Building Capacity: Pathway to Success for Students and Faculty in Computing

在改善本科STEM教育的支持下：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划），这个轨道1项目旨在提高计算机科学（CS）和信息技术（IT）专业学生的保留率和完成率。基恩大学的这个项目将通过为专业的关键早期过渡点提供课程支持，沿着创新的教师发展，以提高本科CS和IT教学和学习的成功率，并提高学位完成率，来开发CS和IT教育的模型。学生的干预措施，包括队列社区发展，补充教学和本科研究小组，将独特地与教师的成长心态培训相结合，假设最终在集体影响增加学生保留，上级职业准备，并坚持毕业。该项目的成果将包括对计算机科学教育教学法的贡献，教师发展方法，以及早期干预技术的识别，以提高学生的学术成功，从而形成更大，更多样化的毕业生社区。该项目旨在培养来自不同人群的学生，使他们能够作为训练有素的个人进入STEM劳动力或研究生院，并在团队合作和研究方面获得培训经验。该项目将评估强化对学生的影响，包括那些达到了专业发展最低期望的学生，以及那些可能在专业中没有蓬勃发展的可能性更高的学生。为了解决学生体验和课程内容的问题，该项目将修改计算机科学序列中的前三门课程。来自西班牙裔服务机构计算联盟（CAHSI，NSF INCLUDES Alliance）和谷歌关于思维，解决问题和算法思维的材料将被整合到修订后的计算机科学课程中。该项目还将开发参与材料，提供补充指导，学习和职业建设活动，以帮助学生通过计算机科学课程的关键过渡取得进展。对于即将到来的一年级学生，该项目将制定一个方向，以提供CS和IT专业熟悉的课程和教师。该项目将调查项目活动对CS和IT专业学生保留率以及学生学习成绩的影响。研究方法将采用定性和定量数据收集的学生和教师，包括气候数据调查。收集的数据将进行分析，以确定如何参与队列社区，职业生涯前的活动，研究小组改变学生的计算身份的看法，兴趣，持久性和增长的纪律。本项目的结果旨在提供基于证据的活动，其他机构可以采取有效的策略，如何有效地提高学生在计算机和信息技术专业的成功，特别是对代表性不足的学生。该项目将通过包括CAHSI和NSF INCLUDES国家网络在内的学术场所传播其研究结果。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，并建立HSI的能力。由HIS计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 projects aims to increase the retention and completion rates of students majoring in computer science (CS) and information technology (IT). This project at Kean University will develop a model for CS and IT education by providing curriculum support for critical early transition points in the majors, along with innovative faculty development to improve undergraduate CS and IT teaching and learning success and improve degree completion rates. Student interventions, including cohort community development, supplemental instruction and undergraduate research groups, will be uniquely coupled with faculty training in growth mindset, hypothesized as culminating in collective impact for increased student retention, superior career preparation, and persistence to graduation. Outcomes from this project will include contributions to educational pedagogy in computer science, faculty development methods, and identification of early intervention techniques for improving student academic success, leading to a larger, more diverse community of graduates. The project seeks to prepare students from diverse populations to enter the STEM workforce or graduate school as highly trained individuals, with training experiences in teamwork and research. The project will assess the impact of reinforcement for students, including those who have met the minimum expectation for progression in the major and those who may have a higher probability of not thriving in the major. To address consistencies in student experiences and course content, the project will revise the first three courses in the computer science sequence. Materials from the Computing Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI, an NSF INCLUDES Alliance) and Google on thinking, problem solving, and algorithmic thinking will be integrated into the revised computer science courses. The project will also develop engagement materials, provide supplemental instruction, advisement and career building activities to aid students as they progress through critical transitions in the computer science curriculum. For incoming first-year students, the project will develop an orientation to provide CS and IT majors familiarity with the curriculum and the faculty. The project will investigate the impact of the project activities on the retention in the CS and IT majors, as well as student academic performance. Research methods will employ qualitative and quantitative data collection from students and faculty, including climate data surveys. Collected data will be analyzed to determine how participation in cohort communities, pre-professional career activities, and research groups changes students' computing identity perceptions, interest, persistence and growth in the discipline. The results from this project seek to provide evidence-based activities that other institutions may adopt on effective strategies on how to effectively enhance student success in the CS and IT majors, and in particular, for underrepresented students. The project will disseminate its findings through academic venues including the CAHSI and the NSF INCLUDES National Network. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HIS program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.