Research
The educational research goals constantly adapted based on the program development. From the beginning, we had five key questions to guide data collection:
- Does participation in the program produce an increase in students’ abilities to express understandings and perceptions of community from various perspectives?
- Does participation in the program produce an increase in student STEM self-efficacy and produce an increase in student competence using specialized technology tools?
- Does participation in the program increase student awareness of the diversity of IT and computing careers?
- Does participation in the program increase students’ experimentation with digital humanities programs?
- Does participation in the program motivate students to make decisions supporting successful entry into STEM education pathways (e.g., to participate in STEM courses or informal learning)?
- What impact does personal relevance have on student motivation and engagement with technology?
As the program progressed, we also looked at how relevance related to student engagement with technology, and we added the additional question:
In addition, we explored how participation in Coding for Community could impact students’ technical identities. Through qualitative interview analysis and quantitative survey data, we examined:
- How does participation in place-based digital humanities projects impact the technology self-efficacy and competence of minority youth?
- How does participation in place-based digital humanities projects affect minority youth’s intent to pursue a technology-related career?
- Which aspects of program involvement help students to develop a stronger technology identity?
Below are the results of a survey we administered throughout the three year program. This data represents the top ten attendees's scores on the survey when they entered the program as well as when they left.
Also as part of the research, graduate assistant Katrina LaCombe created this visual representation of the impacts of this program. This visualization aimed to showcase student work while simultaneously depicting the admiration the participants have for their community’s history.
