The next wave of gender projects in IT curriculum and teaching at universities

This paper investigates the 'new' crisis in the low numbers of women choosing to study Information and Communication Technology (ICT) courses at universities in Australia and indeed around the western industrialised world. In Australian universities, the spectre of all male ICT classes is becoming more commonplace, particularly in the more technically focused courses. We are hypothesizing that this is not 'new' crisis at all but simply a further consolidation of a pattern that has been evident for 20 years. The range of 'gender' interventions at universities in the 1990s was primarily directed at the 'numbers problem' and was largely focused on women rather than reviewing and reforming curriculum, teaching and assessment practices as well. Past interventions have failed to impact significantly on the sex stereotype that has emerged in ICT education in most universities. Projects are now being developed that redirect intervention efforts into curriculum and teaching strategies inside ICT faculties. This paper reports on such a 'gender project' in Australia. The Australian context for this issue is explored: there has been very little research in ICT faculties on the impact of curriculum and teaching practices on the recruitment and retention of women in these faculties. We profile the Australian Course Experience (CEQ) data and local survey results from our own technological University which report student views of teaching and learning. Nationally, the ICT teaching area achieved the lowest ratings from graduate students in 2003. At our University, we found a gender gap in the first-year classroom experiences of women and men. Our broad findings suggest the need for a professional review of the very definitions of success in ICT education and support for the proliferation and evaluation of innovative and context driven curricula.