Participant-centred planning Framework for effective gender balance activities in tech

Taylor-Smith, E., Barnett, C., Smith, S., Barr, M. and Shankland, C. (2022) Participant-centred planning Framework for effective gender balance activities in tech. In: United Kingdom and Ireland Computing Education Research (UKICER 2022), Dublin, Ireland, 1-2 Sept 2022, pp. 1-7. ISBN 9781450397421 (doi: 10.1145/3555009.3555016)

Abstract

The gender imbalance in the tech industry, mirrored in computing education, is problematic in terms of providing appropriate products and services for the whole population. This lack of diversity and inclusion is also self-perpetuating through gendered stereotypes of computing and women’s experience of male-dominated work and study environments. Activities to break this cycle aim to encourage women and girls to study computing and pursue careers in digital. The tool described below is a framework to support teams to design successful activities. This study set out to identify factors for success, with a particular focus on the use of role models. A typology survey was designed to capture structured descriptions of activities; an online survey asked female and non-binary computing students about their role models and motivations for choosing computing, including any activities to encourage them into computing/STEM; and organisers from four successful initiatives were interviewed. The study revealed a wide range of activities, with many potential success factors, but a dearth of rigorous evaluation. A Participant-Centred Planning Framework to support effective activities was derived from the study’s findings. The framework was successfully piloted with organisers of initiatives to encourage girls into computing/STEM. Pilot study participants appreciated the framework’s structure and guidance, especially around centring participants’ needs, embedding evaluation, and considering role models in context. Pilot participants felt the framework could also support activities targeting other, currently under-represented, demographic groups. This paper presents the initial study, the pilot, the framework, and plans to extend its use.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: SMITH, Sally and Shankland, Professor Carron and Barr, Dr Matthew
• Authors: Taylor-Smith, E., Barnett, C., Smith, S., Barr, M., and Shankland, C.
• Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• ISBN: 9781450397421
• Published Online: 01 September 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s)
• First Published: First published in UKICER '22: Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research: 1-7
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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