Pedagogical Challenges of Training Women in Information Technology

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Pedagogical Challenges of Training Women in
Information Technology

• Penny Collings
• School of Computing
• University of Canberra
• Asian Women ICT Trainers Workshop
• Sookmyung Womens University
• Seoul, Nov 2001

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Group exercise

• Pictures to evoke ideas.
• Source Cooney, J. and Burton, K. (1986)
  Photolanguage Australia - Human Values.
  Leichhardt Catholic Education Office.

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Womens ways of learning - 1

• There is not just one way there are many women
  and many ways of learning women use many ways
  of learning.
• Gender preference in learning styles.
• Traditional education is directed towards and
  appeals more to males since it is primarily
  abstract and reflective. Females learn better in
  hands-on and practical settings, emphasizing the
  realm of the affective and doing. Based on the
  results of this study, if females are watching
  and feeling or doing and thinking, they learn
  best. If males are thinking and watching, they
  learn best. (Philbin et al, 491)
• a female respondent commented, I felt like I
  was talked at no transfer of knowledge, really,
  just words without meaning spoken. I never saw
  much practical application for the words/topics
  being discussed. (Philbin et al, 491)

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Womens ways of learning - 2

• Because women frequently use personal
  knowledge drawn from life experience to integrate
  institutional facts and ideas, women are likely
  top be alienated from educational methods which
  emphasize rationalism and the transmission of
  fragmented information Contexts which are
  neither hierarchical and stratified, nor
  competitive and judgemental, seem to be the most
  supportive to the ways in which women learn.
  (Melamed and Devine, based on Belenky et al and
  Spender, 1988)
• the majority of but not all women prefer
  collaborative, intimate learning settings
  learning experiences which integrate theory with
  experience and cognition processes which utilize
  feeling and empathy as well as thought. Womens
  thought, generally, tends to strive to be
  wholistic, complete, and inclusive in terms of
  recognizing both external and internal
  complexity. (Pearson, 4)

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Creating learning environments / situations.

• In one class,
• students had been encouraged to ask
  questions and reveal parts of the problem which
  they did not understand. Such revelations were
  perceived as useful and as an important way to
  initiate problem solving.
• In another class, when she attempted to ask
  questions which revealed only a partial
  understanding of a problem, the woman perceived
  that other students viewed her as less competent
  (or at least foolish). (Rosser, 1995)
• How can we encourage questionning, sharing of
  everyday experiences, collaboration and
  participation as a way of understanding and a way
  of constructing knowledge?

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Training women in IT whats IT?

• IT is anything from hardware, networks,
  communications infrastructure, software programs,
  the internet / www, AIBO the entertainment robot,
  wearable computers,
• IT applications range from process control,
  through e-government, enterprise software, club
  membership, accounting systems, banking, airline
  reservations, small business systems, games, etc.
• If we are involved in learning IT, what might
  we be talking about? Learning programming?
  Learning how to create spreadsheets? How to
  create a web site? How to create a tool? How
  to manage information? How to design an online
  community? How to manage a network? How to set
  up an e-business?

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Whats an appropriate object of analysis when
studying IT?

• The computer? Certainly training is needed for
  this. What else?
• Organisations? Communities?
• Information systems?
• Socio-technical systems?
• Work practices? Business processes? Tasks?
• Articulation work? the work involved in
  making things happen planning, coordination,
  generating mutual understanding, deciding on the
  division of labour,
• this type of work is local and situational, and
  thus has been invisible in all analyses searching
  for permanent, well-defined routines. (Kuutti,
  1995)

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Tasks and work as the objects of analysis

• IT is seen as embedded in / supporting a task or
  work study the task or the work practice to see
  how to make this activity more convenient and
  effective. Maybe IT has a role but that emerges
  from the study / observation / discussions.
• Learning IT must be embedded in this
  understanding of why we would learn IT at all!

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Training? Active learning? Developing
educational goals and needs?

• Training is important you need to learn how to
  turn on a computer, save files, write HTML,
  create system models, etc. You need to know when
  you require training.
• You also need to become an active learner.
• This is important in the analysis and design
  process (of mutual learning between client / user
  and designer).
• It is also important as a way of recognising and
  stating your learning requirements (about IT).
• Design of training design the training space,
  place and process to support womens learning
  styles and needs.

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Whats a good design of a learning space and
process?

• (group to construct this )

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Group exercise

• Refer to the table of educational dialectics
  from Belenky and the questionnaire based on this
  from Philbin et al. Please answer this
  questionnaire do this with a partner discuss
  your answers.

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Learning alone or learning together? Communities
of learners?

• Support?
• Repositories of information / resources?
• CSCW / CSCL / online communities.
• Online workspaces for group project work and
  collaborative learning.
• Examples (following).

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Examples of online workspaces resources and chat
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Examples of online workspaces resources and chat
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Examples of online workspaces conversations
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Examples of online workspaces conversations
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Examples of online workspaces shared workspace
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Examples of online workspaces shared workspace
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References

• Belenky, M.F. et al (1986) Womens Ways of
  Knowing The Development of Self, Voice, and
  Mind, Basic Books
• Cooney, J. and Burton, K. (1986) Photolanguage
  Australia - Human Values, Leichhardt Catholic
  Education Office
• Enns, C.Z. (1993) Integrating separate and
  connected knowing the experiential learning
  model, Teaching of Psychology, 20,1, 7-13
• Kuutti, K. (1995) Debates in IS and CSCW
  research anticipating systems design for
  post-Fordist work, in Orlikowski, W. et al (eds)
  Information Technology and Changes in
  Organizational Work, Proceedings of IFIPWG8.2
  working conference on IT and changes in
  organizational work. 177-196
• Pearson, C.S. (1992) Women as learners
  diversity and educational quality, Journal of
  Developmental Education, 16,2, 2-10
• Philbin, M. et al (1995) A survey of gender and
  learning styles, Sex Roles, 32,7/8, 485-494
• Rosser, S. (1995) Transforming climate and
  curriculum to include women in science,
  engineering and mathematics, Bridging the Gender
  Gap, conference proceedings, Carnegie Mellon
  University, 1995, 63-69
• Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice
  Learning, Meaning and Identity, Cambridge
  University Press

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