Diversity: New Ways in Computer Science Education

The project is carried out by the Research Group Gender and Diversity in Engineering (GDE) the Computer Science Department i9 – Learning Technologies at RWTH Aachen University as well as the research group Models and Theory of Distributed Systems at TU Berlin.

 

Computer science as a relatively young subject has changed during the last decades like no other scientific discipline. And like hardly any other discipline its developments influence our daily lives. Starting out as an application-subject of math, computer science is developing into different directions and provides attractive areas of occupation. Therefore, computer science has all the requirements to attract a large and diverse body of students. However, it does not manage to acquire diverse students.

One of the aims should be to initiate a sustainable change in the perception of the subject culture of computer science in order to show the multifaceted possibilities that are offered by engaging in computer science contents as well as to facilitate an identification with the subject for a wide range of people. Two central starting points for universities will be the focus of the conference “Diversity: New Ways in Computer Science Education” and shall be discussed with a variety of experts: The design of the transition from school to university as well as university teaching in computer science and the other STEM-subjects.

As keynote speakers, computer science professors Marian Petre (Open University, UK) and Susanne Maaß (University of Bremen) as well as Joanne McGrath Cohoon, sociologist and associate professor at the Department of Science Technology, & Society (University of Virginia, USA), will talk about the possibilities and challenges to inspire diverse people for computer science.

The conference is linked to this year‘s faculty day of computer science at the TU Berlin, which provides the opportunity of an interdisciplinary exchange among the participants.