“Participating Under the Influence”: How Role Models Affect the Computing Discipline, Profession, and Student Population

This full paper in the research track presents how individuals in computing education may have role models that represent different ways of engaging in the discipline and/or profession as a student or a professional. The study is based on two rounds of interview-based data collection at a department of computing: a longitudinal study of undergraduate students' view of the discipline, and an examination of their teachers' experiences as role models in computing education. Our results challenge traditional views of role models as those who set the norms, presenting instead role models as potentially capable of change, at different scales (including none), depending on their level of power. These role models are students, academics, and other professionals. We show that the potential of role models must be understood with respect to how engagement in computing is constructed in social interaction. Actions are suggested for relevant stakeholders to reflect on which role models are receiving more or less exposure than they should and how through these role models participation in computing can be broadened in terms of not only diverse backgrounds but also ways of engaging in computing.