Women in Computer Science
at the University of Victoria
and Proposed Provincial Plan
Anissa Agah St.Pierre
Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria
ABSTRACT:
A number of initiatives to increase the enrolment and retention of Women in CSC are being implemented in BC. In this paper, I will discuss the Women in Computer Science (WCS) program at the University of Victoria along with our level of success with each goal. I will then introduce the idea of having a province wide plan for WCS, so as to prepare the group to report on existing initiatives and brainstorm on the provincial plan.
BACKGROUND:
Starting in January 2003 the WCS program was implemented at UVic as a pilot project. The program had 4 main goals under the umbrella of recruitment and retention of women in CSC:
- Recruiting female high school students
- Establishing a database of female alumni
- Developing a WCS website
- Developing a mentoring program.
I will discuss each goal and will indicate the level of success we have had with it. In September 2004, the WCS program was deemed successful and officially became a department program, and the goals have stayed the same.
RECRUITMENT OF FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
The goal established at the beginning of the pilot project was to focus our recruitment efforts on students in grades 10 -12. Such a focus was necessary to establish outcomes within a shorter time frame (2-3 years).
1.Focusing on grades 10 -12:
From experience, the level of excitement about technology is much higher in elementary and junior high school rather than late high school. Namely, by the time students get to grades 8 or 9, peer pressure, lack of information about the benefits of a computer science degree, and a belief that math is not important put these young girls at a serious disadvantage when it comes time to select an education and career path.
2.Presenting to mixed or all girls classes?
Presenting in classes that have a higher ratio of female students is certainly more successful. When boys are in the classroom, the girls typically shy away and do not ask as many questions. To address this issue, we generally ask to present in CAPP (soon to be Planning 10) classes where the students can sign up for sessions they are interested in.
We face two challenges with this format:
1)the advertising is left up to the career counselor, the classes are usually held during lunch hours and attendance tends to be low
2)We don’t have access to those students who are not interested in CSC simply because they are unaware of their opportunities and that previous computing knowledge is not necessary.
The benefit, however, of presenting to CAPP classes is that the students who attend are genuinely interested to learn more. The best approach would be to develop a relationship with the schools and over time, the schools start suggesting better ways to capture a larger audience at their school.
3.Saturday Workshops:
We held a number of Saturday workshops where high school girls from grades 7-12 were invited. These workshops were extremely successful, and attendance ranged from 7 – 30 participants. In fact the last time we ran this workshop, we had 60 girls interested, so we had to offer 2 workshops. We provided all the food, drinks and snacks for the day, and the format was as follows:
- Welcome and get-to-know-you games
- Morning session: The exciting world of building computer games
This presentation is generally done by Senta Kaiser, an alumna of UVic’s Computer Science program who is a project manager at Radical Entertainment in Vancouver. She talks about how she finds the field interesting; she also brings in some game consoles and lets the girls get a taste of playing the games. The girls will usually continue playing right through lunch. This session is definitely a highlight of the day.
- Lunch
- Afternoon session: Team projects in the Computer Labs
In this session, we put the girls in teams of 2 or 3. They build a small team website, and using UVic’s HotPotatoes software, they build crossword puzzles that they put on their website and other teams will try to solve their puzzle. This gives the girls confidence that they are able to build things with computers. They also add to their website pictures from the morning session. In the future a robotics session would be appropriate as well.
- Last Hour : Panel Discussion
We invite parents to return for the panel discussion. The panel usually consists of at least an instructor, a co-op coordinator, the coordinator for WCS, an academic advisor and a student. The students (and sometimes parents) ask whatever questions they have about courses, university life, prerequisites, dormitories, costs, etc. For each question asked, the student receives a draw ticket for prizes drawn at the end. This session is lively and is a nice way to end the day.
- Recommendations for improvement and best practices:
- As much as students in grades 10 -12 need information about CSC degrees to tailor their courses and interests towards computer science, it is equally important to stir the curiosity and feed the interest of students in elementary and junior high school.
- Provide schools with promotional materials to make it easier for teachers to advertise
- When possible, present to girls-only classes
- Use door prizes are incentives for students who are mildly interested to attend.
DATABASE OF ALUMNAE
In collaboration with the alumni office, we gained access to the database of all alumnae from the CSC Honors, Major and combined degree programs at the University of Victoria. As expected, many have moved away or are too busy to get involved with various mentoring projects. We have, however, made invaluable connections with a few alumnae who have supported us tremendously with workshops for high school students and mentoring projects.
Recommendations for improvement and best practices:
- Develop relationships with current senior undergraduate and graduate students and maintain this relationship after graduation
- Use graduate students as mentors for undergraduate students when possible.
WCS WEBSITE
The WCS website is Our website includes resources, articles, a bulletin board, pictures of events, etc. The website requires ongoing maintenance and revising.
Recommendations for improvement and best practices:
- Increase traffic on the website by posting articles of interest; these articles can be written by members of the university community, or by the media.
MENTORING PROGRAM
Mentoring is a key component of the WCS program, and it comes in many flavours:
- The WCS coordinator is available to provide various resources and support for students.
- The Computer Science Department has a mentoring program, and WCS joined it to strengthen it.
- Due to the nature of students’ schedules and needs, we adopted a circle mentoring format, meaning that the direct mentoring is done in a session once a month and we encourage natural mentoring relationships to develop among students, rather than imposing a matching system on them.
- WCS organizes and supports many social events on campus, the purpose of these events is community building and some of the benefits are:
- Students can socialize and develop study groups
- Students have an opportunity to freely express their concerns
- Students may feel less isolated and more supported
- Students can find out what support systems are available for them
- Our next step is to experiment with girls only mentoring sessions.
PROVINCE-WIDE INITIATIVE TO INCREASE FEMALE ENROLMENT IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
Need for a provincial plan:
Sarah Stephens, Ora Steyn and I discussed the need for a provincial plan to increase female enrolment in Computer Science across BC. UBC, SFU and UVic each have a WCS program, which requires resources. The smaller institutions such as university colleges and colleges have fewer resources, and are not able to actively make efforts to increase female enrolment. The intention of the province-wide plan is to provide more regions in BC the resources they need to implement a WCS initiative.
To create such a plan, we applied for JADE funding to have a co-op student spend 4 months developing this plan and were turned down. Our goal was that at the end of the 4 months, we would have a solid plan that would include implementation. See appendix A for the proposal and its goals.
Brainstorming:
At this stage in the process, it is important to have a brainstorming session with all the institutions present to develop a feasible plan. It is also important to develop a steering committee that will shoulder the development of the plan.
Elements of a successful plan:
- Institutions should commit to actively take part in the process
- Institutions should understand that increasing female enrolment has both financial and social implications to the Computer Science programs
- Institutions need to understand that this is a long term project and it will take a few years to see significant increase in enrolment
In this session we want to know where each institution is at with respect to having a structure for increasing female enrolment, and develop a vision for the future of WCS in BC.
Appendix A
Province-Wide Initiative to Increase Female Enrolment in Computer Science
A. Norton, A. Agah St.Pierre
Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria
Ora Steyn
Department of Computer Information Systems, University College of the Fraser Valley
Sarah Stephens
Department of Computer Science, Douglas College
Summary
A concerted, province-wide initiative is needed to coordinate and manage the various groups dedicated to increasing female enrolment in Computer Science across the province. This proposal will create a co-op position for a central coordinator.
Background
Although many institutions in British Columbia have various programs to support and encourage women in Computer Science, there is little coordination among them. Additionally, while each university has their own WCS program, the university colleges and colleges are falling behind due to lack of resources. A central hub or coordinator would allow the different groups to exchange strategies, share statistics, and create a province-wide vision and strategy.
Proposed Initiative
Goals:
- Create a paid, short term full-time position for a co-op student to serve as the central coordinator for a province-wide effort
- Give said student the space resources needed, including desk space, web space, and computing and communications resources
- Coordinator's task will include:
- Researching previously proven strategies for increasing female enrolment in CSC
- Defining the issues and challenges that are BC-specific
- Putting together a provincial plan, with best practices recommendations and a vision statement
- Be a central repository for ideas
- Keep track of current programs to ensure proper geographical coverage and reduce duplicate efforts
Resource Requirements
Budget
Wage ($15/hr * 35 hrs/wk * 16 wks) $8400
Computer Workstation $1000
Travel Expenses $1000
TOTAL $10400
Contacts:
Ora Steyn
Instructor
CIS Department
UCFV
604 - 5047441 - 4232
Anissa Agah St.Pierre
Coordinator for Women in Computer Science
University of Victoria
250-721-8756