This will be a virtual seminar

Abstract

Computer science departments are faced with skyrocketing enrollments as more students recognize the opportunities that computing provides. Surprisingly, this growth is fueled by an increase in non-majors more than an increase in computer science majors. As computing becomes a more universal subject, like English or Mathematics, we must investigate whether current instructional approaches work equally well for everyone, or present barriers for some more than others. How can we address the learning needs of students who are increasingly diverse in terms of goals, interests, and prior experience? In this talk, I will present three examples of computing education innovations from my research that draw on program comprehension, educational psychology, and the study of higher education. Through my work, I have developed new approaches to support the success of a variety of undergraduates as they study computing, including female non-majors, traditional computer science majors, and low-income community college transfer students.

Biography

Dr. Kathryn Cunningham is a Postdoctoral Scholar and CIFellow at Northwestern University. Her passion is addressing inequities in computing education by diversifying and improving the way we support students at the undergraduate level. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan in Information, her MSc from Georgia Tech in Computer Science (Human-centered Computing), and her BS from the University of Arizona in Computer Science and Molecular and Cellular Biology.