The media equation: how people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places
Gender differences in computer science students
SIGCSE '03 Proceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Women and computers. Effects of stereotype threat on attribution of failure
Computers & Education
A theory of online learning as online participation
Computers & Education
Development and evaluation of a virtual campus on Second Life: The case of SecondDMI
Computers & Education
The reality of virtual schools: A review of the literature
Computers & Education
Mediating Media Studies - Stimulating critical awareness in a virtual environment
Computers & Education
Interacting through avatars: Virtual worlds as a context for online education
Computers & Education
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Three experiments examined whether the design of virtual learning environments influences undergraduates' enrollment intentions and anticipated success in introductory computer science courses. Changing the design of a virtual classroom - from one that conveys current computer science stereotypes to one that does not - significantly increased women's interest and anticipated success in computer science. Effects occurred even when the learning material, gender of the professor and gender ratio of the classmates were identical, isolating the physical environment as a key determinant of women's choices and expectations. Men's interest and anticipated success were not similarly affected by the environmental changes. Statistical analyses indicated that gender disparities in interest and anticipated success in the stereotypically designed classroom were mediated by women's lower sense of belonging in that environment. Changing the design of virtual learning environments may be a vehicle that universities can use to signal belonging to a wider net of students, and thus increase students' likelihood of enrolling and succeeding in those classes.