A summer introductory programming course with diversity awareness

Abstract

Considering the need to close the gap that exists in the IT sector, universities play a fundamental role in teaching women and men how to program. The Universidad de los Andes and the CSBridge association of Stanford University joined forces to teach High School students how to code in the Colombian context during the summer vacations of 2022. This document is a retrospective report of the experience and a collection of identified areas of improvement. These areas of improvement are meant for 1) students to have a better perspective towards programming and 2) to attract a greater number of women to the IT sector. Although this experience was based in the Colombian context, these proposals can be adapted to different contexts.