BPC-DP: Using Learning Communities to Recruit Women and Minorities in Computing

伊利诺斯州州立大学（ISU）提出了一个示范项目，以招募更多的妇女，非洲裔美国人和西班牙裔到一个IT相关的专业。ISU有六个这样的专业：信息系统，电信管理，计算机科学，工业计算机系统，商业信息系统和会计信息系统。这个专业范围允许学生表达他们在该领域的各种兴趣和才能。一个附带项目的目标是产生积极的学生态度，在计算的各种职业机会。该项目的目标是大学一年级和二年级的学生，他们可能永远不会把IT作为一种学术选择。它旨在克服吸引这些学生学习计算机的主要障碍之一：他们对该领域的初步课程没有足够的兴趣。这一障碍将通过针对那些已经证明有数学能力但没有参加计算课程的学生来克服：它将从1700多名国际空间大学学生中选出，参加主要由一年级和二年级学生参加的有限数学课程。有一个现实的可能性，这些学生可以成功地完成一个IT相关的专业。 该项目将有一系列目标，包括突出机会，和计算职业的多样性，提供来自校内和校外的榜样，他们将人性化该领域，激励学生探索计算职业，使用技术支持的热门场所，如博客，创造一个学术和社会环境，并教育数学教师有限数学课程和计算领域之间的联系。它将包括1）学习社区研讨会，2）在线学习社区，3）教师学习社区，所有这些都旨在培养一个支持女性和少数民族参与计算机专业的学术和社会环境。一个由两名外部评价员组成的小组将侧重于项目的进程和成果。

Illinois State University (ISU) proposes a demonstration project to recruit a greater number of women, African-Americans, and Hispanics into an IT-related major. There are six such majors at ISU: Information Systems, Telecommunications Management, Computer Science, Industrial Computer Systems, Business Information Systems, and Accounting Information Systems. This range of majors allows students to express their varied interests and talents in the field. A collateral project goal is to generate positive student attitudes toward the diverse career opportunities in computing. The project targets first and second-year college students who may never investigate IT as an academic option. It aims to overcome one of the chief impediments to attracting these students to computing: they are not interested enough to take an initial course in the field. This obstacle will be overcome by targeting students who have proven mathematical ability but are not enrolled in a computing course: it will draw from a population of 1700-plus ISU students in a Finite Mathematics course taken by mostly first- and second-year students. There is a realistic possibility that these students could succeed in completing an IT-related major. The project will have a number of objectives, including highlighting the opportunities in, and diversity of computing careers, providing role models from on and off campus who will humanize the field, motivating students to explore careers in computing, using tech-enabled popular venues like blogs, creating an academic and social environment, and educating Math faculty about connections between the Finite Math course and computing fields. It will feature 1) learning communities seminars, 2) online learning communities, and 3) faculty learning communities, all aimed at fostering an academic and social environment that is supportive of female and minority participation in a computing major. A team of two external evaluators will focus on both the process and outcomes of the project.