Gender Differences in Class Participation in Online versus In-Person Core CS Courses
Madison Brigham, Jo\"el Porquet-Lupine

TL;DR
This study examines how the shift from in-person to online CS classes during COVID-19 affected gender participation gaps, revealing environment-driven differences and emphasizing the need for further investigation.
Contribution
It provides empirical evidence that gender differences in participation are environment-dependent, highlighting the impact of online learning on reducing gender gaps in CS courses.
Findings
Gender gap in participation diminishes online
Students compare themselves less online, especially females
Participation differences are environment-driven, not inherent
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered how post-secondary students receive their education. Namely, the transition from an in-person to an online class format changed how students interact with their instructors and their classmates. In this paper, we use student participation scores from two core computer science classes across ten in-person and three online quarters at a public research university to analyze whether the shift to primarily asynchronous online learning has impacted the gender gap in student participation scores and students' attitudes towards themselves and their peers. We observe a shift on the online class forum: in in-person classes, males score higher on average and dominate the top scores while in online classes, male and female students participate at approximately the same rate classwide. To understand what might be driving changes in participation behavior,…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsOnline Learning and Analytics · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods · Online and Blended Learning
