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Bradley professor participates in White House Initiative

A $1.19 million grant was recently awarded to Bradley associate professor of game design Monica McGill and Rochester Institute of Technology colleague Adrienne Decker to study and understand the long-term impact of pre-college computer activities.

The grant, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, is part of a White House initiative called “Computer Science for All.” The initiative seeks to expand computer science education throughout K-12 curriculum.

McGill said the study is important to the initiative because of the current lack of understanding on the subject matter.

“There have been millions of dollars of funding poured into [computer] activities to get students interested in computing careers,” McGill said. “So far, there has not been any method of determining whether these activities have any long-term impact. Our goal is to be able to determine best practices in these activities so that they can have the impact that the organizers desire.”

Senior management information systems major Kerstyn Campbell said she thinks students should have better access to computer technology at younger ages.

“I wish I had been exposed at an earlier age so I could have better understood the subject before coming into college,” Campbell said. “I feel that students of all ages should have the option to be exposed to this field so they can get their hands on [computer] experience and get a glimpse of potential careers for their future.”

According to McGill, the study may last five years and will come in two phases.

“The first phase is identifying what factors might influence the impact of these [computer] activities,” McGill said. “The second phase seeks to collect data on various activities and analyze it.”

McGill explained how, due to software currently being developed by predominantly white males, development favoritism may exist in the functionality of software tools.

“Software tools are being created for one group of people,” McGill said. “We need to be careful that the tools are useful for all in society and are created with an awareness of fairness.”

McGill further detailed how expanding the offering of computer science courses to K-12 students could be crucial to diversifying the software development field.

“Reaching out to a wide variety of K-12 students with activities that inspire and teach computing may be the key to opening doors to more females and non-whites to become an integral part of the software development,” McGill said.

Campbell agreed that diversity is critical to the advancement of the computer science and technology fields.

“Gender should not determine what career path a person should take but what skills they possess that can help benefit the company as a whole,” Campbell said. “People just need to keep an open mind and see where it takes them.”

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