African Americans and Hispanic Americans historically have been underrepresented in U.S. jobs in the fields of STEM in large part because of the usability of technology. In this research, the goal was to discover the usability factors relative to operating systems that may limit African Americans and Hispanic Americans from pursuit of computer…

The 2018 edition of "Technology Counts" is a nationally representative survey of 500 principals, assistant principals, and other school leaders to better understand what principals are thinking and doing about some of the technology issues in their schools today. Contents include: (1) Pressure Points for Principals (Kevin Bushweller);…

Pedagogy has emphasized that physical representations and tangible interactive objects benefit learning especially for young students. There are many tangible hardware platforms for introducing computer programming to children, but there is limited comparative evaluation of them in the context of a formal classroom. In this work, we explore the…

Technology training in the classroom is critical in preparing students for upper level classes as well as professional careers, especially in fields such as technology. One of the key enablers to this process is computer self-efficacy (CSE), which has an extensive stream of empirical research. Despite this, one of the missing pieces is how CSE…

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science organized by Code.org, a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science. This study investigated the impact of the Hour of Code on students' attitudes towards computer programming and their knowledge of programming. A sample of undergraduate students from two…

Providing students with the professional, communication, and technical skills necessary to contribute to an ongoing software project is critical, yet often difficult in higher education. Involving student teams in real-world projects developed by professional software engineers for actual users is invaluable. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)…

The focus of this research was to create and test an introductory computer science course for middle school. Titled "Foundations for Advancing Computational Thinking" (FACT), the course aims to prepare and motivate middle school learners for future engagement with algorithmic problem solving. FACT was also piloted as a seven-week course…

Survey results from a two year project are presented. The survey instruments were developed through review of the literature involving similar studies of student perceptions and with the assistance of social scientists. The study includes both high school and college student perceptions of computing. The survey also contrasts student perceptions…

In response to recent data from the Department of Education indicating that the number of women earning computer science undergraduate degrees has declined sharply in recent years, a study was conducted to determine gender bias in introductory computer classes. Questionnaires were distributed to students in two classes at Rutgers University and…

Examines the results of a survey of undergraduates to determine whether their perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes about information technology changed as a result of completing an introductory course in computer concepts and literacy. Results of pre- and post-tests as well as the computer attitude survey are appended. (Author/LRW)