Funded through NSF project# 1623190

Creating a climate of connectedness, cultural competence, and inclusive environments

GOAL

To transform teaching and learning in computer science with deep change in curriculum informed by industry and grounded in social consciousness, cultural competency, and practices influenced by our unique expertise and experiences as an Hispanic-Serving Institution.

UTEP’s RED project has developed coherent technical and professional threads across the four years of the undergraduate program and has focused on inclusion of students and faculty to develop a climate of connectedness.

HIGHLIGHTS

Industry-informed, student-support curriculum changes:

• Google-Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) initiative: One- and two-credit hours courses to develop student competencies in problem solving
• Army Research Laboratory: Cybersecurity workshops and one-credit hour courses to build competencies regarding vulnerabilities
• One- and two-credit hour courses in Discrete Structures to align with content in CS1 and CS2, respectively
• The undergraduate program has three concentrations: software engineering, secure systems, and data analytics
• Lab assignments created to be relevant to students’ experiences

Student Support and Professional Development:

• Affinity Research Group Model: support deliberate development of research, technical, professional, communication, and team skills
• Google: Tech Exchange program in which selected students spend a semester taking courses from CAHSI professors and Google software engineers
• Global experiences focused on Smart Cities technologies in collaboration with the U. of Guadalajara
• Allyship program focuses on retention of female first- and second-year students through pairing of upper-division female students who serve as allies

Inclusive environments centered on student success:

• Climate surveys with faculty involvement in development of climate surveys and discussion of results
• TA/IA weekly trainings on pedagogical principles and asset-based thinking
• Peer-Led Team Learning
• ACM-W student organization focused on cultural activities involving faculty and students and hackathons for social good
• Student Coding Interview Club that focuses on coding challenges
• Departmental activities to celebrate culture and identity

Faculty Professional Development:

• Google Faculty in Residence program is a one-month program that builds proficiency in project-based learning and learning about Google culture
• Brown-Bag lunches organized by faculty to discuss topics such as growth mind-set, teaching assessment, including course observation, and other topics of interest to faculty
• Review results of faculty and student climate surveys and focus groups and propose ways to address challenges, creating a shared sense of purpose among faculty

Sustainability:

• New position: Student Engagement Coordinator
• Female instructional assistants and student advocates supported through industry funding
• University has established the Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success that will have an arm focused on disciplinary effective practices

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Hug, S., Convertino, C., & H. Thiry (2021).“Continuous Improvement for Equity in Engineering- Addressing Departmental Change with Theory-Informed Case Study Research,” Proceedings of the 2021 ASEE National Conference..

Convertino, C. (2020).“Nuancing the discourse of underrepresentation: a feminist post-structural analysis of gender inequality in computer science education in the US,” Gender and Education, 32(5), pp. 594–607.

Convertino, C. & A. Monarrez (2020).“Storylines in Figured Worlds: Understanding Diverse College Students’ Decision to Major in Computer Science,” Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 14(3), pp. 374– 385.

Convertino, C. (2022).“Re(producing) Gender Difference: A Cultural Accounting of Professional Skills Amongst Latinx Computer Science Majors,” AERA.

Gates, A., Villa, E.Q., Hug, S., Convertino, C., and J. Strobel (2019).“A National INCLUDES Alliance Effort to Integrate Problem-Solving Skills into Computer Science Curriculum,” Proceedings of 2019 IEEE Frontiers in Education, 2019.

PROJECT TEAM

• Principal Investigator: Ann Quiroz Gates
• Co-Investigator: Martine Ceberio
• Co-Investigator: Christina Convertino
• Co-Investigator: Salamah Salamah
• Co-Investigator: Natalia Villanueva Rosales
• Evaluator: Sarah Hug
• Engineering Education Researcher: Elsa Y. Villa