Innovations and Opportunities

SIGCSE 2022 Affiliated Event by the SIGCSE Committee on Computing Education in Liberal Arts Colleges

Supporting Computer Science Student Mental Health

Contributed by Contributed by Christian Murphy, cmurphy1@brynmawr.edu, Bryn Mawr College

Brief summary of topic

Long hours, lacking a sense of belonging, and fear of failure are just some of the stressors that affect Computer Science students and professionals alike, leading to burnout, anxiety, and depression. Although this issue is not unique to the field of computing, there is significant need for awareness and support around student mental health in the CS education community. However, while many CS educators recognize the importance of supporting their students’ mental health, many feel ill-equipped to do so, are unsure if their approaches are helpful to students, and seek a community of educators with whom they can share ideas.

Of particular concern is the mental health of students in underrepresented and marginalized groups within Computer Science, particularly women, first-generation/low-income students, and members of the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, as they struggle to cope with the unprecedented events of the past two years, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the worldwide protests against systemic racial injustice, and the run-up to and fallout from the US Presidential election while participating in challenging academic courses. Given that Liberal Arts Colleges seek to serve such students, this issue is particularly relevant to our community.

Participants in this session will have an opportunity to discuss the mental health issues that affect CS students, share resources that are available to students and educators, and describe their efforts to create and foster a culture of understanding and support for student mental health within their communities. Attendees will participate in a discussion around experiences of helping individual students overcome their mental health-related struggles, and best practices for supporting all students’ mental health.

Description of session structure

Space or resource considerations

The space should permit for a single discussion among all participants, as well as space for 3-4 small group discussions.

The small group discussion spaces should have a physical space for writing and sharing notes and ideas, though a shared electronic document would likely suffice, assuming at least one small group participant has a laptop.

In the final part of the session, each small group will need to create an electronic document to be shared after the session, so at least one person will need a laptop.

Ideal Audience for Session

This session is appropriate for any CS instructors or administrators who are interested in understanding how to support their students’ mental health, and for students who want to provide feedback on their experiences in this area and who want to participate in fostering supportive environments among their classmates.

Intended Outcomes or Products

The outcome of this session will be a “best practices” document that identifies particular mental health-related challenges faced by CS students, ways of addressing those challenges, suggested implementations of those solutions, and tradeoffs or concerns to be considered.