Momentum: Accelerating Equity in Computing and Technology

Team Description

MOMENTUM

Our work at Momentum is inspired by the reality that, despite growing demand for a technologically-trained workforce and increasing popularity of tech majors and careers, women and people of color remain marginalized in tech fields, with many equity gaps actually becoming larger with time.

Momentum aims to accelerate equity in computing and technology through the generation of new knowledge about what works (and what does not) in diversifying the tech workforce, with a special focus on educational pathways.

Simply put, it is critical to achieve greater Momentum.

About Us

S2-Google

PROJECT

Synthesizing Undergraduate BPC Literature

Momentum received funding from Google.org to synthesize the landscape of research on broadening participation in computing (BPC). This project addresses a question that we and others have been asked for many years: “What have we learned about what works in broadening participation in computing?”

During the first year of the project, our team examined the extent to which strategies, environments, and experiences (SEEs) have been studied in the context of BPC over the past two decades, finding that a large proportion of SEEs have centered on interactions with key agents of socialization, pedagogy and classroom practices, climate, and high-impact practices.

We are currently in the second year of this project. Stay tuned for findings later this year!

Learn More

EDA graph showing latest data collection

S3-CIC

PROJECT

Center for Inclusive Computing Collaboration Update

The Momentum team successfully administered the third and final survey as part of the CIC longitudinal research project.

This final follow-up survey included a new set of questions focused on artificial intelligence (AI). Informed by findings from our prior surveys, these questions focus on better understanding the future of the AI workforce by focusing on students’ use of AI, their experiences developing AI, and their perceptions of the benefits, harms, and ethics related to AI. Former Associate Director Dr. Kate Lehman shared preliminary insights from these data (see figure) and the Momentum team is currently taking a deeper dive into learning more about characteristics and values of the future AI workforce.

Learn More

graph % students feeling like outsider in computing

S4-Course mode

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Online Computing Education

In a publication stemming from the CIC longitudinal research project, our team focused on undergraduate student experiences in their first computing course, evaluating the impact of various instruction modalities (i.e., in-person instruction, online only instruction, various forms of hybrid instruction) on computing orientation and course-related sense of belonging. Findings from this study indicate that students who took their first computing course in person exhibited stronger feelings of belonging, as well as an overall greater computing orientation, relative to their peers who studied in online environments.

See Publication

S3-Lessons Learned

PROJECT INSIGHTS

Lessons Learned from BRAID

Over the past decade, Momentum has engaged in a wide range of research that has provided us with key insights into broadening participation in computing. Looking back at what we learned from the BRAID initiative we offer 10 key lessons learned about ways to bolster broadening participation in computing efforts.

Learn More