Gender & IT Education Gender and IT Education Conference, Indiana University, 2007 Gender & IT Education The Importance of Mentors Faculty and Student.

Gender and IT Education Conference, Indiana University, 2007

Gender & ITEducation



The Importance of Mentors

Faculty and Student Experiences in Mentoring and Being Mentored

Christine Ogan and Jean Robinson


Gender & ITEducation Data Sets Used

• Web survey of undergraduate and graduate students

• Telephone survey using faculty and administrator respondents


Gender & ITEducation Overall findings from Faculty Survey

• Most faculty reported having mentors as students

• The gender of the mentor most often was the same (75.8%) as was the race (73.8%). However, women less likely to identify a current mentor as someone of same gender.

• Faculty in applied fields more likely to have mentors today/Also more likely to have had mentors as graduate students


Gender & ITEducation What Mentors do for Faculty

• 50-70% Report Experiencing this Help (Kram’s dimensions)

• Inform them about campus conditions• Inform them about work environment• Inform them about opportunities for new

projects• Provide psychological support (women

report getting significantly more help here)


Gender & ITEducation Networking Experiences

• 87.1% say they have a network to turn to. • Relationship between gender of the

faculty member and gender of the network (r=.29)

• Networks are somewhat/very important in advancing careers (91.9%)

• The longer a faculty member spends in a unit, the less likely he/she will have a network (r=.16).


Gender & ITEducation Other Important Findings

• Faculty in applied fields feel their values are more similar to others in their field than do computer scientist faculty.

• The longer women had been in the field, the closer they felt their values were to those of the field (r=.19).

• Men reported more socializing than did women.

• The longer women were in the field the more likely they rejected the existence of an “in group” in their unit.


Gender & ITEducation Role Modeling

• 32% say they always think about being a role model for students

• 52.4% sometimes think about being a role model for students


Gender & ITEducation Ways Faculty Mentor

• 94% say they are engaged in mentoring

• In open ended answers all refer to positive mentoring activities--no difficulties described

• Most activities related to graduate student mentoring (research groups, dissertations, conferences)


Gender & ITEducation Students’ View of Role Models

in Computer Science

• Fewer than 30 percent of undergraduates identified a male or female faculty member as a person who served as a role model for them.

• About 56% of master’s students id’d a faculty member

• About 60% of PhD students id’d a faculty member


Gender & ITEducation Students’ View of Role Models in

Applied IT

• Fewer than 40% of undergraduates identified a faculty member as someone who served as a role model.

• 52% of master’s students id’d a faculty member.

• 72% of PhD students id’d a faculty member.


Gender & ITEducation Mentor Question Format

• The next set of questions asks about mentors. For each of the following situations, select one button for the person most associated with the situation in your current program of studies.

• Male faculty member, female faculty member, Other male, Other Female, Not applicable


Gender & ITEducation Gone out of their way to promote your

career interests

• 23% of CS undergrads identified a faculty member

• 44% of Applied undergrads identified a faculty member


Gender & ITEducation Recommended you for Something that

Helped you Learn New Skills

• 36% of CS undergrads identified a faculty member

• 54% of Applied undergrads identified a faculty


Gender & ITEducation Helped you obtain a fellowship or

internship

• 23% of computer science undergrads identified a faculty member

• 34% of applied undergrads identified a faculty member.


Gender & ITEducation Encouraged you to Think About

Graduate School

• 37% of computer science undergrads could identify a faculty member

• 35% of Applied undergrads could identify a faculty member


Gender & ITEducation Conveyed feeling of Respect for you as

an Individual

• 41% of CS students could identify a faculty member

• 54% of Applied students could identify a faculty member


Gender & ITEducation Shared History of His/Her Career with

you

• 47% of CS undergrads could identify a faculty member

• 61% of Applied undergrads could identify a faculty member.


Gender & ITEducation Displayed attitudes and values about the

field similar to your own

• 36% of C.S. undergrads could identify a faculty member.

• 49% of Applied undergrads could identify a faculty member.


Gender & ITEducation Who most encouraged you to Study in

an IT Field (CS)

• Of undergrads, 5% identified a male teacher and 2.1% identified a female teacher.

• Of Master’s students, 7.9% identified a male teacher and nobody identified a female teacher.

• Of PhD students, 8.4% identified a male teacher and .6% identified a female teacher


Gender & ITEducation Who most encouraged Applied

Students to Study in an IT Field

• Undergrads: 7.0% identified a male teacher and 5.5% identified a female teacher.

• Master’s: 3.4% identified a male teacher and 2.0% identified a female teacher.

• PhD: 4.0% identified a male teacher and nobody identified a female teacher.




Gender & ITEducation Conclusions/Recommendations

• Mentoring would be a stronger predictor of belonging and satisfaction if there were more mentoring going on.

• Applied Units were more female friendly in their practice of mentoring

• Mentoring not adequately rewarded in IT higher education.


Gender & ITEducation Unsolicited Student Comments

• “Most computer science classes are so large that there is little (if any at all) teacher-student interaction, which is unfortunate. Everyone is treated fairly, but learning is very impersonal.”

• “I found the faculty in computer science very unhelpful. I am switching my major to mathematics because of that.”


Gender & ITEducation And more comments. . .

• “If it wasn’t for a certain faculty member, I would not be where I am today or even headed in the direction I am today.”

• The department of informatics at this student’s school “tries to hard to make a name for itself” and in doing so is “biased towards the top students.”

• “I realized that going to a big ten school and majoring in computer science makes personal interactions with professors just about impossible. It turns out personalityless programmers.”


Gender & ITEducation And finally. . . .

• “My school doesn’t have mentorship programs as far as I know. Reading those questions made me realize that the only person who cares about me getting a decent education is me.”

Gender & IT Education Gender and IT Education Conference, Indiana University, 2007 Gender & IT Education The Importance of Mentors Faculty and Student.

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