Better Balance in Informatics 2.0: The First-Year Students

TL;DR

This study at UiT aimed to improve gender balance among first-year computer science students by implementing technical seminars, resulting in better technical understanding but requiring more time to assess dropout effects.

Contribution

The paper introduces a seminar series targeting female first-year students to enhance technical skills and explore career paths, addressing gender imbalance in computer science education.

Findings

Improved student understanding of technical topics like file systems and debugging.

Positive development in students' perceived introduction to basic technical topics.

Further long-term measures needed to impact dropout rates and overall study experience.

Abstract

Diversity among computer scientists and technologists is necessary for the sustainable development of society through technological innovation. At UiT The Arctic University of Norway, only 13% of computer science students are women. Many find the learning curve in introductory computer science courses to be very steep, and thus, they drop out. Female students tend to be overrepresented in this group. The goal of this project was to improve the gender balance among computer science students at UiT by focusing on female first-year students and ensuring that they do not drop out of the study programs in the first year of study. The project established a seminar series for strengthening the basic programming-technical skills that many first-year students lack, and exposing them to different aspects and career paths within the computer science subject beyond the focus area of the study program. Results show positive developments, particularly related to the students' perceived introduction to basic technical topics. A comparison between 2024 and 2025 shows improvements in several of the areas addressed in the technical workshops, including use of file systems, terminals, debugging and the code development process. However, effects on dropout and study experience require more long-term measures.