Evaluation

Indeed, when creating an all-female course or recruiting new female faculty staff, the most straightforward way to see whether the action worked is to compare recruitment/retention numbers before and after the implementation.

Actions such as once-off outreach events, workshops, industry visits can use feedback as an evaluation approach. Feedback on measures such as, perception of the field, and interest in computing, could be assessed before and after the event. Alternatively, feedback of enjoyment/satisfaction from an event can be collected.

Actions which take place in the classroom such as pair programming, or changing the class or lab dynamics can use same evaluation approaches as actions that take place during the academic term outside of class. The latter include, buddy systems or personalised emails received from the lectures with feedback on assessment. If a short term impact is required, they can be evaluated with measures such as sense of belonging survey or by using feedback with one or multiple measures listed above.

Actions such as advertising campaigns or amendment of marketing materials would benefit from knowing the statistical numbers afterwards, rather than asking students for feedback/opinions/perceptions.

Our current work-in-progress suggestion is to select actions for evaluation where evidence of impact is possible in a relatively short term. By that, we mean that the impact can be seen immediately after implementation. These actions could include many in-class initiatives, as well as some mentoring programs.