Five focused strategies for increasing retention in Computer Science 1
Tim DeClue, Jeff Kimball, Baochuan Lu, J.T. Cain · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2011
Increasing retention of students in computer science-particularly in the first course-is a frequently studied and much discussed topic in the discipline. This paper presents a multi-faceted approach which is practical and which can be generalized to small college settings. In particular, the authors describe strategies for building a sense of community among the students, increasing opportunities for programming practice and success, adopting a high-quality supporting software set, and making use of motivating assignments. As a result, 95% of students (128 of 134) who began the course in the fall semester for the years 2005--2009 persisted to the point of receiving a final grade.