A Study on Student Attitudes in Learning Programming using Physical Computing

Learning to program can be difficult for the students. Students must master language syntax, programming theory, and problem-solving techniques. Efforts have been made to assist students in understanding how to program. This study is intended to examine whether Arduino, as a teaching and learning tool, helps in generating students’ interests towards programming. Arduino is one of the physical computing tools which has an open-source electronics platform based on user-friendly hardware and software for creating different projects and applications. Arduino is easy to be used by beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to learn physical computing and programming. This study adopted a quantitative research method to measure the student’s attitude in learning programming using physical computing. The sample of this study is 56 students from the foundation program and undergraduate program. To gauge students’ perception, students’ attitude survey was adapted. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. Based on the analysis, the study found that the overall mean score was 4.253. The result indicated that student has a positive attitude in learning programming using physical computing

AN EXAMINATION OF GENDER EFFECTS ON THE CAREER SUCCESS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS EMPLOYEES

In this paper we examined the differences and similarities in the human capital variables of male and female information system (IS) workers and the affect these differences had on job outcomes. The human capital variables studied included: age, education, organization and job tenure, and number of years in the IS occupation. We found that, even when controlling for the differences in human capital, women in IS still tended to be employed at lower levels of the organization, made less money, and had greater intentions to leave the organization.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

MIS versus Computer Science: An Empirical Comparison of the Influences on the Students’ Choice of Major

A history of declining enrollments in university Management Information Systems (MIS) and computer science (CS) departments in the U.S. considerably impacts both college departments and business organizations that hire graduates. In order to reverse the enrollment trend, an understanding of the important similarities and differences that shape a student’s decision to major in MIS or CS will allow departments to better promote their major, formulate more effective strategies for reaching interested and undecided students, and enhance the fit between student and career. This study directly compared important influences on choice of major for 205 MIS and CS majors at four US universities. Results indicate that the most important influences for both MIS and CS students are interest in technology and monetary compensation. MIS majors, however, are significantly more influenced by others, especially college instructors, parents, friends, and the desire to interact with others. They are also more interested in business and business organizations. CS majors, on the other hand, are more interested in the technology itself and tend to choose CS as a major either in high school or shortly thereafter. Based on these findings, recommendations are provided to aid college departments in attracting and retaining appropriate majors

Patterns of Women's Enrolment in University Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science in Canada, 1972-1995

Efforts to ensure equity for women in scientific and technological disciplines must precede, or at least accompany, efforts to persuade them to pursue these studies. To achieve gender equity in these disciplines, factors discouraging women from full participation in them should be removed. Many psychological, sociological and institutional factors have been identified as contributors to the under-representation of women in these fields. For the aim of understanding and appraising these factors, this study offers a factual characterization of women's enrolment levels in mathematics, engineering, and computer science in Canadian universities and the change in these levels over the period 1972 to 1995. Findings indicate that patterns of women's enrolment in these three dis- ciplines are vastly different, a fact which suggests that factors specific to each discipline interact with and modify the effects of the more general sociological and psychological obstacles impeding women's participa- tion in them.Tout effort qui vise à assurer l'équité féminine dans les disciplines scientifiques et technologiques doit précéder, ou du moins accompagner, tout effort employé pour persuader ces femmes à poursuivre leurs études dans ces domaines. Pour que l'équité se réalise pleinement à travers ces disciplines, il est important que tout facteur qui puisse décourager la pleine participation féminine dans ces disciplines soit éliminé. Plusieurs éléments psychologiques, sociologiques et institutionnels ont déjà été identifiés comme étant des facteurs contribuant à la faible représentation féminine dans ces disciplines. Cette étude offre une représentation factuelle des niveaux d'inscriptions féminines ainsi que les changements dans ces niveaux au cours de la période partant de 1972 à 1995. Les résultats de cette étude démontrent de vastes différences entre les niveaux d'inscriptions féminines de discipline en discipline, ce qui suggère que des facteurs propres à chaque discipline s'entremêlent et modifient les aspects plus généraux des obstacles sociologiques et psychologiques qui empêchent la pleine participation féminine dans ces domaines

The Impact of Gender and Pedagogical Factors on Female Pass Rates

An assessment of student achievement according to gender in core units of study of a Faculty of Information and Communication Technology program tested four hypotheses. The first of these related to the role-model effect of female academics; the second related to the advantages of formal education qualifications of academics; the third to the application of contextualized curricula, and the fourth to the use of a variety of assessment modes. Correlation and regression analysis on the data set indicated that the presence of two of these factors can significantly improve the pass rate of female students while having a benign effect on the pass rate of male students. It is suggested that information systems faculties pay close attention to gender diversity of their teaching faculty, particularly if their female student cohort is less than one in five in a unit of study. It also gives substance to the need or preference for university lecturers having education qualifications. This study needs to be replicated in other information systems faculties and schools to verify this finding

Report of the Women in Science and Engineering Initiatives Committee

The Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Committee was charged with identifying resources at the University of Maine that encourage the participation of women in science and engineering, both as students and as faculty; identifying ways to increase the recruitment and retention of women in these areas and recommending ways that the University can support this effort. Our work has convinced us that this initiative would benefit individual women as well as contributing to the good of the University and society as a whole. We have found that although some departments and programs are more successful than others in addressing issues facing women students and faculty in science and engineering, there are no institutionalized organizations, guidelines, or goals directed toward these issues. We believe that significant progress and long-term change will result if there is campus-wide commitment. To that end, the WISE Committee recommends: 1. Recruiting and retaining women in fields of science and engineering at the University of Maine, both as students and as faculty, be made a high priority of the Affirmative Action Plan of the University. 2. The Women in Science and Engineering Committee of the University of Maine (WISE) be institutionalized as a standing committee, appointed by the President, and charged with developing an annual plan recommending a full spectrum of activities directed towards women in science and engineering. Furthermore, we recommend that approximately $20,000 be made available for FY 93 to be earmarked for the WISE Committee (pending approval of a plan and attached budget) to initiate several high-profile, relatively low-cost programs to create institutional momentum for change. 3. Commitment to and accountability for these goals be assured at all levels of the University (i.e., department chairs and faculty, deans and directors, vice presidents, and the president) through allocation of resources and evaluation of programs

Come and Get Your Capital, Sis: The Use of Twitter to Compensate for Gendered and Racialized Job Networks among Creatives

Due to racialized and gendered exclusion and discrimination, Black and women jobseekers do not have the same access to social ties in the labor market as white men. A number of Black Twitter users, particularly Black women, have cultivated networks on Twitter and elsewhere as explicit alternatives to this old boys’ network. This study aimed to understand how workers in creative industries—which tend to be more reliant on referrals—use Twitter to expand their social networks and gain access to job opportunities, and how their use of Twitter differed by race and gender. Four hashtags were queried through the Twitter application programming interface—#Reignydayjobs, #blkcreatives, #creativejobs, and #jobsearch—the first two of which are used extensively by Black creatives seeking opportunities and networking within their field. The tweets gathered through this process were analyzed using digital ethnographic methods in order to illuminate how social media job searching and networking behaviors differ by race and gender. As a result of this study, there were some gender and racial differences in how hashtags were used to network and find opportunities , as well as the use of identity based hashtags among Black individuals , more specifically Black women