Examining the enrollment growth: non-CS majors in CS1 courses

As enrollments in computer science (CS) undergraduate programs are booming, CS departments are struggling to accommodate more students while also seeking to bring more women and underrepresented minority (URM) students into the field. A particular burden has been placed on introductory CS (i.e., CS1) courses to navigate these important, but sometimes competing, realities. As CS departments employ strategies to manage growing enrollments and recruit more diverse students into their CS1 courses, administrators and faculty will benefit from knowing more about the students who take these courses and how they may differ based on their major (CS majors and non-majors), gender, and race/ethnicity. This paper presents findings from a national study of CS1 courses and discusses key differences in introductory course students’ demographic and background characteristics and pre-course experiences across these groups.