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Strategic Planning for Recruiting Women into Undergraduate Computing: High Yield in the Short Term

Workbook

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National Center for Women & Information Technologywww.ncwit.org | 303.735.6671 | [email protected]

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Strategic Planning for recruiting Women into Undergraduate Computing: High Yield in the Short Term

workbook

National Center for Women & Information Technology

www.ncwit.org© 2010

April 2011 Version 2

Table of ConTenTs

Planning sTraTegiCally for inCreasing enrollmenT ................................................. 3

why a Strategic Plan for recruitment? ..................................................................................... 3

what is a “High Yield in the Short Term” Approach to recruiting? ................................... 3

what are the Components of a Strategic recruiting Plan? .................................................. 4

DeCision Trees: examPles of iniTiaTives ............................................................................. 5

Ideas for reaching Students Already on Your Campus: Minors ........................................ 5

Ideas for reaching Students Already on Your Campus: official Events ........................... 6

Ideas for reaching Students Already on Your Campus: Non-Majors ................................ 7

Ideas for reaching Students Not on Campus: Teachers, Feeder Schools ........................ 8

Ideas for reaching Students Not on Campus: Purchasing Aptitude Test Score Lists ................................................................................................................................... 9

iDenTifying anD loCaTing TargeT auDienCes ..................................................................... 10

Majors with Demonstrated Mathematics Ability ................................................................... 10

Majors Most Commonly Intended by women in the U.S. .................................................... 11

WhaT exisTing asseTs Can you leverage anD manage? .............................................. 12

Leverage Points: recruiting resources Checklists ................................................................ 12

WhaT messages resonaTe WiTh your TargeT auDienCe anD

Their influenCers? .................................................................................................................. 14

which Messages Do All Audiences Need to Hear? ................................................................ 14

will the Message really work? ................................................................................................... 14

Images? Yes. ................................................................................................................................... 15

hoW Can you reaCh your auDienCes? ................................................................................... 16

reach Through Service Courses offered by Your Department ............................................ 16

reaching other Students on Campus ...................................................................................... 16

Ideas for reach off Campus ....................................................................................................... 17

evaluaTion: KeeP TraCK of WhaT WorKs anD WhaT Doesn’T ...................................... 18

The Power of Data: what Evaluation Can Show ..................................................................... 19

WorKsheeTs ....................................................................................................................................... 20

Sketch An Initiative worksheet .................................................................................................. 20

Annual Summative Evaluation worksheets ............................................................................ 21

Sample Questionnaire for Assessing a Student Contact Event ......................................... 23


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Planning sTraTegiCally for inCreasing enrollmenT

This workbook includes examples, guidance, and templates for developing a strategic recruitment plan to increase participation of females in undergraduate computing. The workbook assumes that you are hoping to achieve the greatest return on investment in the shortest time while populating your major with the best students from a larger applicant pool. The underlying principles, approach, and guidelines may help you to identify and evaluate a do-able and successful set of recruiting initiatives.

This workbook is devoted to recruiting women. For retention, please see the NCwIT Extension Services for Undergraduate Programs Strategic Planning for retaining women in Undergraduate Computing (www.ncwit.org/retainingworkbook). NCwIT provides additional resources for several types of recruiting and outreach events. Find resources at www.ncwit.org.

Why a Strategic Plan for recruitment?

Most academic departments have outreach efforts to inform the public and potential students about computing. Most participate in a variety of events and produce materials to communicate with students, teachers, parents, and employers. often, however, these recruitment efforts are selected in an opportunistic way. For example, they may be selected because of the motivation and time of a particular faculty member (often independently of other faculty), they may take advantage of a funding solicitation (and thus are not sustained after the funding period), or they may result from chance awareness that an event will occur and chance availability of someone who can attend. often, little thought is given to the return on investment of this nontrivial use of scarce resources (money, time), the message provided to the particular audience, or to tracking the outcomes.

Strategic planning for recruitment helps a department:

Identify specific and reasonable goals

Choose groups with strong likelihood of succeeding in computing and provide information that fills a gap for them

Select low-cost initiatives implemented at strategic times and venues

Carefully track what works and what doesn’t to improve decision making

What is a “High Yield in the Short Term” Approach to recruiting?

This workbook can help you to identify the largest groups of students with the appropriate aptitudes who are available to declare a major or minor in the next one to three years. The workbook will also help you to develop relevant messaging about careers in computing so that students (and those who influence them) can make informed choices about their future.

http://www.ncwit.org/retainingworkbook

http://www.ncwit.org


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What are the Components of a Strategic recruiting Plan?

For each recruiting initiative – of which you may have several to recruit strategically – there are several interrelated components. The pages that follow help you to develop a strategic recruiting plan with the components shown that includes the following components.

Identify and locate target audiences with aptitude and motivation.

Leverage and manage existing assets to determine how you can take advantage of existing programs (e.g., minors, tracks in the major, outreach), better inform those who are already communicating on your behalf (e.g., admissions office), and draw on the time and resources of others who wish to support you (e.g., students, alumni).

Align messaging with the present values, beliefs, expectations, or goals of each target audience. For example, students’ goals may be substantially different from their parents’ goals for them, yet parents influence what their children know about and value. Some messages are likely to be needed for all audiences, while some audiences will need additional or less information.

reach audiences with media that are believable and have a high chance of being accessed. The influencers of students are an excellent way to accomplish greater return on investment, since, for example, one high school teacher can reach hundreds of students each year.

Track and report results. otherwise, how do you know if your efforts were worth your scarce resources? Evidence of success, even when small, can also support fundraising.

The next several pages include decision trees that identify high-yield groups for short term success and how to reach them. These decision trees are intended to provoke ideas. You will likely have many more ideas about what you can or can’t do. The latter sections of the workbook provide information and principles about which students are likely to be capable in computing, how to best target your efforts, ways to leverage and manage existing assets, and how to create messages that are truly meaningful to your audiences (both potential students and influencers). Included are initiative sketch templates, timeline templates, and evaluation suggestions, all of which can be customized for your own use.


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DeCision Trees: examPles of iniTiaTives

Ideas for reaching Students Already on Your Campus: Minors

Yes.

Inform students in majors likely to have mathematics aptitude about how a computing minor

can enhance their selected career field. Use appropriate messaging

and contact strategies.

Yes.

Does your department receive appropriate funds from the

university/school/college when minors enroll in courses?

Does your department offer a minor?

No.

Is it possible or desirable to create an official minor?

No. No.Yes.


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Ideas for reaching Students Already on Your Campus: official Events

No.

Create brochures or other

materials to distribute to

these offices.

Yes.

Create “talking points”

documents for representatives

of the department and/

or materials to distribute.

No.

Create “talking points”

documents for representatives

of the department and/

or materials to distribute.

Yes.

Consider using this message

for other departmental

outreach activities.

Yes.

Is the message being conveyed by these offices

accurate, current, and relevant to both parents’

and students’ goals?

No.

Can faculty, advisors, or students take turns

delivering relevant information at these events

or to these offices?

Does your department participate in events held by admissions and career offices (e.g., orientation)?


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When do students declare

their major?

Conduct outreach with high school juniors and seniors,

community college students, and non-traditional students (e.g., returning for a second

degree, etc.).

Inform students of minors in your department that may

interest them.

Students can remain

undeclared for up to two years.

Let students in introductory classes know about

computing as a career; retain them with

relevant and interesting assignments. Identify

capable students and use a personal touch to let them know they would do well in

your major or minor.

Make sure that “undeclared” students are informed about your major and computing. They can’t declare a major they don’t know about and

won’t declare a major about which they hold negative

misconceptions.

Ask current students to be ambassadors, telling the

story of computing careers, posting materials in dorms,

etc.

Most declare upon

acceptance to the university,

college, or school.

No declaration needed till students

are ready to graduate.

Ideas for reaching Students Already on Your Campus: Non-Majors


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Do you have relationships with local or

regional math and science high school teachers in

schools that feed your

program? Can you identify your primary

“feeder” schools?

No.

Yes.

Ideas for reaching Students Not on Campus: Teachers, Feeder Schools

No.

Yes.

Ask undergraduates to do “roadshows,” making sure the messages are relevant

and accurate, and delivering materials to classrooms.

Provide teachers and counselors with “talking

points,” posters, and other materials about computing

and the major (including requirements for declaring).

Provide interested and willing alumni with

materials and accurate, relevant messages for visiting classrooms.

More expensive: create summer training programs

for teachers.

Is it easy or worthwhile to develop such relationships?


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Ideas for reaching Students Not on Campus: Purchasing Aptitude Test Score Lists

Yes.

Send a postcard (not a letter in an envelope) with information about

computing and your major. A postcard will be read by both students and

parents, a large influencer. Include a link to an appealing website.

Can your department purchase a list of math ACT or SAT scores for students who listed your institution

as a recipient of scores?

No.

Note that ACT Educational opportunity Service provides names and scores at $0.31 per name; SAT Student Search Service provides names and scores at $0.32 per name.


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iDenTifying anD loCaTing TargeT auDienCes

Chances are that you have little time for recruiting students, either on or off campus. Nevertheless, you may have opportunities to acquaint non-majors with the career possibilities of a computing degree. You can heighten awareness of your major among qualified undeclared majors, students seeking a second major, and potential minors who are already on campus. You can also reach out to influencers of high school students – teachers, counselors, parents, and alumni – who can do the outreach for you, provided you give them the right information.

Majors with Demonstrated Mathematics Ability

Most undergraduate computing programs expect relatively high mathematics aptitude as demonstrated by SAT or ACT tests. Therefore, it may make sense to target students who are likely to have high math scores on standardized tests. Students with mathematics competence demonstrated through their SAT scores are shown in the figure below, according to their intended major. Send a postcard or other communication about your major to students with appropriate math scores.

Computer & In

formatio

n Science

s

Archite

cture

Liberal A

rts/H

umanities

English

Undecided

Foreign La

nguages & Li

nguistics

Social S

cience

s

biology

Engineering

Physica

l Scie

nces

Mathematic

s/Statis

tics

620

600

580

520

540

560

480

500

529 532 532 533540 545 546 551

579586

609

SAT Math Scores by Intended Major 2008N=1,518,859; Source: College board


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Majors Most Commonly Intended by Women in the U.S.

Major Categories Female SAT MathHealth professions and related clinical services 142,649 485

business management, marketing, and support services

67,968 494

Education 59,596 478

Visual and performing arts 50,905 494

Psychology 40,150 480

biological and biomedical sciences 34,506 537

Communication, journalism and related programs 26,873 498

Legal professions and studies 19,097 485

Undecided 16,113 529

Engineering 13,093 584*

*women intending to declare engineering as a major had slightly higher SAT mathematics scores on average than men in 2008. Men who intended an engineering major averaged 578.

what are the largest majors intended by women on your campus? In which of these majors are students likely to have high mathematics scores?

How might your undergraduate program of study interest these students? Do you have a minor? Do you have application tracks in the major that might appeal to biology majors, for example?


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WhaT exisTing asseTs Can you leverage anD manage?

Use the checklists below to identify on- and off-campus potential sources of support for your efforts. Making sure that these groups are furnished accurate and up-to-date information about computing careers, their importance in the U.S. economy, and their benefits is a critical step departments should take. For example, you can provide “talking points” cards to the admissions office and create an appealing web site for potential students. More ideas about groups that can help you to inform potential audiences and ways they can help are shown in the table below.

Leverage Points: recruiting resources Checklists

University resources How They HelpAdmissions office Identify and communicate information you provide

with potential applicants

Share information about potential applicants and recruiting opportunities with your department

Communications/Press office Provide information about recruitment efforts across the institution

Connect media with your department

Community relations office Connect department with local businesses and communities for special events and partnerships

School of Education/Teacher’s College

Train future teachers with accurate information about computing careers

Conduct educational research into effective and inclusive instructional practices

Establish and maintain contact with area school districts

Design and direct after-school and summer enrichment programs for k-12 students

University Career Services Provide career counseling to undeclared majors

Introduce suitable candidates to computing

Schools/Faculty of STEM Disciplines

Provide alternative career options and guidance

Introduce suitable candidates to computing

Computing Department Faculty and Courses

recruit undeclared majors from intro, applications, and service courses


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Student Groups and Services

How They Help

Non-Major related Student Volunteer organizations

Provide service to area k-12 schools and community

Mentor kids

Student Groups in Computing Promote positive computing image

Provide service on and off campus

Women’s Center Feature technical women guest speakers

Host special events

New Student Week/orientation Host information booths

Allies and Influencers How They Help

Computing Alumni Attend career days (elementary, middle, high schools)

Make class visits (middle/high schools)

offer mentoring/shadowing on the job

Establish internships

Friends and Family of Computing Students and Faculty

raise awareness with school guidance counselors and school administrators on how to promote computing to girls

Provide materials to school counselors or math, science, and computer teachers

Share computing message with teachers

Distribute computing materials and messages at math and science teaching conferences

Share the excitement of computing with promising young girls and media

Current Computing Students Make class visits (middle/high schools and/or community colleges)

Communicate with former teachers and students

Provide materials to school counselors, or math, science, and computer teachers

recognize and reward existing teachers who introduce girls to computing

offer online or in-person mentoring to school-aged girls

Supply market data regarding particular programs, schools, and teachers that support girls in computing


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WhaT messages resonaTe WiTh your TargeT auDienCe anD Their influenCers?

Just as advertisers use different messages—and different media—with different target audiences, you should think carefully about the messages that are likely to persuade your audience to act. Not all parents are alike, nor do parents and teachers have the identical goals for or obligations toward students. Middle school and high school girls have different career goals. Consider these realities as you craft your messages.

Which Messages Do All Audiences Need to Hear?

Parents, advisors, teachers, financial aid offices, and career services are all unlikely to recommend career trajectories where there are no jobs. Young people, too, hope to earn a decent living—but often not at the expense of happiness. Tell them:

The U.S. bureau of Labor Statistics continues to predict computing jobs as some of the fastest growing and highest paying, despite continued off-shoring of certain types of jobs.

Computing jobs are socially relevant. Computing today is a component in solving many of the world’s problems.

The expertise that comes with academic study in computing is applicable in a wide variety of domains. Computing professionals work in every industry – health, education, business, transportation, etc. In addition, even though individual careers may change track, computing skills will allow students to adapt and still have time for family and friends.

Computing work requires working with others.

Will the Message really Work?

one of the best ways to learn if a message resonates is to test it with its intended audience.

before investing time and money in communicating with your audience, do some research to find out what is important to that audience.

Create a draft and show it to some of your audience members.

Let your testers know that they should be bluntly honest. Listen as they share their impressions of what your message communicates to them. Are these the messages you intended? If not, go back to the drawing board.


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Images? Yes.

Images convey powerful messages.

Show images of people working with computers to solve problems your target audience cares about.

Computation is abstract, so it is difficult to show its power in photos, but consider medical applications, for example, with a caption that points out the human behind the machine (e.g., the brains behind the echocardiogram).

Avoid abstract images like zeros and ones.


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hoW Can you reaCh your auDienCes?

reach Through Service Courses offered by Your Department

Most students outside of the major are uninformed about the major and its related careers. You can inform students through non-major or other computing-provided service courses. You can also explicitly invite them to declare a computing major. You can tell them what you know, give them brochures, bring in guest speakers, and more. repeat, but not too often, since messages heard too often will sound overbearing or like evangelism.

Access free materials from the Computer Science Teachers Association (e.g., Computing Careers and Degrees brochure & Website), www.csta.acm.org.

Access information and cards from the NCWIT Talking Points website, www.ncwit.org/tp.

Students need to understand that:

Computing is an essential element of nearly every human endeavor today;

There are plenty of jobs in the U.S., more than for any other STEM major;

Computer scientists are solvers of many of the world’s problems;

A computing degree will bring them skills that can be used in many working contexts and subject matters; and

They and their families will enjoy a higher-than-average income with a computing career.

In fact, sharing this information with your declared majors may also help to retain them.

You can also use a personal touch with students whom you’ve identified as particularly good. Many students do not realize when they are doing well in relation to their peers. when a professor tells students “you’re good at this; you would make a good major” it is very powerful.

reaching other Students on Campus

Consider developing a brochure, post card, or poster.

Ask members of student groups to post in their residence hall rooms or hand them out as freshmen leave large-lecture courses.

Ask the career services office if you can put a poster on their bulletin board or if they would be willing to pass out brochures. Give them information that helps them to talk about computing careers.

http://www.csta.acm.org

http://www.ncwit.org/tp


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Ideas for reach off Campus

obviously, high school students are not so easy to reach, since you would have to find extra time to go off campus. However, you may have:

Existing relationships or potential relationships with science and mathematics teachers at your largest feeder schools.

Students who would like to do outreach, especially at their former high school.

A summer program to teach teachers computing concepts and specific guidance for recruiting girls into their classes ($$ required).

A list of applicants to the college/university that separates students by their math SAT or ACT scores, enabling you to send postcards, for example ($$ required).

with these resources, you can:

Send post cards or brochures to students. Their parents will see them if they are not sealed in envelopes. These materials can also be distributed by students who go to local high schools.

Send “talking points” and postcards to teachers and counselors. be sure there is a link to an appealing website (that is, not the website showing the requirements of your major).

Create a poster: The Computer Science Teachers Association provides a customizable, downloadable poster. Send copies to teachers, principals, or high school counselors.

Find out when “back to school” or “parent” night is. Make your materials available for teachers to give to parents.

Leave brochures with community groups, religious organizations, libraries, or among other reputable resources.


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evaluaTion: KeeP TraCK of WhaT WorKs anD WhaT Doesn’T

Evaluation is an essential element for improving recruitment results.

recruitment Goal: Attract more women of all ethnicities.

Formative Evaluation: Evaluate how your recruitment is progressing through brief interviews or surveys regarding participant experience, changes in their interest/intention to enroll, and remaining barriers to interest/intention to enroll.

Do not be discouraged if you find little or no effect from single messages.

Summative Evaluation: Compare trends in new student enrollment by sex and race, relative to average and peer institutions.


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The Power of Data: What Evaluation Can Show

Use of Assessment Data, Example 1. Show how trends at your institution compare to the average institution of your type.

Use of Assessment Data, Example 2. Document curricular change associated with changes in the gender composition of enrollment.

A new Introduction to Computing course was offered this year for engineering students without programming experience.

In contrast to the typical introductory course where women comprise 25% of the students, in the new course, women comprised 44% of the enrollment.

In striking contrast to the typical loss of student interest, intent to major increased from none to 26% of the women.

Use of Assessment Data, Example 3. Illustrate the influence of peers.

A woman described one result of her unsatisfactory experiences as a computing major in this way:

“If anybody came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about a major in computer science,’ … I’ve said, ‘Don’t come here [for computer science].’ ”

Use of Assessment Data, Example 4. Illustrate the influence of service courses.

A typical experience for women in this program is introduction through a curricular requirement.

“I came to [this university] as an Accounting major and… [took a general education course] …called Intro to Computing.… I decided that I liked it more than I had liked the Accounting courses… and I changed my major.”

Women’s representation in Computer ScienceSource: CrA Taulbee Data and University Enrollment Data

Taulbee CS bachelor Degrees University CS Declared Majors

60%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%2003 2004 2005 2006


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WorKsheeTs

Sketch An Initiative Worksheet

Your recruiting plan will probably include more than one individual initiative. Fill out this worksheet for each initiative you are planning. It will help you to articulate your goals with a particular audience, to plan for appropriate messages, and to keep track of who is involved and the nature of evaluation.

Target Audience Description:

Location:

Assets How they’ll help:

Message Need it meets:

Students’ competing goals or needs:

objections overcome by:

Delivery Method Timing:

Frequency:

Follow-up:

Assessment

reporting


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Annual Summative Evaluation Worksheets

Enrollment Yield from recruitment InitiativesAcademic Year _________

Date # Female Contacts

# Subsequent Enrollees

# Male Contacts


# Minority Contacts


Initiative 1:

Initiative 2:

Initiative 3:

Initiative 4:

Initiative 5:

Initiative 6:

Calculate ENroLLMENT YIELD from each Initiative for each sex as: (# Subsequent Female Enrollees) / (# Female Contacts)


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Enrollment Yield from ApplicationsAcademic Year _________If you have an application process, please fill in data about APPLICATIoNS as of August 1st of the Current School Year.

Total Applicants

Transfer Students

Hispanic White Asian black other race

Average Age

FEMALE Applicant Numbers:

MALE Applicant Numbers:

Please fill in data about ENroLLMENTS as of September 1st of the Current School Year. Total Enrollment

Transfer Students

Hispanic White Asian black other race

Average Age

FEMALE Enrollment Numbers:

MALE Enrollment Numbers:

Calculate ENroLLMENT YIELD from each Initiative for each sex as: (# Total Enrollments) / (# Total Applicants)


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Sample Questionnaire for Assessing a Student Contact Event

(EVENT NAME and DATE)

Please print

Name ________________________________________________________________________

Telephone ____________________________________

Email ________________________________________

1. How did you hear about the (computing major (at institution), (event))? [offer possible ways with check boxes. Instruct to check all that apply. Include an “other” option with a blank to fill in.]

2. based on the information you received from us today, how interested are you in majoring in ********? (Circle one response.)

Very interested Somewhat interested Somewhat disinterested Very disinterested

3. what further information would help you decide that ******* is right for you? ____________________________________________ [If you repeat this type of contact and assessment, you can eventually offer response categories with check-all-that-apply boxes.]

4. How satisfied were you with today’s (meeting, event, …)? (Circle one response.) Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied

5. what could improve your satisfaction with this ****? ____________________________________________ [If you repeat this type of contact, you can eventually offer categories with check-all-that- apply boxes.]

6. Please make any other comments or suggestions regarding the ** major or your experience here today: ___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

THANk YoU For CoMPLETING THIS QUESTIoNNAIrE


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