| Abstrakt: |
This research paper studies barriers to students continuing in undergraduate computing programs. On the journey to a computing profession, every course has the potential to be an off-ramp away from students' goals. Every student who leaves a computing degree has a last class they took before not continuing, and a reason they didn't continue. Based on qualitative analysis of open-ended questions in surveys of students in eight undergraduate computer science and engineering (CSE) courses, we identify common barriers students anticipate, and learn what encourages them to persist onto the next CSE course. For example, even for students within the major, a commonly reported barrier was the perceived inability to enroll in their next computing course due to unclear enrollment systems and requirements. We disaggregate the data by three demographic categories--race/ethnicity, gender, and admissions-type--to understand potential disparate impacts of CSE majors at our large, researchintensive university. Solutions to the reported barriers faced by students may include student-focused interventions, policy and programmatic changes at the department level, and broader institutional or external support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
