INSPIRED Broadening Participation in Computing: Most successful strategies and lessons learned

Lamar University´s Increasing Student Participation in Research Development Program (`INSPIRED´) is an NSF-sponsored Broadening Participation in Computing project that seeks to increase participation of females and underrepresented minorities in computing. This comprehensive multi-dimensional program includes a broad spectrum of supporting activities that are designed to attract, retain and transition students to the computing workforce. This paper briefly describes the motivation for the program, the research that underpins its strategies, and a comparison of the INSPIRED approach with other existing efforts. Well-developed approaches for assessing the impact of the strategies on student participants are also discussed. The paper focuses on practical methods for the implementation of the most effective program components and includes suggestions for those who would like to adopt them. Lessons learned from experience are used to address components receiving variable ratings or having the least positive impact.