Robots, recruitment, and retention: Broadening participation through CS0

Despite increasing demands for computing professionals in the global economy, interest in computing careers and their related university majors has declined steadily over the past decade, leading to challenges in recruiting undergraduate majors in computing programs. These problems are exacerbated when the university serves traditionally underrepresented groups and students who come from economically depressed communities. We present an innovative approach for a “CS0” course, designed to recruit and retain computer science and computer engineering majors at a Hispanic-serving university in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We use Lego^® Mindstorms^® NXT robots as the primary tool for learning algorithmic problem solving and fundamental programming concepts, in a supportive, social learning environment. We delivered the course during two semesters. One semester focused on increasing awareness about career possibilities in computing fields among female students, while the second semester's class targeted retaining early computer science and computer engineering majors. Early assessments indicate that our approach is successful for our student population. Student interest in the course increased dramatically from the first semester to the next, and student engagement remained high during the semester. To date, the retention rate of the computer science and engineering majors who completed the course is 100%.