Building Social Capital and Professional Efficacy for Computer Science Scholars

加州州立大学圣马科斯分校(CSUSM)是一所西班牙裔服务机构，该项目名为“S科学、技术、工程和数学项目(NSF奖学金)”，将为一批才华横溢的低收入学生在经济、学术和职业方面的需求提供服务，这些学生正在攻读公认的国家需求领域--计算机科学(CS)。该项目旨在打破低收入学生面临的障碍，增加他们作为CS专业学生和该专业的认同感和信心。这些接受服务的学生群体通常无法访问将他们与学术或专业资源联系起来的社交网络。与此相一致，该项目旨在通过提供专业关系(行业导师、非营利组织)、学术关系(教师导师)、增强的个人关系(CS同行和其他专业)以及关键信息(专业发展研讨会)来增强S-STEM学者的社会资本，以增加他们在CS领域坚持学术和取得专业成功的可能性。在该项目为期5年的时间里，六十(60)名CS学生将组成四个南加州大学S-STEM学者队列。每位奖学金获得者将在二年级时加入该项目，并获得两年的奖学金。对大二和大三学生的支持重点是基于一项研究，该研究发现，中年级本科生在保持敬业和坚持专业方面存在困难。该项目的目标包括：(1)通过循证教学支持提高S-STEM学者的保留率和学业成功；(2)帮助该学者建立社会资本和职业效能感，为毕业前基于计算机科学(CS)的实习做准备。该项目团队将调查一个关键的研究问题：社会资本、文化资本和社区财富如何影响低收入、有学术天赋的CS专业学生的中年生活？对大学中期的关注将为学生的成功提供新的见解，并为日益增长的全国和学术潮流增添力量，这些潮流试图理解大学二年级的低迷。该项目将创建、实施和调查FAB星期五体验，该体验包括学生在周五下午以团队形式工作，为现实世界的项目和社区和行业合作伙伴提出的挑战构建计算解决方案。项目团队将使用混合方法来收集和分析数据。FAB星期五的体验将提供一个场所，将学生与来自行业和社区的资源联系起来，这反过来将有助于为STEM劳动力做准备。该项目将为学者们提供一种基于两种社会资本形式的队列体验-联系(在同一群体之间共享资源和信息)和桥梁(从外部群体获得信息和资源，如教师和行业合作伙伴)。该项目将作为其他机构的典范，特别是那些学生人数较少的机构。

This "NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-STEM)" project at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM), an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), will serve the financial, academic, and career needs of a diverse set of talented low income students pursuing a bachelor's degree in an area of acknowledged national need - computer science (CS). The project is designed to break down the barriers faced by low-income students and increase their identity and confidence as CS majors and in the profession. This population of students to be served typically does not have access to social networks that connect them to academic or professional resources. In line with this, the project is structured to enhance S-STEM Scholars' social capital by providing: professional connections (industry mentors, non-profit organizations), academic connections (faculty mentors), enhanced personal connections (CS peers and other majors), and crucial information (professional development workshops) to increase the likelihood of their academic persistence and professional success in CS fields. Over the 5-year duration of the project, sixty (60) CS students will form four cohorts of CSUSM S-STEM Scholars. Each Scholar will join the project as a sophomore and receive a two year scholarship. The focus of support for sophomore and junior years is based on research that has found middle year undergraduate STEM students struggle with staying engaged and persisting in their major.The project's goals include: (1) increasing retention rates and academic success for the S-STEM Scholars through evidence-based instructional support and (2) helping the Scholars build social capital and professional efficacy to prepare for a computer science (CS) based internship before graduation. The project team will investigate a key research question: How do social capital, cultural capital and community wealth inform the ways that low-income, academically talented CS majors navigate their middle years? Focusing on the middle years of college will contribute new insights to students' success and add to the growing national and scholarly trend that seeks to understand the 'sophomore slump.' The project will create, implement, and investigate a Fab Friday experience, which consists of students working in teams on Friday afternoons to fabricate computing solutions for real world projects and challenges presented by community and industry partners. The project team will use a mixed methods approach to collect and analyze data. The Fab Friday experiences will provide a venue to connect students with resources from industry and community, which, in turn, will help serve as preparation for the STEM workforce. The project will offer the Scholars a cohort experience that builds on two forms of social capital - bonding (sharing resources and information among the same group) and bridging (gaining information and resources from outside groups, such as faculty and industry partners). The project will serve as a model for other institutions, especially those with a large student body of underrepresented students.