Are You Experienced?

1
Are You Experienced?

• College Students and Early Computer Influences
• Sharon Stoerger
• sstoerge_at_indiana.edu
• September 29, 2007

Gender and IT Education Conference, Indiana
University, 2007
2
Topic

• Information Technology
• CS
• Applied
• Early interests IT career?
• Influences
• Parents mother, father, both
• Other socializers
• Family members aunt, uncle
• Teachers
• Voice

3
Why Interesting? Underrepresentation!

• CS Bachelors degrees (U.S. Department of
  Education, 2006)
• 8.1 percentage point drop
• 1979-80 compared to 2004-05
• women in the workforce (Cohen Greenwald,
  2003)
• IT 41 to 34.9 (1996 to 2002)
• Overall 46.6 U.S. workforce
• Job Prospects (Bureau of Labor Statistics,
  2006-07 U.S. Department of Commerce, 2003)
• FAVORABLE
• Salary expectations ?35k-100K

4
The Literature Parental Effects

• Children imitate parents behavior (Jacobs
  Bleeker, 2004)
• Motivation, increased enjoyment (Eccles, 1993)
• Parental computer use positive influence
  (Simpkins et al., 2005)
• Parental expectations (Bleeker Jacobs, 2004
  Jacobs, 2005 Linver Davis-Kean, 2005)
• Early interest
• Course selection
• Career choice
• Females

5
The Literature Social Factors

• Stereotypes (Cooper, 2006 Eccles Jacobs, 1986)
• Performance anxiety and stress
• Not grounded in reality
• Conform to negative expectations
• Eccles Jacobs study (1986)
• Science, December 1980
• Sex differences mathematical ability
• Confirmed mothers beliefs
• Fathers challenged the evidence

6
Data Round 1

• Fall 2004, Spring 2005
• 136 students
• 64 - female
• 36 - male
• Nationality
• 82 - U.S.
• 20 - non-U.S. locations

7
Methods

• Face-to-face interviews
• 36 interview questions
• Questions of interest
• There is research that suggests that males start
  using computers earlier than females and on their
  own more than females. Is that consistent with
  your experience?
• (If so) Why do you think that is?
• (If not) What has your experience been?
• Was that typical for your peer group?

8
Results

• 41 females 12 males ? early computer influences
• Fathers
• Females all disciplines
• The Managerial Woman (Henning Jardim, 1977)
• My dad has an interest in computers, and he
  always encouraged me to play with them. So
  theres always a push for me toI wasnt limited
  to do anything.
• Female undergraduate in CS
• Males LIS, but also a factor in CS
• Mothers
• Females Informatics, MIS
• Males CS, Information Schools
• Other socializers

9
Influences on Computer Use
Father
10
Father Influence

• So I didnt have any experience on taking apart
  a computer or any of that or really even
  programming but I think that my dad put a lot of
  confidence in me. Like he would get a new
  computer and he wouldnt have time to figure out
  how to work it and so he would say, why dont you
  sit down and figure out how to work this thing
  for a couple of days and then let me know how to
  do it. And so Id fiddle around with it for a
  while.
• Female graduate student in CS

11
Father Influence

• I would just say my sisters have always been
  scared. My mom has always been scared. My dad has
  always been great with computers... he has always
  been good. And I mean there is just I would say a
  lot of women I have met are more scared of
  computers than they should be. I have no reason
  why.
• Male undergraduate in Informatics

12
Influences on Computer Use
Mother
13
Mother Influence

• My mom was really the one who thought that I
  should get into these things and she saw that I
  had an interest in them. I mean my momshe was
  probably a little more progressive in some sense
  in terms of understanding what computers could be
  for the future and so she really provided me with
  that space to get interested.
• Male graduate student in LIS

14
Parental Influence

• My parents were always about getting more
  technology new technology. Theyre both in a
  very science-based field and so Ive been
  surrounded by science and math growing up all the
  time, and so as well as English, too, cause my
  mom was like a really big both my parents are
  very much into reading, so I mean, Im like a
  very well-rounded person because I love math and
  science but I also love English. My parents are
  very encouraging. If I showed any interest in
  anything, theyre just like, Oh, I'll get you
  this. So, I mean, I think that was a really big
  help growing up at least getting into things.
• Female undergraduate in CS

15
Other Influences

• Female IT instructors HS, college
• Other socializers aunts, uncles
• Lose the fear license to make mistakes
• I think thats why a lot of younger kids are a
  lot better at computers than their parents,
  because theyre not afraid to try things. I think
  adults are very afraid of breaking something and
  not being able to use it and the kids are like,
  I dont care. And you break it you learn how
  to fix it.
• Female undergraduate in CS

16
Summary Quote

• I think since I got pushed into video games and
  stuff, I learned computers really quick and I
  liked them a lot. Whereas a lot of females dont
  really get into it as much or theyre kind of
  discouraged from playing with the computer as
  much as like a Barbie or something like that.
• Female undergraduate in CS

17
Interpretation

• Parental support/encouragement important (e.g.,
  Eccles, 1993 Jacobs Bleaker, 2004 Linver
  Davis-Kean, 2005 Simpkins et al., 2005 Watt et
  al., 2006)
• Fathers
• Play with the computer confidence
• Do not fear the computer?fix
• Challenge stereotypes in favor of daughter
  (Eccles Jacobs, 1986)
• Mothers (Jacobs Bleeker, 2004 Simpkins et al.,
  2005)
• Encouraged technological exploration
• Material encouragement
• Male students ? more frequently
• Female students Informatics, MIS

18
Conclusion The Future

• Barriers, but
• Parents, other socializers ? confidence
• Grow up with computers ? comfort
• Gave up other activities television
• Educational changes ? attract students (Jacobs,
  2005)
• Older teenage girls gt boys (Lenhart et al., 2005)
• Email, information searches
• Eliminate leaky pipeline?

19
Theres Hope

• So I think as time goes on, well start to see
  that more girls are using computers at an earlier
  age. Like I dont think its going to be a
  problem.
• Female undergraduate in CS

20
Thank you!

• Questions?