Couragion Computer Science Challenges Show Real World Context

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of serving as a ‘luminary’ at a Women in Tech event. I was thrilled to find out that the table I was assigned to had one of our amazing Couragion role models. That’s us in the pic rocking our pigtails in the heat – Devon is the one sporting her JavaScript dress! The best part of spending the afternoon together was when I showed her the avatar we created of her for our new CS Quality Assurance Challenge.

Devon is an Automation Engineer at HomeAdvisor and the star of one of our new computer science (CS) work-based learning Challenges. Our CS Challenges better serve underrepresented populations by incorporating: a) a greater purpose in demonstrating how tech jobs help people, animals, or society; b) a real world context that shows relevance of learning tech tasks; c) a focus on mastering essential skills; and d) recognition and encouragement supports.

Here’s one of my favorite Couragion quotes from a young woman after learning more about Devon’s personal journey, “I think attending bootcamps to learn new skills is a great pathway for me.” Devon started out as a teacher and decided to change it up after attending Hackbright Academy which is a 12-week immersive software engineering program for women. Devon’s story is a great example of alternative postsecondary pathways!

If you will be at CSTA in Omaha, Nebraska July 8th – 10th come say hello and take the Couragion CS Challenges yourself! We’ll be in booth #40 next to our friends from Oracle Academy.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1660021. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.