OPINION
Making Interdisciplinary Connections to Engage Students
copy something off the internet.
The second thing concerns inclusion.
The number one thing students need (and
we all need) is a sense of community. So,
whatever we can do to build community—even through a CS1 experience—is
important. It’s exciting to see a microbiology student connected to people who do
DNA and genetics. He found a community,
all through an assignment in a class! That’s
what brings about success and retains
students—when they find communities
they feel safe in and people they can go to
for help and support. It’s not just interdisciplinary content, it’s interdisciplinary
connections.
Mark: That’s brilliant, Elizabeth. Basically,
you’re saying we can leverage some of
this interdisciplinary excitement to build
community.
Elizabeth: Exactly. Students need real
problems and communities to share them
with.
Learn More
Explore Mark’s and Elizabeth’s work in the
EngageCSEdu collection [ 2] and explore
promising practices for “Making Interdisciplinary Connections” and the engagement
principle, “Build Student Community” on
the EngageCSEdu Engagement Practices
pages [ 3, 4].
Consider submitting your own introductory CS materials or joining our reviewer
pool. For more information, contact us at
engagecsedu@ncwit.org.
Acknowledgements
Mark acknowledges the colleagues who have worked
with him in computing across the curriculum, most
notably Mike Drout (English, Wheaton College) and
Scott Kleinman (English, California State University,
Northridge). Elizabeth acknowledges Martin Muggli for
his insights and help from Colorado State University.
Beth thanks her wonderfully insightful colleagues at the
National Center for Women & Information Technology,
especially the social science team who helped construct
the Engagement Practices Framework. “Making
Interdisciplinary Connections” is a key technique within
the Framework.
References
1. Alvarado, C., Dodds, Z. and Libeskind-Hadas, R.
Increasing women’s participation in computing at
Harvey Mudd College. ACM Inroads 3, 4 (December
2012), 55–64.
2. EngageCSEdu collection; https://www.engage-csedu.org/search/materials. Accessed 11 April 2017.
3. EngageCSEdu. Grow Inclusive Community; https://
www.engage-csedu.org/engagement/grow-inclusive-student-community. Accessed 2017
February 7.
4. EngageCSEdu, Make Interdisciplinary Connections;
https://www.engage-csedu.org/engagement/make-it-matter/make-interdisciplinary-connections-cs.
Accessed 2017 February 7.
5. National Center for Women & Information
Technology. Engagement Excellence Awards;
https://www.ncwit.org/project/ncwit-engagecsedu-engagement-excellence-awards. Accessed 2017
February 7.
6. National Center for Women & Information
Technology. Media Computation at Georgia Tech
(Case Study 1); https://www.ncwit.org/mediacomp.
Accessed 2017 February 7.
Elizabeth Boese
Instructor
Department of Computer Science
University of Colorado-Boulder
ECOT 733
Boulder, CO 80302 USA
elizabeth.boese@colorado.edu
Mark LeBlanc
Professor
Department of Math and Computer
Science
Wheaton College
Norton, MA, USA
leblanc_mark@wheatoncollege.edu
Beth A. Quinn
EngageCSEdu Project Director and
Research Scientist
National Center for Women &
Information Technology
University of Colorado-Boulder
Campus Box 417
Boulder, CO 80309 USA
beth.quinn@ncwit.org
DOI: 10.1145/3078321 Copyright held by authors.
Figure 3: Find more information on the EngageCSEdu site
Students need real
problems and
communities to share
them with.