Over the last few weeks, we have discussed issues related to the working and diversity. As evident in our class discussions, these topics are complex but important to consider.
For this second project, you are to work in groups of 2-4 on one of the following options:
Design an interview process.
Profile an inspirational STEM woman or minority.
Analyze the demographics of the Notre Dame Computer Science and Engineering program.
For the first option, you are to turn the tables and become the interviewer and design what you think would be an ideal and ethical interview process. As group, determine the following:
What sort of behavorial questions would you ask?
What are the reasons for asking these questions? What do you hope to learn about the candidate?
What sort of technical questions would you ask?
What are the reasons for asking these questions? What do you hope to learn about the candidate?
In what sort of environment would this interview take place?
Would you use a whiteboard? Online text editor? Take home assignments?
How would you evaluate the candidate?
What sort of characteristics are you looking far? How much does cultural fit play into your decision making?
Your final artifact should be a document in PDF or podcast (SoundCloud or Google Drive) that outlines this interview process and discusses and explores the group's approach to the interview process.
Once one group member has posted this artifact to his or her blog, then each group member should create a reflection post that references the artifact, and answers the following questions:
Why is the interview process so difficult both for the interviewer and the interviewee? What are the challenges faced by both sides?
How does your group's proposed interview process differ from your experience? Is your proposed interview process more ethical than the ones you've experienced? Explain why or why not.
For the second option, you are to profile an inspirational STEM woman or racial/ethnic minority. You may pick a famous person such as Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, or James Mickens, or you may pick someone local such as a professor or graduate student. In your profile, you should consider the following:
What is the person's background? What contributions has this person made to STEM?
Did the person face any obstacles due to their minority status? If so, how did they overcome them?
What is inspiring about this person? What sort of message does this person present? Does this person have any memorable quotes?
Your final artifact should be a video or poster in PDF that highlights the person's story, including their history, their contributions, their challenges, and how they are inspiring. You may do a podcast if you are interview a local person (that is you ask the person questions).
Once one group member has posted this artifact to his or her blog, then each group member should create a reflection post that references the artifact, and answers the following questions:
Why is it challenging for women and minorities to break into STEM fields? What sort of obstacles do they face?
Are role models important? Growing up, did you have any role models? Who has inspired you or motivated you to pursue your STEM field? Discuss whether or not the person you profiled inspires you and if the person's story resonates with you.
For the final option, you are to analyze the demographics data of the Notre Dame Computer Science and Engineering students, which can be found here.
For your analysis, you are to create an infographic and then either provide a written discussion of the infographic or a podcast discussing the presentation of the data.
Some things to discuss or consider:
What are some of the trends in the ND CSE demographics?
How do the ND CSE students compare to the general ND population?
How do the ND CSE students compare to the general US population?
How do the ND CSE students compare to students at another institution?
How do the ND CSE students compare to the workforce at top technology companies?
Once one group member has posted the artifact to his or her blog, then each group member should create a reflection post that references the artifact, and answers the following questions:
What about the demographics data is surprising to you? What was the most interesting thing you discovered? What wasn't surprising and why not?
Should the ND CSE department (or Notre Dame in general) strive to improve its diversity? What are the benefits of diversity? What are the costs? What are the obstacles to increasing diversity?
Your project is due at 11:59 PM Thursday, September 29, 2016.
To submit your project, one group member should post the artifact to their blog. Everyone in the group should then reference it their reflection of the project.