Promoting Diversity in CS via Code as a Liberal Art

Abstract

We discuss how a minor in Code as a Liberal Art was established through novel approaches to curriculum and pedagogy at a liberal arts college with a strong commitment to progressive interdisciplinary education. Working groups of committed faculty from a range of disciplines, outside of computer science, identified a set of core learning objectives for coding in the liberal arts. Multiple course offerings were developed by faculty with diverse expertise ranging from theater to machine learning to address the core learning objectives within the context of their discipline. This approach suggests a new avenue for broadening participation and increasing equity in computing, especially at institutions without programs in computer science, by addressing wellknown challenges such as student prepared-ness and lack of sufficient faculty with appropriate expertise. More importantly, it demonstrates how, by explicitly avoiding a ‘one size fits all’ model, students from diverse backgrounds can become confident and successful coders within a liberal arts context.