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5 Easy Steps To Retaining Women To Trades, Science and Technology Classrooms
By
Donna Milgram |
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Would you like to make sure that the women in your classes
successfully complete the course? Did you once have a female
student but she dropped out after the first class? Do you find
that many of your female students come with less experience than
their male counterparts? If you answered yes to any of the above
questions this fact sheet is for you.
Step One: Bridge the Technology Divide
The reality is that overall women tend to have less experience
with technology than their male counterparts, whether we are
talking about computer technology or auto technology.
Instructors who are successful in retaining female students
recognize that they need to start with the basics during the
beginning of the semester so that the less experienced students
get the basic building blocks needed to be successful (this is
helpful to male students missing those basics too). So that
might mean an introduction to tool identification and use or the
basics of navigating the Internet. Instructors should also
provide open lab time for students in need of additional hands-
on experience. If possible, staff the lab with a senior female
student, women are often more comfortable asking questions of
other women in a male-dominated field. For some best practice
case study examples that illustrate these concepts look at the
Cisco Gender Initiative's Best Practice Case Studies developed
by the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science
(IWITTS) (1).
Step Two: Collaborative Learning in the Technology Classroom
Many female students lack confidence in the classroom and this
negatively impacts their learning ability. There are several
reasons for this: first, overall, male students have more
experience with technology, especially hands-on labs; second,
male students tend to boast of their accomplishments while
females tend to think that they are doing poorly even when they
are doing well; third, male students tend to dominate in
classroom discussions and lab activities.
Technology instructors can overcome these factors by using
collaborative group methods in the classroom designed to
increase student learning, interaction and support of each
other. Some examples of these group methods are: 1) grade
students in teams as well as individually; 2) put female
students in positions of leadership in the classroom; 3) assign
students to teams or pairs rather than leaving it up to them to
pick their partners; 4) have female students work together in
labs during the beginning of the semester; 5) enlist the help of
whiz kids with the teaching of their fellow students, providing
them with a constructive outlet for their talents.
Step Three: Contextual Learning
The recent adage that women are from Mars and men are from Venus
is alive and well in the technology classroom -- women and men
have different learning styles when it comes to technology. Most
men are excited by the technology itself -- how fast it is, the
number of gigabytes, the size of the engine. Most women are
engaged by how the technology will be used -- how quickly the
network will run, how much information can be stored, how far
the vehicle can go without refueling. These Mars and Venus
differences have implications for the class curriculum: female
students will better understand technical concepts in the
classroom when they understand the context for them. Don't front
load your computer programming classes with writing computer
code with no context for this if you want to retain most of your
female students. For more information on this subject including
off-the-shelf curriculums for teaching contextual technology
read IWITTS's Making Math and Technology Courses User Friendly
to Women and Minorities: An Annotated Bibliography (2).
Step Four: The Math Factor
Most technology courses require an understanding of applied
math. Many women and girls are fearful of math and have had
negative experiences in the math classroom. This phenomenon is
so common that courses and curriculum on math anxiety for women
are in place around the country. The key to success in teaching
most females math is -- like technology -- contextual and group
learning. Fortunately many off-the-shelf curriculums exist for
teaching math contextually, see IWITTS's bibliography linked
above. Many technology courses at the two-year college level
have math prerequisites that are unrelated to the technology
coursework and omit the applied math that will be needed.
Technology courses should only require math that is relevant to
their courses and/or develop contextual math modules to add to
their curriculum.
Step Five: Connect the Women in Your Classes with Other Women
A female mentor or peer support network can help your students
stay the course when they are feeling discouraged and can
provide helpful tips for succeeding in a predominantly male
environment. There are many on-line and real-time associations
for women in technology, connect your female students to them.
See the Career Links on WomenTechWorld.org for a list of some of
these networks. Also, WomenTechTalk on WomenTechWorld.org -- a
free listserv for women in technology and students -- provides a
combination of support and expert career panels to it's over 200
members from across the U.S.
Bibliography:
(1)
Cisco Gender Initiative's Best Practice Case Studies
(2)
Making Math and Technology Courses User Friendly
to Women and Minorities: An Annotated Bibliography
Donna Milgram is founder and Executive Director of the National
Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (IWITTS).
She is currently the Principal Investigator of the CalWomenTech
Project, a $2 million National Science Foundation grant awarded
in April 2006. She was also the Principal Investigator of the
WomenTech Project, funded by the National Science Foundation,
which had a goal of increasing the number of women enrolled and
retained in technology education in three national community
college demonstration sites. She led IWITTS's partnership with
the Cisco Learning Institute (CLI)/Cisco Gender Initiative. Ms.
Milgram produced the interactive teacher training video "School-
to-Work: Preparing Young Women for High Skill, High Wage
Careers." Ms. Milgram's recent conference presentations include:
the NSF ATE Conference "Recruiting Women to Science, Technology,
Engineering & Math" (2004) and California Educating for Careers
Conference in 2003.
Author's Bio
Donna Milgram is founder and Executive Director of the National
Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (IWITTS), a
California-based national nonprofit organization dedicated to
providing training, e-strategies, publications and technical
assistance nationally to the education system and employers to
integrate women into technology and law enforcement careers. She
has developed extensive resource publications, produced an
instructional video, and conducted hundreds of workshops on
recruiting and retaining women in technology education and
related occupations at national WomenTech workshops, national
and state conferences and for state, regional and local
educational institutions.
Ms. Milgram is currently the Principal Investigator of the
CalWomenTech Project, a $2 million National Science Foundation
grant awarded in April 2006. Over a five-year period, IWITTS
will work with ten California community colleges' emerging
technology centers to assist them in recruiting and retaining
women and will disseminate the results statewide and nationally.
Ms. Milgram was also the Principal Investigator of the WomenTech
Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, which had a
goal of increasing the number of women enrolled and retained in
technology education in three national community college
demonstration sites. Key accomplishments included: doubling the
number of females enrolled in the Community College of Rhode
Island's technology programs ranging from telecommunications
technology to computer networking technology to electronics
technology; development of a WomenTech section of the three
participating community college's Web sites; launching of
www.womentechworld.org,
an online community for women technicians and students with content of over 50 role models and
a WomenTechTalk ListServ, Message Board and E-Mentoring site;
and the successful piloting of "Tech Readiness" courses designed
to bridge the digital divide. The Community College of Rhode
Island (CCRI) WomenTech site received a "Best Practice Award"
for the Project from the American Association for Women in
Community Colleges at their national conference in Dallas, Texas
in March 2003.
Ms. Milgram led IWITTS's partnership with the Cisco Learning
Institute (CLI)/Cisco Gender Initiative via e-research, e-
strategies, e-training and consultation on marketing,
evaluation, and e-support. Ms. Milgram developed the majority of
the content of the domestic best practice portion of the CLI
Gender Initiative Web site, click here to go to their site.
Accomplishments of the Gender Initiative Project include: online
focus groups with Academy Instructors and a focus group report;
case study profiles of 11 best practice sites; FAQs on
recruiting and retaining females to Cisco Networking Academy
Programs; two online training sessions for Academy instructors
on recruiting and retaining females, and profiles of female role
models.
Ms. Milgram produced the interactive teacher training
video "School-to-Work: Preparing Young Women for High Skill,
High Wage Careers" and accompanying train-the-trainer
publications in 1997 as part of the School-To-Work: Women in
Science, Engineering & Math (SEM) National Science Foundation
Project. Ms. Milgram was Principal Investigator for this joint
effort with the North Carolina School-to-Work Office and the
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This Project
was funded for field-test only, and since that time Ms. Milgram
has conducted hundreds of national and statewide train-the-
trainer workshops and personally trained thousands of educators
on recruiting and retaining women and girls for technology
occupations on a fee-for-service basis.
Ms. Milgram's recent conference presentations include: the NSF
ATE Conference "Recruiting Women to Science, Technology,
Engineering & Math" (2004), California Educating for Careers
Conference in 2003; League for Innovation in the Community
College, pre-conference Learning Center Course at the national
IT conference, workshop at annual conference in 2002;
Association for Gender Equity in Leadership Education, 2002;
Cisco Networkers National Conferences in 2001; Women and the New
Economy, US Department of Labor, Region IX Women's Bureau, 2001.
Keynotes: Cisco Learning Institute National Conference --
Workforce of the Future, 1999; National Coalition on Sex Equity
in Education, 1998.
Ms. Milgram served as an advisory member of the IT Advisory
Consortium, IT Career Cluster Initiative, of the Education
Development Center; and is a former board member of the National
Association of Private Industry Councils; the Montgomery County
(MD) Private Industry Council; the Federal Committee on
Apprenticeship; Girls Inc. of the Island City (where she also
chaired the Board Development Committee); the Technology
Committee of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce; and the editorial
Advisory committee of the Skills USA's newsletter.
In 1992 Ms. Milgram testified before Congress as an expert
witness on sexual harassment of women in nontraditional
occupations. In 1993 she testified before Congress on the School-
To-Work Opportunities Act about the absence of young women from
many U.S. Department of Labor school-to-work demonstration
sites. Ms. Milgram spent a year on Capitol Hill in the office of
Congresswoman Connie Morella (MD), as a Congressional Fellow on
Women and Public Policy. She developed two bills on
nontraditional employment. The Women in Apprenticeship
Occupations and Nontraditional Occupations Act (PL 102-350),
authored by Ms. Milgram on behalf of Congresswoman Morella, was
signed into law in 1992. The Commission on the Advancement of
Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering, and Technology
Development Act (PL 105-255) was signed into law in October
1998.
A nationally recognized expert on women and workforce
development issues, Ms. Milgram has been quoted in The
Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune and numerous education
journals and has appeared on CNN, Fox Morning News and C-Span.
Ms. Milgram was one of two guest experts on an hour long program
on National Public Radio for The Merrow Report-"Girls and
Technology: Closing the Gender Gap."
Ms. Milgram graduated cum laude from the University of
Pennsylvania and received a Masters degree from the University
of Maryland, where she was valedictorian for her school.
Additional Resources:
National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science
WomenTech and CalWomenTech Projects
WomenTechStore
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