A CS1 course designed to address interests of women

Abstract

Literature on women in computing points out that computer science is not being effective at attracting and retaining women. Introduction to Media Computation is a new CS1 aimed especially at non-majors which was designed explicitly to address the concerns of women in computer science, such as the lack of relevance and creativity. The course is contextualized around the theme of manipulating and creating media. Of the 121 students who took the course (2/3 female), only three students dropped (all male), and 89% completed the course with a grade C or better. This paper presents data from interviews with women in the Media Computation class, then contrasts with interviews in a more traditional CS1.