attracting girls to technology

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attracting girls to technology
League of Innovation in the Community
CollegeConference on Information
TechnologyNovember 12, 2007

• Professor Frank Lanzer, Associate Professor
• Engineering Technologies
• Professor Brandi R. Shepard, Instructor
• Architecture, Interior Design and Construction
  Management

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Who are we? Whats our story?

• Professor Frank Lanzer, P.E.
• B.S., Electrical Engineering, United States
  Naval Academy M.S., Business Administration,
  Boston University M.S., Electrical Engineering,
  University of Maryland
• Professor Brandi R. Shepard, Assoc. AIA, CSI,
  CDT
• A.A, Architecture, Anne Arundel Community
  College
• B.S. Architecture with a concentration in
  Construction Management, The Catholic University
  of America

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How we got here

• A casual conversation at the college picnic in
  2002

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How we got here

• There are not enough woman enrolled in
  technology based programs at AACC - - whats up
  with that??

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The numbers..
National Data

• The percentage of engineering bachelors degrees
  awarded to women declined for the fourth
  consecutive year in 2005-06.

Michael Gibbons, The 2006 edition of the
Profiles of Engineering and Engineering
Technology Colleges, ASEE, June 2007
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The numbers..

• National Data

Michael Gibbons, The 2006 edition of the
Profiles of Engineering and Engineering
Technology Colleges, ASEE, June 2007
7
The numbers..

• National Data

Michael Gibbons, The 2006 edition of the
Profiles of Engineering and Engineering
Technology Colleges, ASEE, June 2007
8
The numbers..

• Data from AACC technology programs
• Female (Fall) Enrollment in Technology Programs
  from 2003 - 2007

FACULTY 3 WOMEN 4 MEN
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The numbers..

• Data from AACC technology programs
• Female (Fall) Enrollment in Technology Programs
  from 2003 - 2007

FACULTY 1 WOMEN 3 MEN
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The numbers..

• Data from AACC technology programs
• Female (Fall) Enrollment in Technology Programs
  from 2003 - 2007

FACULTY 14 WOMEN 13 MEN
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The numbers..

• Data from AACC technology programs
• Female (Fall) Enrollment in Technology Programs
  from 2003 - 2006

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So, why is this happening??

• Questions asked
• Why are women not enrolling in these programs?
• What is it about these programs that is NOT
  attractive to woman?
• How can we change this trend?

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Our region is spilling over in technology

• Northup Gruman
• National Security Agency at Ft. Meade
• ARINC
• Lockheed Martin
• USi, Cisco Systems
• Federal Govt Agencies and Subcontractors
• NASA-Goddard Space Center

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So, why is this happening??

• The Premise is
• boys invent things and girls use things boys
  invent.
• Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Unlocking the
  Clubhouse Woman in Computing

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So, why is this happening??

• If that were true
• a cyberspace culture will inevitably reflect
  the desires and sensibilities of males to the
  exclusion and often denigration of females.
• Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Unlocking the
  Clubhouse Woman in Computing

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So, why is this happening??

• Begins as early as adolescence
• Stereotypes
• Girls are wired differently than boys
• Psychological, physiological

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Our Mission

• To introduce young girls to the technology of
  today in hopes that they will get involved and
  impact the technology of tomorrow.

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What we did.

• Initial concept came out of our conversation at
  the college picnic..
• .somehow we need to target middle school
  girls..
• .lets do a camp specifically for girls. I did
  one a Chesapeake High that we can use as a
  model.

Shepard
Lanzer
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What we did.

• In 2003, a grant was given to School of Business,
  Computing and Technical Studies for a Woman in
  Technology initiative.
• Dean Kathleen Happ requested the talents and
  energy of technology faculty to spear-head a
  variety of programs to increase interest for
  woman in technology-related fields.

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What we did.

• Professor Lanzer, Professor Shepard, and
  Professor Suzanne Markowski developed a summer
  bridge program for middle school girls to be
  implemented in summer 2004.
• Why middle school girls (ages 10-13)?

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What we found..

• Research shows that adolescents as young as 10
  years old begin to configure what they will do as
  adults and what profession they will enter.
• Their interests begin to formulate even earlier
  than this age i.e. sports, computers, art, dance

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What we found.

• By the age of three, children are sex-typing
  games. Little girls will say, Oh no, thats a
  boy toy. At three they start to do this with
  household objects like brooms and hammers. These
  gender stereotypes are pretty fixed, and we know
  that you can get gender stereotyping for objects,
  professions, and traits they can do all that by
  the age of five.
• Justine Cassell, cognitive psychologist at MITs
  media lab. From What Makes Women (Double) Click?
  Exploring the technological gender divide by
  Michael K. Novi (1998)

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What we found.

• As early as kindergarten, girls use the computer
  eagerly and skillfully for writing stories, but
  boys race to the computers for free time and
  play.
• The computer is now added to the list of
  things that boys play with most and is absent
  from the list of girls favorites.
• Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Unlocking the
  Clubhouse Women in Computing

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What we found.

• Boys Enthralled, Girls Lukewarm
• More boys than girls experience an early
  attachment to computers.
• Most girls attachment is muted and is one
  interest among many.
• Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Unlocking the
  Clubhouse Women in Computing

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What we found.

• Influential Home Environment
• Parents impart their computer enthusiasm and
  skill to their children, and through early
  mastery acquired at home, children gain a
  competence and confidence they carry with them to
  school.
• Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Unlocking the
  Clubhouse Women in Computing

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What we found.

• Children are keen observers
• They notice which parent does what within the
  house who fixes things, who calls for
  assistance, who sends thank you notes, and who
  tinkers with the computer.
• This leads to a gender association.

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What we found.

• Boys are raised to take risks and are expected to
  be adventurous and bold, while
• Girls are encouraged to much more cautious and
  careful.
• Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Unlocking the
  Clubhouse Women in Computing

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Questions raised.

• How does this early attitude toward risk-taking
  affect a childs desire to explore, experiment
  and see just how things work?

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What we found.

• In middle school, something interesting happens
  during these years
• ADOLESCENCE PUBERTY
• a time of identity formation
• a period of heightened risk
• difficult for everyone (parents as well as
  children)
• a time when girls experience a drop in their
  sense of confidence and competence

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What we found.

• The Phenomenon
• Girls at 9 or 10 are feisty, filled with spirit
  and confidence, but as puberty hits, they begin
  to pull within themselves, doubt themselves,
  swallow their own voices, and doubt their own
  thoughts.
• Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Unlocking the
  Clubhouse Women in Computing

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What we found.

• Experience Gap
• In both high and middle school girls face
  computer classes with boys who have more
  computer experience. One of the reasons for this
  is the magnetic attraction that boys and
  computers have.
• This presents a challenge for both the girls in
  computer classes and their teachers.
• Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Unlocking the
  Clubhouse Women in Computing

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What we found.

• Girls and Gaming
• Girls are not generally attracted to the
  violent, controlling nature of most games. Most
  of which are designed by men for men and boys.
• The girls games that are the most successful
  seem to be cooperative, involving communicating
  and creating and helping people.
• AAUW Tech-Savvy Educating Girls in the New
  Computer Age (2000)

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What we found.

• The feel good degrees
• Woman took home 44.2 of the environmental
  engineering degrees and 40.7 of the biomedical
  engineering degrees others include agricultural,
  chemical, industrial, manufacturing and
  metallurgical/materials.
• Girls who are confident in their math abilities
  tend to want to improve society and place more
  value on fields they think are people-oriented.
• Thomas K. Grose, Trouble on the Horizon, Prism,
  October 2006

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The numbers..

• National Data

Biomedical
Environmental
Mechanical
Electrical
Comp. Sci.
Computer
Civil
Michael Gibbons, The 2006 edition of the
Profiles of Engineering and Engineering
Technology Colleges, ASEE, June 2007
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• There needs to be more of a national commitment
  to improve the teaching of technology
• Legand Burge
• Dean, College of Engineering, Architecture and
  Physical Sciences
• Tuskagee University
• Thomas K. Grose, Trouble on the Horizon, Prism,
  October 2006

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• Most traditionally, it is in high school where
  adolescents are first exposed to possible career
  paths through career counseling and course
  offerings.
• THIS IS TOO LATE!!!!!
• Research shows that children begin to stereotype
  themselves at a very young age.

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• While high school is too late, elementary school
  is too early to start exposing them to complex
  concepts.
• Grades 6-8 best compliment the opportunity for an
  introduction to technology at a time where girls
  are trying to find out who there are.
• This is the best time for molding young girls
  attitudes to a positive image of technology
  related fields.

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We need them to think.

• THIS IS COOL!!!
• We need to convince them that this is not just
  for geeks!!!

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We need them to think.

• Schoolgirls need to learn that the clean water
  we drink, the high-tech hip replacements that
  surgeons implant and the fuel-efficient hybrid
  cars are all the handiwork of engineers
• Betty Shanahan
• Executive Director, Society of Woman Engineers
• Kettering University
• Thomas K. Grose, Trouble on the Horizon, Prism,
  October 2006

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We need them to think.

• Girls need to ask themselves the question
• Where do the cool items that I use everyday, my
  cell phone, my iPod, my PDA come from?
• How did IM and email and MySpace and Youtube.com
  get to where it is TODAY?

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Remember.the purpose

• When we went down this trail we had two goals.
  This guided our choices of classes, instructors,
  methods and materials.
• Introduce new technologies not only as gadgets or
  cool things to do, but useful tools
• Emphasize the importance of math and science to
  the discovery and development of those new
  technologies

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What we did.

• Tech Camp for Girls at Anne Arundel
  Community College
• August 2004
• (in cooperation with the School of Business,
  Computing and Technical Studies at AACC)
• August 2005
• (merged with Kids in College program)
• June and August 2006
• (first time for two camp offerings)
• June and August 2007
• (last offerings of this camp)

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What we are trying to evoke.

• A realization that technology is not just for
  boys
• and
• See common objects prevalent in girls habitual
  interactions iPods, cell phones, IM, tools that
  are created by engineers and designers

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What we did.

• What worked
• Digital photography Analog vs. digital, sensing
  color/brightness, A-to-D conversion, storage,
  color depth and resolution related to bytes
  storedSoftware Serif PhotoPlus 6

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What we did.

• What worked
• Webpage design Networks, WWW, size vs. time to
  retrieve, hierarchy of dataSoftware Notepad
  w/HTML (2004), Microsoft FrontPage (2005 2006),
  Serif WebPlus (2007)

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What we did.

• What worked
• Visual Programming Sequence of execution,
  objects, physics of motion Software Visual
  Basic 6 (2004), Alice (2005, 2006, 2007)

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What we did.

• What worked
• Cryptography probability, statistics, frequency
  tables, patterns, cryptograms

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What we did.

• What worked
• Design and Construction strength of materials,
  structures that supportSoftware West Point
  Bridge Design Project (2004), Google SketchUp
  (2005, 2006 2007)

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What we did.

• What worked
• Hands-on Activities bridge building with
  straws, toothpick, popsicle sticks (2004),
  egg-carriers built with straws and dropped from
  high heights (2005), solar cars built from
  purchased kits with motors and solar panels
  (2006), trebuchets built from kits (2007)

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What we did.

• What worked
• Field trips one half day was dedicated for a
  field trip to a technology-related site for every
  camp.
• The National Cryptologic Museum is a vast,
  interesting resource operated by the National
  Security Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland. (2004
  2005, 2007)
• The staff presentation on cryptography used The
  Gold Bug, by Edgar Allen Poe, to illustrate the
  importance of mathematics to codes and ciphers.

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What we did.

• What worked
• Field trips one half day was dedicated for a
  field trip to a technology-related site for every
  camp.
• The Electrical Engineering Department at the U.S.
  Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland (2006)
• Presentations on solar power and the Academys
  entry in the SOLAR SPLASH - The World
  Championship of Intercollegiate Solar Boating
  (4th place finish).
• Hands-on demonstrations in Center for Biometric
  Signal Processing

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What we did.

• What didnt worked
• PC Hardware Most of the girls were not
  interested in how PCs worked. They mechanically
  disassembled/reassembled the machines without
  significant learning
• Concrete garden pads Risk of reaction to
  concrete dust and latex gloves. The girls enjoyed
  the activity however the theory of the chemical
  reaction was too advanced
• Survivor Challenge (competition using all of the
  skills learned) While this was of interest to a
  few of the girls, most did not like competition
  and working under pressure. The two hours allowed
  is now better used for a new skill

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How we did.

• Student Rating of Tech Camp Activities (June
  26-30, 2006)

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How we did.

• Student Rating of Tech Camp Activities (July
  31-Aug. 4, 2006)

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What we learned.

• Publicity is VERY important
• Develop a plan early in the fall semester for
  summer camps. Prep always takes longer than
  anticipated.
• PR has high expectations and strict standards,
  often driven by the college strategic plan,
  community environment, recruitment and legal
  requirements. Allow ample time to work PR and it
  will be good.

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What we learned.

• Publicity is VERY important
• Understand that the school distribution system
  may not be effective. The volume of paper going
  to each school is tremendous.
• More direct approach to specific school systems
  directors, school chairpersons and departments
  would be better. Target teachers of suitable math
  and science courses. Call to see if they have any
  questions or maybe would like a visit.

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What we learned.

• Publicity is VERY important
• Do not overlook the public libraries. A colorful
  and informative brochure will catch the attention
  of a few students and their parents.
• Don't forget your own employees.
• Locate an established organization at the college
  with which to partner and advertise.

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Kids in College (KIC)

• Bringing the community to the college as part of
  Lifelong Learning
• Programs start for children at 18 months. Spans
  years through high school.
• Over 100 summer camps for youth.
• Provides accounting, registration, medical and PR
  permission, counsellors, logistics.

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What we learned.

• Camp Management
• You can't do it alone
• Someone has to be in support every day
• Good adjunct instructors are critical
• Must relate well to youth
• Understand what is required
• Commit to doing it your way
• Role models
• Have a backup plan remember Murphy

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What we appreciate the most!!

• Our AACC woman Adjunct Faculty and Speakers who
  serve as role models for the woman engineers,
  architects, construction managers, computer
  programmers of tomorrow
• Professor Krysten Hall, Assistant Professor
  Computer Science
• Jennifer Trott, Learning Specialist
• Professor Sherry Hopkins, Assistant Professor,
  Computer Science
• Cathy Bosse, Team Leader, SBCTS
• Kathy Long, Media/Web Services Manager,
  Information Systems

There is a gender gap in technology learning
between boys and girls!  Girls Tech Camp provides
fun activities using different technologies that
will get girls excited about technology.
Presenting during Tech Camp for Girls was a
great opportunity to expose the students to a
wide variety of career options in the information
technology world. I wanted to convey that
information technology is not just about hardware
and software that it's also about communication
and creativity
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Questions?
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Attend our session this afternoon
Crafting a Technology Camp Experience to
Encourage Girls 430pm 530pm Ryman Room
One Renaissance Hotel Level 3
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a warm thanks and gratitude to all for attending
todays presentation on the ATTRACTING GIRLS TO
TECHNOLOGY
A PRESENTATION BY

• Professor Frank Lanzer, Associate Professor
• Engineering Technologies
• Professor Brandi R. Shepard, Instructor
• Architecture, Interior Design and Construction
  Management

League of Innovation in the Community
CollegeConference on Information
TechnologyNovember 12, 2007