Collaborative Research: BPC-A: Socially Responsible Computing: Promoting Latinx student retention via community engagement in early CS courses

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An alliance of six campuses from the California State University (CSU) system have united to transform the early computing experience of students historically underrepresented in computing. This alliance brings together six CSU campuses, each with unique strengths and local challenges: Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Fullerton, CSU Los Angeles, Cal Poly, Pomona, and San Francisco State University. Together the alliance will serve over two thousand undergraduate students in computing who identify as Hispanic/Latino (Latinx). Each campus loses Latinx students at a higher rate than non-Latinx students, with the largest percentage of students lost in the first two years of computing. The alliance is committed to changing this trend by integrating socially responsible computing curriculum in early student computing experiences. Faculty learning communities will transform computing culture and curriculum to better demonstrate the use of computing in addressing community needs. Through project-based learning, these curricular changes will provide the opportunity for students to connect computing with their communities, ultimately increasing their sense of belonging in computing. This project unites computer science educators committed to broadening participation in computing with social scientists with expertise in evaluating inclusive STEM education and with expertise in training faculty working at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. This project focuses on developing and evaluating computing curriculum and pedagogy that integrates communal goals into introductory computing courses and promotes socially responsible computing. This cross-site collaboration uses a collective impact model to support our shared vision while allowing for site variances. The project includes a curricular peer review process to align outcomes while allowing each site to leverage its local community needs and strengths, particularly in the development of the community-focused socially responsible computing design project intervention. The proposed faculty learning community (FLC) uses training and ongoing meetings to orient and support new instructors and expand the project impact beyond the grant personnel. This project includes evaluation that examines both student and faculty outcomes, allowing the alliance to reflect and improve throughout the proposed work. The curricular changes and associated evaluation will ultimately contribute to the knowledge base of computing education, while the research focused on changing the discipline climate with faculty learning communities also contributes to learning sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.