The objective of this project was to examine structural problems for students in their computer science studies. The rapid development of computer technology has led to a parallel growth in research in this area and, as a result, there have been frequent changes to programmes for computer studies. Computer science curricula are therefore revised more frequently than those of other subjects and, moreover, these revisions are linked to scientific and technical developments. It is also the case that the results of academic research are rarely found in industrial practice. The instability of this discipline, resulting from massive and rapid changes in the hardware and software, means that we can expect discrepancies between study programmes and what happens outside universities. This is not meant to imply that we should respond to the often heard calls from industry that students should become expert in current operating systems and other software. This study is one which is intended to highlight the integration of students´ abilities to teach themselves with the flexibilty and adaptability of new software.
The rapid development of computer technology and the changes in computer science curricula bring with them the problem that students' expectations do not match the actual programmes of study on which they embark. Where students get their information about the subject is of great importance because just the age of the students already has influence on the experience during study. Naturally such information can also be strongly influenced by experiences with information technology and the image they have of how this is produced. It is well-known that a proportion of new university students expect that the majority of the study topics they will be expected to cover will involve programming.
A further reason for this investigation was the fact that since the end of the 1970s the proportion of women studying computer science had dropped by almost half - in 1995 it was 8.7%. It should be evaluated whether for the beginning of the computer science study or in the process of the same for women obstructing structures and mechanisms are effective. Our earlier study of computer science in German secondary schools (Funken, Hammerich, Schinzel: Geschlecht, Informatik und Schule, Akademia Verlag 1996) showed that male and female computer science students start studying with very different experiences, motives and expectations. These results suggested that we should start with similar hypotheses for this study.
Computer science courses vary enormously in their content; therefore it was impossible to make detailed comparisons between courses. Also, students can only characterize their view of their course of study from their own experiences, it will be difficult for them to evaluate the possibly different course contents of other universities.
Here questions included some about experiences at school (enrollment on computer science courses and their content), some about reasons for the selection of the computer science study, the possible influence of friends, teachers, parents and other questions on the selection of the course of study and exactly when they made the decision to study computer science.
As well as a question about the expectations the students had when they started studying computer science, we asked whether or not these expectations were fulfilled. We also asked about how they reacted to events which they found frustrating during their course of study and what they felt were the consequences of these events.
The question about students' own pre-conditions for successful study of computer science, gave rise to further questions about whether the students were aware of these pre-conditions when they began their studies or whether they only became aware of them later. This also prompted the question "What implications did this have for their future studies?"
In this section questions were about the course material, the order in which it was presented, the structure of the course - its organization, the type of training, the selection of additional topics, the student's mode of working and the targets they had in studying computer science. An analysis of their study situation also includes questions about social aspects - everyday life and the culture in which the student has to work. Respondents were therefore asked to say if they had had any thoughts about abandoning their course or changing their academic subject, how they thought they handled technical questions and what difficulties they may, or may not, have had with these, if they made verbal contributions in lectures and seminars and about the style of communication and behaviour amongst the students.
For this investigation a standardized questionnaire was developed for the questionning all computer science students in the 1st, 4th and 8th semesters. At the beginning of1994 all universities which offer a computer science diploma course were asked to cooperate in this survey for which the questionnaires were sent out by post. In all, 15 universities - 10 from the west of Germany and 5 from the east of Germany - participated in the survey. The participating universities were: Tübingen, Bonn, TU Berlin, TH Darmstadt, TH Braunschweig, Frankfurt, Saarbrücken, Humboldt-Berlin, TU Chemnitz-Zwickau, TU München, TU Ilmenau, Dortmund, Passau, Rostock and Dresden. Altogether 5315 computer science students were sent questionnaires, 1072 (20%) of them from the new German Counties.
7% of the students surveyed were foreigners; of these 11% were female, the proportion of male foreign students was only 6%. This means, that the proportion of women amongst German computer science students was smaller than the 8,7% mentioned above.
The popularity of computer science classes in school may influence the choice of study. Here we found big discrepancies between men and women: many more younger male students had attended a computer science course at school than the older ones from the 8th semester. This tendency was not found amongst the female students. In fact the reverse occurred: the younger women attended fewer computer classes at school than the older ones. Therefore only a small proportion of the female (and male!) students were influenced in their choice of study by what they did at school.
This is a remarkable result since, if what these computer science students are saying is true, it may be the case that schools are not promoting and encouraging computer science.
Since only a few female students had had any experience with computers at school or at home (unlike the male students) and more usually had no access to a computer at all, it is hardly surprising that they were not motivated to study the subject. Contact with a computer does not play a role for female students in choosing computer science - again, this is unlike the male students. None of the female students gave interest in or experiences with computers as a reason for selecting the subject for academic study. Interest in computers and their own ability and knowledge were more frequently given as reasons by male students than by females.
In contrast to this, the female computer science students focused their attention what was to happen to them after their studies were complete and on their vocational future. This is consistent with other results which showed that male students made their decision about what to study at a younger age than females. Women seem to choose after finishing school and when they start thinking about finding a job.
These results are in stark contradiction to the accepted wisdom about sex specific differences in motives for study, rather they reflect sex stereotypical choice of subject. But female computer science students behaved contrary to these usual German conceptions of sex stereotypical interests.
These findings show that amongst the computer science students the female students preferred application oriented areas of computer science. The male students preferred the system related aspects. Also theoretical computer science was somewhat more in demand amongst women than amongst men. As far as their preferred topics were concerned, for both men and women their vocational futures as well as interest in the subject were important factors for the development of specific interests.
Most of the computer science students judged their course of study very positively. Where there were criticisms, then these occurred in the following areas:
Inadequate practicals was the main criticism of these computer science courses. About one half of the students in the 4th and 8th semesters criticized the absence of any reference to society. More women than men also commented on the absence of practical work relevant for a vocation; that they did not understand the relavance of what they were taught soon enough and that what they were taught was of little practical use. For the male students the course was too theoretical and influenced too much by mathematics, while the women commented that too few programming courses were offered.
As far as modes of teaching were concerned, lectures and practicals in the basic study were judged to be well balanced. But, and this was especially true in the 2nd part of the course, female students wanted more seminars, project group work and practical courses. Female students reported more positive learning experiences in seminars and group work, while the male students profited also from lectures in the main study phase.
Prominent constituents of the social climate in a course of study are the conversations amongst students, as well as the topics they choose to talk about. Here there were significant differences between the sexes. The conversations between some male students was often about the latest software and hardware developments. By using these topics in this way they influenced the emotional climate of the course of study in that this made the female students feel that they did not understand computer science at all. This was the beginning of uncertainty and doubt for the female students in their view of their chosen subject.
This is confirmed by the fact that more female than male students received better grades than expected, so female students have more doubts about their own ability to produce the goods. And it is interesting that twice as many female students from the 8th semester than female students of the 4th semester said that they received better grades than they had expected. The answers to questions about what respondents perceived to be important qualities for computer experts can be interpreted in a similar way. In particular the female computer science students emphasized the importance of attributes like self confidence and ability to make their plans work. These characteristics have to be acquired explicitly by women, whilst most male students seem to have them already and do not have to go to the trouble of acquiring them.
Project Director: | |
Staff: | Catrin Freyer M.A. |
Dr. Christiane Funken | |
Funding: | |
Projects state: | completed |