communities of practice with the goal of recruiting and retaining computing students. The Flit-Path program leveraged curricular and co-curricular support to engage academically talented students with financial need in computing disciplines (e.g., computer engineering, computer science, and information technology) as well as provided financial assistance via scholarships. The guiding research question for this study was - What is the impact of a computing community of practice (the Flit-Path program) on students’ computing identity, specifically the constructs of recognition, performance/competence, sense of belonging, and interest? In order to address this question, a validated survey instrument was used to compare 64 computing students who enrolled in the Flit-Path program with students from the same universities with matched years in college, computing GPA, race/ ethnicity, gender, home/ environment support, and work hours outside the home. For comparing the two groups, the research team used multivariate matching methods in R. The results of the study revealed students in the Flit-Path program demonstrated substantially higher computing identities. Students who participated in the Flit-Path program experienced higher recognition, performance/competence, and sense of belonging in the computing field than their non-Flit-Path counterparts. There was also a borderline positive effect for interest. Together, the results indicate that well-designed CoP interventions in computing programs can have a significant effect on students’ identification with computing and ultimately their persistence.

虽然美国的计算计划正在经历入学趋势的增长，但他们仍在努力与计算本科生的保留和持久性有关的事项。作为认可，绩效/能力信念，归属感和兴趣。辅助其计算身份，以帮助促进计算身份发展，在三个名为Flit-Path的大型公共大学（佛罗里达州IT成功途径）中设计了一项倡议。为了招募和保留计算机学生。计算学科（例如计算机工程，计算机科学和信息技术）的需求，并通过科学提供了经济援助。 ）关于学生的计算身份，特别是识别构建，表现/能力，归属感和兴趣，以解决这个问题，使用了验证的调查工具比较参加Flit-Path计划的64个计算机学生与来自同一大学的学生，在大学中，计算GPA，种族/种族，性别，家庭/环境支持以及在家外的工作时间进行比较。研究小组在R中使用了多元匹配方法。该研究的结果揭示了Flit-Path计划中的学生表现出更高的计算认同参加Flit-Path计划在计算领域的认可，绩效/能力和归属感要比其非挂牌路径对应。在计算程序中设计的COP干预措施可能会对学生的计算识别以及最终的持久性产生重大影响。