Sense of Belonging in Computing: The Role of Introductory Courses for Women and Underrepresented Minority Students
by
Linda J. Sax 1, Jennifer M. Blaney 1,*, Kathleen J. Lehman 1, Sarah L. Rodriguez 2
, Kari L. George 1 and Christina Zavala 1
Linda J. Sax 1, Jennifer M. Blaney 1,*, Kathleen J. Lehman 1, Sarah L. Rodriguez 2, Kari L. George 1 and Christina Zavala 1
1
Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
2
School of Education, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(8), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7080122
Received: 3 May 2018 / Revised: 20 July 2018 / Accepted: 21 July 2018 / Published: 25 July 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Women in Male-Dominated Domains)
This study examines an aspect of gender and racial/ethnic gaps in undergraduate computing by focusing on sense of belonging among women and underrepresented minority (URM) introductory computing students. We examine change in sense of belonging during the introductory course as well as the predictors of belonging, with attention to conditional effects by gender and URM status. Results show that sense of belonging outcomes are a product of both incoming student characteristics and college environments and experiences, highlighting the important role the computing faculty play in fostering belonging. These and other findings are discussed, focusing on sense of belonging among women, URM students, and URM women.
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Keywords:
computer science; introductory computing; gender; URM students; race/ethnicity; sense of belonging
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Sax, L.J.; Blaney, J.M.; Lehman, K.J.; Rodriguez, S.L.; George, K.L.; Zavala, C. Sense of Belonging in Computing: The Role of Introductory Courses for Women and Underrepresented Minority Students. Soc. Sci. 2018, 7, 122.
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