[Yr7-10it] How to interest girls in ICT electives at middle-secondary level?

Sun Aug 2 00:31:03 EST 2009

Claire ... I was going to ask the question of positive female role 
models in our schools, thanks for mentioning it!

But to others who are following this thread .... How many female leaders 
in our schools "play dumb" when it comes to using technology in front of 
kids at assemblies (apologies if I am being harsh, but being a teacher 
for god knows how many years I have seen many examples) ... if you have 
no female IT teachers in your school then there are opportunities...

Years ago, when I worked at MLC, we had a program where if you did 3/4 
IT in Year 11 and you were a competent student, you apply to be an IT 
support person (paid) the following year in the younger classes. I felt 
that this program did a lot for the confidence of the girls studying IT. 
Mind you, MLC is a female rich environment ... so I often wondered how 
this would work in a co-ed environment. The costing of a program such as 
this was minimal given the benefit that it gave both the older students 
acting as a mentor and the younger students ability to see a female in a 
confident technology position. In the past, I have tried to run computer 
clubs in schools, but they have always ended up turning into "boys 
clubs"... which of course has the negative effect of what I was trying 
to achieve. Most of the girls that I teach in my non-IT subject, love 
blogs, social networking and interaction -  most of which is banned in 
most schools.

I am not sure that the solution is a Hannah Montana skin on an operating 
system .... why don't we all give them pink keyboards?

We need to look at the disservice we are doing both genders by not 
having compulsory IT at Years 7 and 8. Integrated ICT programs sound 
fabulous on paper, but the reality is that unless a) your school is 
doing an adequate amount of ICT PD of teachers and b) curriculum leaders 
are is keeping an eye on what actually happening, then chances are the 
kids will be getting a second rate IT education (as opposed to an ICT 
education).  How can girls and boys alike decide on an IT curriculum 
elective at Year 9 (and then onto Year 12) without a proper 
understanding of what it is like to get their teeth into a IT project 
where they are completely engrossed in solving problems rather than the 
odd powerpoint or multimedia assignment. There is a role for ICT 
integration, but it is a very different IT experience to working on an 
extended project.

Most of you will know that the attitudes that Year 7's form in their 
first year in high school, are often taken with them through to the end 
of their education in Year 12. Diary maintenance, discipline, study 
habits are all positively formed in this formative year. At the end of 
Year 7, most students have chosen the road they want to travel down in 
secondary school in regards to these areas. I believe that this is the 
same for technology. Positive experiences in Year 7 with IT matter.

The question should be how do we ensure the survival of IT while still 
supporting the inclusion of ICT in schools. I believe there is room for 
both in a school, but the answer is not to dismiss a separate IT subject 
as not needed or unworthy because others subjects use the tools. (I know 
that the following argument is flawed and some people are going to get 
stuck into me ...but ... ) It would be like saying that we don't need 
English as a subject because the students use English in every other 
subject ...

Thank-you for the opportunity to add to this discussion ... I can feel a 
blog entry coming on!

:)

Margaret Lawson
Part time St. Michael's Grammar School, St. Kilda
Part time Konstant Kaos Designs: http://alittlebitofkaos.blogspot.com/

Claire Adams wrote:
> Hi,
> I make a real effort to talk about women in IT to the junior IT
> classes (compulsory in years 8 & 9 at my school).
> I've played wii games with the students (then studied them of course).
> I think it also helps that I'm a chick too.
>
> Our main problem is the other subjects that get offered on the same
> line as IT.  The girls would rather do Art, or Home-Ec, or PE, or Ag
> than IT.  They see IT as a 'theory' subject, not as a 'doing' or
> 'practical' subject so they think it's hard.
>
> We keep working on it though.  We've started offering a Digital
> Imaging (read: photoshop) course to our year 10s (it has been only
> offered at year 9 for a number of years) which is very popular.  But
> doesn't really lead to IT in  years 11 and 12.
>
> Have a great weekend!
>
> Claire Adams
> Cummins Area School
> South Australia.
>
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 5:03 PM, ken price<kenjprice at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> http://hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/Site/Home.html
>>
>> Hannah Montana Linux is a linux Operating system based on Kubuntu with
>> Hannah Montana Themes
>> You may laugh but install it on one computer and watch the student response.
>> Seriously.
>>
>> Then tell them you can give them a copy to take home, for free. Might want
>> to warn them not to reformat the parents' computer in the process though.
>>
>> ken
>> TASITE
>> On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 2:07 PM, Clive Oldland <clive_oldland at yahoo.com.au>
>> wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> Has any one got any strategies that have worked to turn around the gender
>>> imbalance in selecting ICT electives in middle years?
>>>
>>> I would be particularly interested in knowing how you pitched your
>>> elective to make it attractive to girls.
>>>
>>> Also, is ICT compulsory in years 7 & 8 at your school?  Do you believe
>>> that contributed to better participation from girls in higher years?
>>>
>>> (I have been a subscriber since May, but his is my first post.  Many
>>> thanks for the interesting conversations I have observed this year.)
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Clive Oldland
>>> Montmorency SC
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>>>       
>> --
>> Dr Ken Price MACS ACCE Professional Associate.
>> President, TASITE
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Year 7 - 10 IT Mailing List kindly supported by
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>> Association Inc
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Year 7 - 10 IT Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
> http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc
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>   

-- 
Margaret Lawson

Konstant Kaos Designs

ABN 50 523 597 927

26 Nash Street
Northcote 3070
Victoria Australia
M: 0407 896309
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margaret.lawson at konstantkaos.net