Therefore that might mean an introduction to tool identification and use or the basics of navigating the Internet. Instructors ought to also give open lab time for college students in want of additional hands-on experience. If doable, workers the lab with a senior female student, girls are often additional snug asking queries of different women in an exceedingly male-dominated field. For a few best observe case study examples that illustrate these ideas observe the Cisco Gender Initiative's Best Practice Case Studies developed by the Institute for Ladies in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS) (one).
Step Two: Collaborative Learning within the Technology Classroom
Many female students lack confidence within the classroom and this negatively impacts their learning ability. There are many reasons for this: 1st, overall, male students have a lot of experience with technology, especially hands-on labs; second, male students tend to boast of their accomplishments whereas females tend to suppose that they're doing poorly even after they do well; third, male students tend to dominate in classroom discussions and lab activities.
Technology instructors can overcome these factors by using collaborative group strategies within the classroom designed to increase student learning, interaction and support of each other. Some examples of those group ways are: 1) grade students in groups plus individually; a pair of) place female students in positions of leadership in the classroom; three) assign students to groups or pairs rather than leaving it up to them to select their partners; 4) have feminine students work along in labs during the start 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 ladies are from Mars and men are from Venus is alive and well in the technology classroom -- girls and men have totally different learning styles when it involves technology. Most men are excited by the technology itself -- how briskly it's, the number of gigabytes, the dimensions of the engine. Most ladies are engaged by how the technology can be used -- how quickly the network can run, how much information will be stored, how so much the vehicle can go while not refueling. These Mars and Venus differences have implications for the class curriculum: female students can better understand technical ideas in the classroom after they understand the context for them. Do not front load your laptop programming categories with writing laptop code with no context for this if you would like to retain most of your feminine students. For more data on this subject including off-the-shelf curriculums for teaching contextual technology scan IWITTS's Creating Math and Technology Courses User Friendly to Ladies and Minorities: An Annotated Bibliography (a pair of).
Step Four: The Math Issue
Most technology courses need an understanding of applied math. Several ladies and girls are frightened of math and have had negative experiences in the mathematics classroom. This phenomenon is so common that courses and curriculum on math anxiety for girls 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. Several technology courses at the two-year school level have math conditions that are unrelated to the technology coursework and omit the applied math that can be needed. Technology courses ought to only need math that's relevant to their courses and/or develop contextual math modules to feature to their curriculum.
Step Five: Connect the Girls in Your Categories with Different Ladies
A female mentor or peer support network will help your students stay the course when they are feeling discouraged and will provide useful tips for succeeding in a predominantly male environment. There are various on-line and real-time associations for girls in technology, connect your female students to them. See the Career Links on WomenTechWorld.org for a list of some of these networks. Conjointly, WomenTechTalk on WomenTechWorld.org -- a free listserv for girls in technology and students -- provides a mixture of support and professional career panels to it's over two hundred members from across the U.S.
Donna Milgram is founder and Government Director of the National Institute for Ladies in Trades, Technology & Science (IWITTS). She is currently the Principal Investigator of the CalWomenTech Project, a $two million National Science Foundation grant awarded in April 2006. She was additionally the Principal Investigator of the WomenTech Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, which had a goal of accelerating the amount of ladies enrolled and retained in technology education in three national community faculty demonstration sites. She led IWITTS's partnership with the Cisco Learning Institute (CLI)/Cisco Gender Initiative. Ms. Milgram produced the interactive teacher coaching video "College-to-Work: Making ready Young Women for High Ability, High Wage Careers." Ms. Milgram's recent conference shows include: the NSF ATE Conference "Recruiting Girls to Science, Technology, Engineering & Math" (2004) and California Educating for Careers Conference in 2003.
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Aaron R Daniel has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Computer and Technology, you can also check out his latest website about:
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