This study was conducted to determine factors that promote success in an introductory college computer science course. The model included twelve possible predictive factors including math background, attribution for success/failure (luck, effort, difficulty of task, and ability), domain specific self-efficacy, encouragement, comfort level in the course, work style preference, previous programming experience, previous non-programming computer experience, and gender. Subjects included 105 students enrolled in a CS1 introductory computer science course at a midwestern university. The study revealed three predictive factors in the following order of importance: comfort level, math, and attribution to luck for success/failure. Comfort level and math background were found to have a positive influence on success, whereas attribution to luck had a negative influence. The study also revealed by considering the different types of previous computer experiences (including formal programming class, self-initiated programming, internet use, game playing, and productivity software use) that both a formal class in programming and game playing were predictive of success. Formal training had a positive influence and games a negative influence on class grade. 1

Departmental attrition data from one state show that the difference between male and female rates of undergraduate attrition from computer science varies by institution. This analysis suggests that departmental factors are important in attrition from CS. Some CS departments inhibit female persistence at the undergraduate level while other departments promote persistence. The observed variation encourages research that compares departmental characteristics such as structure and culture, and relates them to departmental outcomes. Shifting the research focus to departmental characteristics and outcomes will identify effective methods for retaining women. 1.1 Keywords undergraduate education, gender, retention, attrition 2.

Over the past decade Australian and New Zealand educational institutions have experienced a rapid increase in the numbers of "New Arrivals" - immigrant and international students who leave their home country and study abroad. Studies have found that many of these students encounter problems adjusting to living and studying in their host country as well as experiencing difficulties in their learning environment. A significant number of New Arrival students enrol in computing programmes and have traditionally formed a minority subgroup in their learning milieu. Females are another minority subgroup in computing and research shows that the culture of the computing learning environment has been influential in many of them feeling alienated and contributing to the disproportionate female representation and retention in tertiary computing programmes compared with males. At the same time that New Arrival students are coping with living and studying in a new culture, they will also face adjustment to the computing culture. What are their perceptions of their learning climate? This paper reports results of semi-structured interviews that examine how New Arrival tertiary students studying first-year programming perceive their computing learning environment. The study was conducted at three tertiary institutions in Wellington. It was found that the majority of students perceived their learning milieu positively. They were satisfied with the personalised teacher-student relationship and made favourable comparisons of their New Zealand learning milieu with that which they had experienced in their home countries. The maturity and experience of these students, together with the context within which computing was taught, appeared to be positive mitigating factors on the culture...

A series of four studies examined reasons for the underrepresentation of women in computing. These studies involved 1) 32 male and 32 female university computing students, 2) 19 female computing professionals, 3) 33 schoolgirls, and 4) 22 Australian and 22 Asian university computing students. The studies identified misperceptions about the nature of computing careers as a major factor deterring women from studying computing. It was considered likely that similar misperceptions would deter men from computing. A subsequent study of personality types of 60 computing professionals indicated that certain personality types are underrepresented in computing. A summary of the findings of the five studies is reported below. BACKGROUND It has long been a concern that computing classes in most universities in Western World countries are comprised predominantly of male students. The literature reveals that women have been underrepresented in computing courses for at least the past two decades, and that this underrepresentation is worsening [1-10]. This is despite increased awareness of the problem, and many attempts to improve female to male ratios. Most indications are that the attrition rates of female students from computing courses also are higher

This report describes research into gender and educational background and its relationship with computer self-efficacy and perceptions of Computer Science amongst university students and school students in South Africa. It is important to understand these issues in the specific cultural and economic environment of South Africa.