Voices of women in a software engineering course: reflections on collaboration

Sarah B. Berenson, Kelli M. Slaten, Laurie Williams, Chih-Wei Ho
2004 Journal on Educational Resources in Computing  
Prior research has indicated that female students can be concerned about the insularity of working alone for long periods of time, as they perceive to be the case with computer science education and Information Technology careers. We studied an advanced undergraduate software engineering course at North Carolina State University to characterize the potential of the collaborative learning environments created via pair programming and agile software development to ameliorate these concerns. A
more » ... ective case study of three representative females in the course revealed four common themes: working with others; productivity; confidence; and interest in IT careers. Three conjectures concerning collaboration emerged from our study. These conjectures included the importance of face-to-face meetings, an increased confidence among women based on product quality, and a reduction in the amount of time spent on assignments. Additionally, we propose a model for future testing that connects these three factors with an increased interest in IT careers.
doi:10.1145/1060071.1060074 fatcat:e53t5vunxrendkrjsfwg5eo2vm