Title: SEM Results: Undergraduates Experience of the Insert Major Name Major at Name of Institution
1SEM Results Undergraduates Experience of the
ltInsert Major Namegt Major at ltName of Institutiongt
SAMPLE
- User Please use your school or department
powerpoint template, if available
2Why Did We Administer the Student Experience of
the Major Survey?
- Decreasing enrollment
- Need for retaining and attracting students
- Diagnostic tool for deciding how to allocate
scarce resources - Evidence-based decisions about what to do more
of, what to change, what to leave alone
SAMPLE
- Survey Contents
- Relevance of assignments to students interests
- Pace, weedout courses
- Preparation and support of TAs, lttutorsgt
- Classroom climate
- Collaborative learning opportunities
- Faculty-student and student-student interaction
- Racism, sexism
3National Center for Women IT Survey
- Developed the Student Experience of the Major
survey to understand students' experiences and
perceptions - Based in research on retention of women,
minorities in information technology disciplines - Developed in collaboration with NCWIT Hub
University of California, Irvine (Suzanne
Schaefer, Debra Richardson) - NCWIT Extension Services supports institutions
seeking to identify where to put their resources - Piloted at UC-Irvine, in collaboration with NCWIT
Extension Services
4Were Not Alone National Enrollment
Source CRA Taulbee Survey
Down 50 since 2000 Peak
5Interest in CS Declining Nationwide, Female
Interest Declining at Faster Rate
Source College Board 2005 College Bound Seniors
6Are We Losing the Best and Brightest?
Women who score gt700 on Math SAT are more
likely to major in humanities than STEM
Source College Board 2006 College Bound Seniors
7Opportunity Increase Enrollment of Women
- Low-hanging fruit
- Other majors with high math scores
- Incoming freshmen
We can recruit them, but we also must RETAIN them
Retention of all students depends on how they
experience the major.
8What Our Students Have to Say on the SEM Survey
9Classroom Climate Index
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
SAMPLE
- Why does it matter? A positive classroom climate
makes it possible for students to feel
comfortable asking questions, build student
support networks, and develop a growing
professional affiliation with the field.
10Collaborative Learning Index
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
SAMPLE
- Why does it matter? Students learn more when they
can articulate their understandings of concepts
and hear their peers talk about what they are
learning. Research supports collaborative
learning, whether formal or informal, whether
graded or just in-class discussion and analysis.
11Faculty-Student Interaction Index
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
SAMPLE
- Why does it matter? Research shows that when
faculty encourage students (especially women) to
persist in the major, they were less likely to
drop out of the major. A simple act of
encouragement can make a difference. Faculty can
guide students to become members of the
discipline.
12Student-Student Interaction Index
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
SAMPLE
- Why does it matter? When students feel that they
belong both academically and socially, they are
more likely to be retained and to succeed in the
major. Under-represented students participate in
degree programs under different conditions than
do their majority peers. Academic communities
provide opportunities to overcome stereotypes and
build support groups.
13Meaningful/Relevant Assignments Index
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
SAMPLE
- Why does it matter? Educational researchers
emphasize the importance of linking educational
materials and curricular programs to students
existing knowledge, experiences, and interests.
Teaching concepts in appealing contexts and
building on existing competence can reduce the
barriers of entry and level the playing field for
those with limited experience.
14Pace, Workload, Appropriate Level Index
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
SAMPLE
- Why does it matter? When programming experience
is expected, experienced students perform better
in introductory courses. Others drop out of the
major. Some courses weed out inexperienced but
otherwise capable (and desirable) students.
15Teaching Assistant Preparation Index
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
SAMPLE
Note if you do not have TAs, delete this and the
next slide
- Why does it matter? Often, TAs are assigned to
support labs or classes with little, if any,
preparation to do so. They are sometimes
difficult to approach and/or can reinforce
stereotypes.
16Racism, Sexism Indices
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
SAMPLE
Index Norm Poor Fair Good
- Why does it matter? When students feel that they
are treated differently as a result of being a
member of a group, they are more likely to leave
the major. When people are exposed to
stereotypes about their group, they can
internalize them and confirm them in their own
behavior.
17Most Encouraging Faculty
SAMPLE
- Why does it matter? These faculty members are
doing the most to help us retain and graduate our
students what can we learn from them?
18Discussion
- What are our areas of greatest concern?
- Prioritize
- What should we do about it?
SAMPLE
- E.g., Form committee to make recommendations to
faculty, dean - What resources do we have?
- Where can we get additional resources?
19How Can NCWIT Help?
- Support in development of strategic diversity
plan - Support development of a long-term recruiting
strategy - Setting up long-term tracking and evaluation
system - Provide research expertise
- Survey/evaluation instruments
- Mentoring, special situations, experimental
teaching/curricular/etc. methods - Online data repository for tracking, analyzing
20- The following slides have more information, but
are not central to the presentation.
21Persistent, systemic social issue
- Women who score gt700 on Math SAT are more likely
to major in humanities than STEM - Women who leave CS do so with higher GPA than do
men who leave CS - Hidden Design Features
- CS1 is not a true intro course, so women are
less likely to succeed - Interaction with students is predicated on
interaction with a certain kind of student
22Retaining Women
- Women enter with less prior programming
experience - Curriculum often teaches to the middle in intro
courses, assumes some programming experience - Different responses to grades
- Women often find a grade unacceptable that her
male counterpart would not question - CS assignments often are uninteresting, not
meaningful - Women often feeling like they do not belong or
are unwelcome - Yet classroom and teaching that do not produce
situations that permit the development of natural
student support groups
23Effective Practices
- Student-student, student-faculty interaction
- Need more than a womans group
- Mentoring
- Faculty encouragement is related to greater
retention - Collaborative learning environments
- Pedagogy and Curriculum
- Womens participation might be greater if it were
made meaningful to their lives and goals - Letting students know why they need to know
something or how they might solve a human problem
with it
24Women in Our Field Declining at Greater Rate than
Engineering
Source College Board, National Data, 1996-2005