Promoting Computational Grounding Through Informal Coding Workshops for Non-programmers
Open Access
- Author:
- Pena, Joslenne
- Graduate Program:
- Informatics
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 04, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Mary Beth Rosson, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mary Beth Rosson, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Benjamin Vincent Hanrahan, Committee Member
Dinghao Wu, Committee Member
Roy Clariana, Outside Member
Mary Beth Rosson, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- non-programmers
design-based research
computer science education - Abstract:
- Female non-programmers experience many factors that hinder their interest, participation, and success in programming. For many years, researchers have tried to solve the problem of attracting and maintaining girls and women to computing, yet the issue remains widespread today. Within this general problem area, I am particularly interested in studying whether and how programming skills and concepts can be taught to women who have already completed their formal education and are embedded in successful careers. Research on teaching females to code often focuses on issues of motivation and self-efficacy, with the assumption that educators must first address non-programmers attitudes and expectations about learning to program, before they can develop effective learning approaches. In parallel, other researchers have explored the goal of teaching computational thinking (CT), a set of preparatory concepts and skills for abstract thought that are believed to create a foundation for learning how to program. However, most studies of CT have aimed at improving the skills of K-12 and college-aged individuals. In contrast, my focus is on female professionals, so I have been exploring a different set of approaches, motivations and impacts of programming education on this population. I used a design-based research approach to investigate the design, offering, implementation, and evaluation of an informal learning workshop series, Code for Her. I observed the expected self-perception outcomes (e.g., increases in coding self-efficacy), but at the same time I uncovered indirect and unanticipated social consequences of the workshop experiences (e.g., an increased willingness to engage in technical conversations at work). The limited exposure of a workshop may be enough to spark interest in programming, but it will not produce a "programmer". Instead I have proposed and have been exploring a new concept to expand current discussions of what we might try to promote through informal education on computing skills - computational grounding. I argue that it may be fruitful to use computational grounding as a lens on female professionals' introduction to and growing appreciation of computational methods - as they advance toward more programming-like behavior in the workplace and at home. I articulate the construct of computational grounding and have developed a survey instrument to track its development. Working with this concept in the context of Code for Her, I create a narrative of female non-programmers' as working professionals who have been largely ignored in the computing education pipeline, but who may experience a range of benefits from such education. I include in the work a careful analysis of the women's learning experiences and behaviors with respect to cultural perspectives that I offer for consideration in building and presenting informal programs for computing education. Finally, I discuss design principles for others to use in designing and providing such programs.