Reshaping the image of computer science in only fifteen minutes (of class) a week

Authors:
Sara Sprenkle;Shannon Duvall
Affiliations:
Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA, USA;Elon University, Elon, NC, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education
Year:
2012

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Abstract

Low undergraduate enrollments in computer science will not meet the future demand of employers. Some reasons for the low enrollments are computer science's nerdy image, lack of understanding of the field, and low motivation for learning programming. We propose to change the image of computer science by exposing students to applications of computing and its impact on their lives through reading and discussing recent news articles in 15 minutes of class. We call this component of our courses the Broader Issues in computer science. In this paper, we present our motivation for the Broader Issues component, how we implemented the component in CS0 and CS1 courses, and our evaluation of the component, including student reactions to and impact of the component.