Whats a nice girl like you doing in a place like this

1
Whats a nice girl like youdoing in a place like
this?

• Women in IT Education

Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Ph.D.Rochester Institute
of Technology
2
Whats the Problem?

• Women are underrepresented in technology
  education
• Women are underrepresented in technology
  employment

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Gender Breakdown for CS Graduates
Source CRA Taulbee Survey
4
Gender Breakdown for IT Workers with College
Degrees
Source US Bureau of the Census, Population Survey
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IT Workforce Statistics (ITAA)
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AAUW Tech Savvy Report

• Girls represent 17 percent of the Computer
  Science "AP" test takers, and less than one in 10
  of the higher level Computer Science "AB" test
  takers.
• Women are roughly 20 percent of IT professionals.
• Women receive less than 28 percent of the
  computer science bachelor's degrees, down from a
  high of 37 percent in 1984. Computer science is
  the only field in which womens participation has
  actually decreased over time.
• Women make up just 9 percent of the recipients of
  engineering-related bachelors degrees.

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AAUW Report Conclusions

• Girls find programming classes tedious and dull,
  computer games too boring, redundant, and
  violent, and computer career options uninspiring.
• Girls would prefer games that feature simulation,
  strategy, and interaction. (These would appeal to
  a broad range of learners.)
• Gender equity is not about use of tools. Its
  about proactive use, interpreting the information
  that technology makes available, understanding
  design concepts, and being a lifelong learner of
  technology.
• The "drive by" approach to teacher training
  focuses on the technical properties of hardware
  it does not emphasize educational applications or
  innovative uses of computing for each subject
  area.

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Definitional Problem What is IT?

• Census groups a wide range of technology-related
  occupations into this category
• Industry defines it equally broadly
• Academia is narrowing the definition
• Not CS, MIS, SE, or LIS
• Hybrid discipline

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How is IT Different?

• Increased focus on the soft skills
• Prioritizes technology as a tool for solving
  problems
• Students manage and integrate existing
  technologies, rather than inventing new ones
• All these things seem to point to a more
  female-friendly environment

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RITs IT Faculty

• 46 total tenure-track faculty
• 15 women (33)
• 15 tenured
• 3 women (20)
• 31 untenured
• 12 women (39)
• Department chair, associate chair are women

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RITs IT Students

• Current undergraduates
• 402 of 2155 are women (19)
• Entering freshmen
• 2000-2001 34 of 318 (11)
• Fall 2001 17 of 205 (8)
• Transfers
• 2000-2001 38 of 152 (25)
• Departing freshmen
• 2000-2001 18 of 120 (15)

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AAUW Recommendations

• Transform pink software
• Incorporate elements and themes that engage both
  boys and girls.
• Subject rather than tool focus
• Infuse technology concepts and uses into subject
  areas ranging from music to history to the
  sciences
• Prepare tech-savvy teachers
• Emphasize more than the use of the computer as a
  productivity tool.
• Educate girls to be designers, not just users
• Use "tinkering" activities to stimulate deeper
  interest in technology provide opportunities for
  girls to express their technological
  imaginations.
• Change the public face of computing
• Girls tend to imagine that computer professionals
  or those who work heavily with information
  technology live in a solitary, antisocial world.
  This is an alienatingand incorrectperception.

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NSF Research Programs

• Information Technology Experiences for Students
  Teachers (ITEST)
• Information Technology Research (ITR)
• Information Technology Workforce (ITWF)

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ITWF Current Research

• Environment Culture
• Effect of electronic games toys
• Portrayal of IT/workers in media
• Effect of technology immersion in HS
• IT Educational Continuum
• Factors related to retention in undergrad CS
• Effectiveness of pair programming in CS
• IT Workplace
• Labor market barriers discouraging women from IT
  careers
• Success of LMI programs

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Research Gaps

• New IT programs and colleges are not being
  studied--only CS
• Graduate programs in IT and CS programs are not
  being studied
• Most research assumes independent variables have
  been identified

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Proposed Research

• Use Dervins Sense-Making methodology to elicit
  independent variables in the IT context
• Survey multiple populations
• Women considering RIT/IT (identified through open
  houses and admissions office)
• Women entering IT (freshmen transfer), both
  upon entering, and longitudinally
• Female alumni of IT
• Extend pilot study to other IT programs
  (identified through participation in SITE)
• Build a model to compare to CS departments
  (research being done by J. Cohoon)

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Contact Information

• Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Ph.D.
• Information Technology Dept, RIT
• ell_at_mail.rit.edu
• http//www.it.rit.edu/ell/