1. Technology Education and Women: Efforts Made at University of Colorado
Lecia Barker
University of Colorado at Boulder
2/22/2019

2. Overview Statistics, why it matters Two or three research projects
Middle school
Undergraduate
Graduate
National Center for Women and IT
2/22/2019

3. Low participation in the US
Girls/women comprise:
13% of advanced placement computer science test takers in secondary school
28% of all CS bachelors degrees
18% of all CS doctoral degrees
20-25% of CS professionals
2/22/2019

4. Why should we care? Social issues
Pervasiveness of IT
Innovation and creativity requires diverse ideas
High attrition of women from CS
Research across many studies shows that women’s performance equals men’s in CS, math, when experience factored out
Difficulty fitting into social context, in spite of apparent interest
2/22/2019

5. Why should we care? Economic Issues
IT jobs are 3 of the 10 fastest growing Projected
IT job growth far exceeds production of qualified workers
US women earn on the average 77% of salaries earned by men doing the same work
2/22/2019

6. Much research & outreach, little progress
Need unified effort
Advocacy with single message
Reason for founding National Center for Women and Information Technology
2/22/2019

7. ATLAS Research at University of Colorado
Research of Middle School Girls
Research of Undergraduate
IT Programs
2/22/2019

8. Middle school: an age of intense peer pressure
Lifetime of experience tells them that computers are in the male domain
Beginning to see themselves as heterosexual beings
Election: only or one of few girls, “path breakers”
Career aspirations
2/22/2019

9. How do we persuade girls?
Recruiting into a high school computer “magnet”
Ethnographic research: observing classrooms, outreach program; interviews
Survey research
2/22/2019

10. Typical recruiting practice v. what kids are attracted to
Cool equipment, software, projects
“If you like computers…”
Fail to recruit girls and non-techy boys
Both boys and girls attracted to:
Able to be with friends
Social acceptance, mutual support
Technology for freedom of expression
Lots of physical movement
Enduring relationships with teachers
2/22/2019

11. Society of Women Engineers recruiting event
717 girls, mixed race/ethnicity
84% of the girls like computers (no differences across groups, age)
81% believe everyone needs to know how to use them (no differences across groups, age)
2/22/2019

12. Latinas significantly less likely to use computer at home
Use of computer at home
Race/Ethnicity
Yes No
White
99% 1%
Latina/Hispanic
76%*
24%
African-American/Black
93% 7%
Asian
83%
17%
American Indian
100% -
Mixed
Other
77%
23%
Latinas significantly less likely to use computer at home
2/22/2019

13. What do you want to do when you grown up?
Recoded category
Percent
Professional emergent
50%
Science, technology, engineering
13%
Traditional for woman
18%
Don’t know
19%
Latinas significantly more likely to indicate traditional role
Youngest girls more likely to report “I don’t know”
2/22/2019

14. Implications (need more research)
Latinas: fewer opportunities for informal learning, (confidence and attitude issues)
Recruit the younger girls
Recruiting messages should align girls’ interests with computing (e.g., technology in veterinary medicine)
2/22/2019

15. Research at undergraduate level
Study compared classroom climates of CS, IT certificate program
>600 hours classroom observation
Interviews with >170 students
Defensive climate in intro/mid courses
Impersonal, competition
Intimidation for less experienced students (I.e., most of the women)
Women feel conspicuous, isolated, and different
2/22/2019

16. Comparing teaching, assessment across programs
CS: lecture, lab
Looking to teacher as fountain of knowledge, expert
CS concepts abstracted from world of experience
Rarely hear other students talk about CS
Lab a non-talkative environment
CS: assessment individualized, secret
Difficult to gauge one’s progress relative to other students
2/22/2019

17. More open learning in TAM
All teaching in labs
Mini-lectures followed by hands-on
Requests for help frequent: both students and professors can be experts, novices
Public assessment of assignments
Required to present, provide critique
Heard each other talk in their own terms (not professor’s disciplinary jargon)
Could gauge where they stood
2/22/2019

18. What does that have to do with women?
Research shows women prefer collaborative learning environments
Women come into CS with less experience
Perform as well as their male peers
Lose confidence easily because they cannot accurately judge their progress (in addition to the more difficult environment)
Change of pedagogy/learning environment may both attract and retain women
2/22/2019

19. Introducing the National Center for Women and IT
Core at University of Colorado-Boulder
Hubs at U California-Irvine and -Berkeley, Georgia Tech, U Oregon, Girl Scouts of the USA, Anita Borg Institute, ACM, CRA and CRA-W
Academic Alliance
Industry Alliance
Social Science Network
2/22/2019

20. Goals & Processes
Equal participation of women and men in academic and industrial careers within 20 years
Equal participation at all levels of the education and talent pipeline, from K-12 and undergraduate and graduate study to professional careers
Improved communication
Social change movement
2/22/2019

21. Methods for succeeding
Funding and research at all places in the “pipeline”
Research-based best practices
Ongoing measurements of success
2/22/2019