Mao, K., & Ferguson, S., & Magarian, J. N., & Olechowski, A. (2023, June), “Just a little bit on the outside for the whole time”: Social belonging confidence and the persistence of machine learning and artificial intelligence students  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42325

\bibitem{asee_peer_42325}
  Mao, K., \& Ferguson, S., \& Magarian, J. N., \& Olechowski, A. (2023, June), \emph{“Just a little bit on the outside for the whole time”: Social belonging confidence and the persistence of machine learning and artificial intelligence students}
  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland.
  10.18260/1-2--42325

Katherine Mao, Sharon Ferguson, James N. Magarian, and Alison Olechowski.  "“Just a little bit on the outside for the whole time”: Social belonging confidence and the persistence of machine learning and artificial intelligence students".  2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2023.  https://peer.asee.org/42325 Internet.  21 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_42325}
  Katherine Mao, Sharon Ferguson, James N. Magarian, and Alison Olechowski.
  "“Just a little bit on the outside for the whole time”: Social belonging confidence and the persistence of machine learning and artificial intelligence students".
  \emph{2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2023.
  https://peer.asee.org/42325 Internet.  21 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_42325
author = "Katherine Mao, Sharon Ferguson, James N. Magarian, and Alison Olechowski"
title = "“Just a little bit on the outside for the whole time”: Social belonging confidence and the persistence of machine learning and artificial intelligence students"
booktitle = "2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2023"
month = "June"
address = "Baltimore , Maryland"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/42325}
number = {10.18260/1-2--42325}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The growing field of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) presents a unique and unexplored case within persistence research, meaning it is unclear how past findings from engineering will apply to this developing field. We conduct an exploratory study to gain an initial understanding of persistence in this field and identify fruitful directions for future work. One factor that has been shown to predict persistence in engineering is belonging; we study belonging through the lens of confidence, and discuss how attention to social belonging confidence may help to increase diversity in the profession. In this research paper, we conduct a small set of interviews with students in ML/AI courses. Thematic analysis of these interviews revealed initial differences in how students see a career in ML/AI, which diverge based on interest and programming confidence. We identified how exposure and initiation, the interpretation of ML and AI field boundaries, and beliefs of the skills required to succeed may influence students’ intentions to persist. We discuss differences in how students describe being motivated by social belonging and the importance of close mentorship. We motivate further persistence research in ML/AI with particular focus on social belonging and close mentorship, the role of intersectional identity, and introductory ML/AI courses.
AU  - Katherine Mao
AU  - Sharon Ferguson
AU  - James N. Magarian
AU  - Alison Olechowski
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - “Just a little bit on the outside for the whole time”: Social belonging confidence and the persistence of machine learning and artificial intelligence students
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/42325
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--42325
ER  -