Increasing technical excellence, leadership and commitment of computing students through identity-based mentoring

Abstract

Recent years have seen a growing awareness in the computing education community that initiatives outside the classroom are vital for retaining students and preparing them for a collaborative and dynamic professional environment. Particularly important are programs that develop rich technical skills while increasing students' interest in computing disciplines. We present Computing Identity Mentoring, an intervention designed to increase commitment to computing while enhancing students' technical and leadership skills. This program was implemented at seven universities during 2008-2009. Preliminary results suggest that Computing Identity Mentoring contributes to students' self-efficacy regarding computing and leadership, and solidifies students' commitment to a career in computing. This paper presents early findings on the effectiveness of the approach and illustrates Computing Identity Mentoring in the context of three of the seven institutions where it has been implemented.