Building Social Capital and Professional Efficacy for Computer Science Scholars

这个“NSF奖学金在科学，技术，工程和数学计划（S-STEM）”项目在加州州立大学圣马科斯（CSUSM），一个西班牙裔服务机构（HSI），将服务于金融，学术和职业需求的一组不同的有才华的低收入学生追求学士学位在一个公认的国家需要的领域-计算机科学（CS）。该项目旨在打破低收入家庭学生所面临的障碍，提高他们作为计算机专业和专业的认同感和信心。 这些学生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。根据这一点，该项目的结构是通过提供增强S-STEM学者的社会资本：专业联系（行业导师，非营利组织），学术联系（教师导师），增强个人联系（CS同行和其他专业），以及关键信息（专业发展研讨会），以增加他们在CS领域的学术坚持和专业成功的可能性。在该项目的5年期间，六十（60）CS学生将形成CSUSM S-STEM学者的四个队列。每个学者将作为大二学生参加该项目，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，中等年级的本科STEM学生很难保持参与和坚持自己的专业。该项目的目标包括：（1）通过基于证据的教学支持提高S-STEM学者的保留率和学术成功;（2）帮助学者建立社会资本和专业效能，为计算机科学做好准备（CS）毕业前实习。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告知低收入，学术才华的CS专业导航他们的中间年的方式？把重点放在大学的中间几年将有助于学生的成功新的见解，并增加了日益增长的国家和学术趋势，试图了解'二年级低迷。该项目将创建，实施和调查Fab Friday体验，其中包括学生在周五下午的团队工作，为社区和行业合作伙伴提出的真实的世界项目和挑战制造计算解决方案。项目小组将采用混合方法收集和分析数据。Fab Friday体验将为学生提供一个与行业和社区资源联系的场所，这反过来将有助于为STEM劳动力做好准备。该项目将为学者们提供一种基于两种形式的社会资本的群体体验-结合（在同一群体中共享资源和信息）和桥接（从外部群体，如教师和行业合作伙伴获得信息和资源）。该项目将成为其他机构的典范，特别是那些拥有大量代表性不足的学生的机构。

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.