UNE > News and Events > Browse by article > Girls go online to explore ICT career options

Next Global Internet analysis: Australia possibly 'out of phase' June 24, 2005  

Previous Students get free kicks at study goals thanks to NRL June 22, 2005 

Girls go online to explore ICT career options

June 23, 2005

E GirlsTHUMB.jpgGirls from secondary schools in the New England region are taking part in a project aimed at understanding why so few women pursue careers in Australia's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, and at encouraging them to do so.

The project, called "e-girls connect", focuses on girls in Year 10 who are considering studying an ICT subject for the Higher School Certificate. Dr Chris Reading, from the National Centre of Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (the SiMERR National Centre), who is managing the project, pointed out that fewer than five per cent of employees in Australia's ICT industry are women.

The SiMERR National Centre, based at The University of New England, has provided $5,000 to fund the project, which will allow researchers to keep track of the girls (and the girls to keep in touch with each other) over the next eight years. "We want to find out what sorts of decisions the girls are making that steer them either towards or away from ICT careers," Dr Reading said. "Information such as this will be useful to ICT teachers, as well as to careers advisers, in encouraging girls to develop an interest in ICT into a vocation."

The project got under way last week during a special "e-girls" day of activities and information for Year 10 ICT students that was presented jointly by the Zonta Club of Armidale, the NSW Department of Education and Training, The SiMERR National Centre at UNE, the Catholic Schools Office, and Armidale TAFE College. Thirty-four girls from schools in Armidale, Uralla, Tamworth, Inverell and Glen Innes took part in the day, during which they met eight "mentors": young women who are working successfully within the ICT industry. One of those, Cathryn Lak, who is a Senior IT Architect with IBM in Sydney, will be the first "mentor" on the "e-girls connect" Web site; for the next two months the girls will be able to communicate with her via Web-CT. The "mentors" who follow Ms Lak will come from a variety of IT-related positions and educational backgrounds, giving the girls a broad perspective on job opportunities.

A second-year UNE education student, Katrina Bock, is the online facilitator for "e-girls connect". She will coordinate the communication between the girls and the mentors, and will assist in directing the girls' general inquiries about ICT-related study and career choices to the relevant sources. She is pictured here (left) with "e-girl" Alesha Williams from McCarthy Catholic College, Tamworth.

Dr Reading emphasised that "e-girls connect" was a secure Web site. "Each girl has a user name and a password," she said. "Their first online task was to complete a survey form before last week's event. Several of them commented on how quick and easy it seemed to be, so they're already getting a positive experience of working in an online environment."

The girls are now in the process of completing a post-event survey, and personal profiles that they will update every six months. There will also be a tracking survey for them to complete every six months. "This will not only provide data for our research," Dr Reading said, "but will allow the girls to follow and keep in touch with their friends from other schools." She said her co-worker on the project, Anne Parnell from the SiMERR National Centre, had collaborated with Malcolm Abel from UNE's Teaching and Learning Centre in setting up the framework for the online surveys.

"Part of the funding from the SiMERR National Centre will provide a prize for the girl who, among all the 'e-girls' who enrol in UNE's Bachelor of Computer Science degree program in 2008, will have achieved the highest result in an ICT subject in the previous year's HSC," Dr Reading announced.


Media contact: Dr Chris Reading, SiMERR National Centre, UNE (02) 6773 5060, Anne Parnell, SiMERR National Centre, UNE (02) 6773 2280, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at June 23, 2005 09:04 AM