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WomenTech Educators Online Training and Support
A Proven System for Increasing the Number of Women and Girls in Your Science, Technology & Engineering Classes |
Attention: This online training is for administrators, teachers, professors, instructors, counseling staff, and outreach and recruitment staff connected to any ATE project or center. Download our brochure (PDF) to share with others in your institution.
How Many Women Are in Your Science and Technology Classrooms?
Not enough?
Get more women in the picture!
Increase the number of women in your Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) classrooms with the strategies you’ll learn through the WomenTech Educators Online Training. Based on proven practices, the workshop training curriculum includes the “best-of-the-best” of our strategies, culled from our four National Science Foundation projects and over 17 years of success in assisting educational institutions in recruiting and retaining female students in programs around the country. Our CalWomenTech Project was highlighted by the National Science Foundation for demonstrating significant achievement and program effectiveness.
ONLINE TRAINING STARTS FEBRUARY 27, 2012
Space is limited. Application deadline: February 8, 2012.
Download Application Now (PDF)
Does the WomenTech Educators Training Work? Yes!
Schools that have implemented the strategies you'll learn through this system have seen remarkable results. At San Francisco City College's Computer Networking and Information Technology program, female enrollment has risen from 18% to 33%. Initially, less than 65% of the female students completed the computer program. Using the IWITTS system, they turned around those results so now more than 85% of female students complete their classes.
Read on as I share how I helped schools nearly double their enrollment of female students and dramatically increase retention of both their female and male students. I'll show you how your school can do this, step-by-step, with practical strategies you can put into action right away.
From: Donna Milgram, Executive Director
San Francisco Bay Area
Which way to turn? (Donna's story)
It's Donna here. I know it's frustrating when you've made efforts to get more women and girls into your science and technology classes, and you're stuck because you don't actually see increases in enrollment and disappointment sets in. Your passion for increasing the number of women and girls in STEM starts to fade.
I know because I've worked with educators to whom this has happened. They have a strong commitment, perhaps they have given a workshop or some kind of career activity, and they haven't seen the kinds of results they are looking for.
One educator asked me in frustration, "Where do I start the recruiting process? How can I make our programs more attractive to females? Do I need to alter my teaching style, my explanations of the subject matter, my labs to help female students be more successful?"
I understand this kind of frustration, especially if the advice you've been given is very general or long-term. You're a really committed educator, and you want your female students to be as inspired by STEM as your male students. So I was yearning to provide educators with the direction they need.
That’s why I developed the WomenTech Educators Online Training.
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~Pierre Thiry, Principal Investigator, Mid-Pacific ICT Regional Center, San Francisco, CA |
"Participating in the IWITTS training refined my skills as an instructor and administrator to be an agent of change in this realm. Because Computer Networking and Information Technology was not on the radar of many women, the tools that were given to us by IWITTS for reaching out to students for our entry level class were very effective. And those changes have been institutionalized in my department. Thanks to our work with IWITTS, female enrollment in my department has risen from 19% to 33%."
This training is FREE to educators connected with any ATE project or center.
In the WomenTech Educators Online Training, you will learn:
- The #1 secret to increasing the number of women in your classes
- The top three recruitment strategies -- according to the women themselves
- Why changing your thinking isn't enough, and what you can do about it
- The critical thing women want to hear up front that will keep them engaged throughout your course
- 3 simple techniques you can implement tomorrow so your female students will excel in the lab
Download our brochure (PDF) to share with others in your institution.
Who should attend:
Educators connected to any ATE center or project: Science, technology, engineering, and trades instructors; administrators; counselors; outreach and recruitment staff; learning center staff; YOU!
Here are just some of our past ATE clients:
- Consortium for Alabama Regional Center for Automotive Manufacturing
- Midwest Center for Information Technology, AIM Institute, Omaha, NE
- South Carolina Advanced Technological Education National Resource Center for Engineering Technology Education, Florence-Darlington Technical College, Florence, SC
- Convergence Technology Center, Frisco, TX
- Technology and Innovation in Manufacturing Education Center, Baltimore, MD
- Nevada Information Technology Education, Community College of Southern Nevada
- Center for the Advancement of Process Technology, Mainland College, Texas City, TX
- Diversity in Engineering Technology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Doing it piecemeal: It just doesn't work
We have found that schools that implement one, two or even three gender equity tactics don’t see an increase in enrollment. Doing it piecemeal doesn’t work. That’s why we’ve developed our WomenTech Educators Online Training with Support. The full system is contained in the multi-week online training and the six Support and Strategy sessions. It’s the full system that enables you to get the kind of results that you see above. When you work with IWITTS, you’ll see how well the full system can work for your school.
WomenTech Educators Online Training Content
At this WomenTech Educators Online training, you learn proven recruitment and retention strategies so you can see more female students succeed in your STEM classes. This is a multi-week online training. The training is asynchronous, with live support.
You will take away:
- An easy-to-implement recruitment plan that will greatly increase the number of women and girls in your STEM classrooms.
- A retention plan for your school that will increase the completion rate of your female (and male students), starting this semester.
- The knowledge and confidence you need to put these plans into action, right away.
Training agenda includes:
Discover our proven, road-tested system for increasing the number of women and girls in your STEM classes, which was highlighted by the National Science Foundation.- Explore gender-specific learning styles: Find out how to excite and engage female students in technology by teaching to their learning style and help female students be successful in the lab.
- Discover your number one strategy that will help boost your female enrollment (that costs little or nothing and doesn’t take a lot of time to implement). Learn how to set up your students for success from Day One in your program so they can have a successful start and the confidence that comes with it.
- Learn how to overcome the challenges of engaging and retaining female students when their numbers in classes are still small.
- Develop a customized action plan for increasing the number of female students in your school and making sure they stay.
- And so much more!
Come to the training in a team:
The more people that you can get involved in this campaign, the more lasting change you're going to have. Yes, one teacher on their own can get more women in the classroom, but the schools that have been the most effective and had lasting institutional change have had more people involved. Together, you and your team members will work together to develop an action plan and provide support to each other as you implement it.
Download our brochure (PDF) to share with others in your institution.
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~ Peter Woodberry, PhD, Dean of Business, Science and Technology at Community College of Rhode Island |
"One thing that was especially valuable about the WomenTech Educators Training was having a variety of people come to the table to talk about all the issues. It was interesting for faculty to learn how they can engage students who might be on the fringes of the class, not necessarily just female students either. Also, in our publications and brochures, we're now as likely to use images of women as of men. As a result of working with IWITTS, over two years the percentage of women in targeted classes at CCRI went from 10.8% to 14.3%."
This training is FREE to educators connected with any ATE project or center.
After the WomenTech Educators Online Training:
Long-term support for implementation
Keep training participants and your educational institution as a whole focused on your goal of increasing the number of women in STEM. You and your colleagues have many competing priorities for your time. With this ongoing support, you’ll receive help as you work as a team to implement the recruitment and retention plans that you develop in the training. In our successful CalWomenTech Project, the external evaluators found that along with the training, support for implementation was one of the top two most important things that helped schools achieve their impressive recruitment and retention results.
You will receive:
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➤ Six Group Support and Strategy Sessions
You’ll have direct access to your trainer on live group sessions to get answers on your specific questions about increasing the number of women in your programs. Your trainer will help your team brainstorm, strategize and troubleshoot, and keep you focused on implementation. Schools that have received this type of long term support have found that it was extremely effective in moving them from plan to action, and ultimately helping them see significant gains in the number of women in their classrooms. In addition, Support and Strategy sessions are an opportunity to receive the latest information you need to get more women into your classrooms. Examples of topics include: how to keep female students from dropping out in the first week; how colleges can recruit from high schools for female students in the STEM classroom; and learn the importance of spatial reasoning skills for retaining your female and male students. |
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➤ Exclusive Online Community Forum:
All of the educators who attend the online training will be granted access to a private members-only website. Be a member of our community whose culture is one of positive change around increasing the number of women in STEM. The culture of our online community is, “We can do it!” |
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➤ Downloads of all Support and Strategy Sessions
Downloads of Support and Strategy sessions will be emailed to participants and promptly posted to your members-only website. In this way, all of the online training participants can listen at anytime, even if they cannot make the live session. Files are typically posted within 24 hours. |
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~ Jessica J. du Maine, Assistant Professor/Program Coordinator, Electrical/ Electronic Engineering & Technology, St. Louis Community College, St. Louis, MO |
"The most valuable things I received from working with IWITTS were strategies that have been researched and have data to support them. There are also many inexpensive strategies; "inexpensive" is a key term in these difficult economic times. I anticipate additional increased retention in my programs. I have already implemented retention strategies from IWITTS with much success. The workshop has empowered me!"
This training is FREE to educators connected with any ATE project or center.
About Donna Milgram, Your WomenTech Educators Trainer:
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Donna Milgram, the Executive Director of the National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS), has conducted national and state trainings and workshops in 43 states. She is the Principal Investigator of the CalWomenTech Project, highlighted by the National Science Foundation as an exemplary Project for boosting recruitment and retention rates of women in technology programs. She has been the Principal Investigator of four NSF Projects, the most recent awarded in June 2011 to build on the successful work of the CalWomenTech Project. |
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~ Renee Fall, Project Manager, Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE), University of Massachusetts Amherst |
"We know that the campuses involved in our partnership in Massachusetts have low numbers of women in their computer and IT programs. Getting people together in a workshop gives them time and space that they don’t have in their busy faculty lives to strategize about recruitment and retention. They get a lot of new ideas and an opportunity to talk with people from other schools and stimulate their thinking. Since the workshop, someone has already taken an idea that they had and created a specialized recruitment event for female students. We’re raising awareness among female students that this field and this department are welcoming, so female students can see themselves entering these careers."
This training is FREE to educators connected with any ATE project or center.
WomenTech Educators Online Training Application: Due by February 8, 2012
Who is eligible?
Administrators, teachers, professors, instructors, counseling staff, and outreach and recruitment staff connected to any ATE project or center may apply to participate in the WomenTech Educators Online Training.
Cost:
This training and system are FREE to eligible participants, as part of the National Science Foundation-funded CalWomenTech Scale Up Project. This training with six Support and Strategy sessions and access to the exclusive online forum normally costs participants more than $900, per person.
Benefits:
What is the #1 benefit to participating? More female students in your classes! Here are some additional benefits to you for participating in the WomenTech Educators Online Training:
- Certificate of completion. At the end of the implementation period, you will receive a certificate which can be referenced in your future grant proposals.
- IWITTS has included past training recipients who have successfully increased the number of women in their classes in national conference presentations.
- Your achievements in increasing the number of women in your classes will be highlighted by IWITTS as case studies to inspire other educators and for your own future use.
What’s expected of you:
- Take part in the multi-week WomenTech Educators Online Training, starting on February 27.
- Actively participate in the six follow up Support and Strategy sessions, and attend as many live sessions as possible.
- Post your successes and challenges in the online community, and respond to the posts of others.
- Participate in the ATE EvaluATE annual survey.
How to apply:
- Fill out and sign this application form .
- Have your dean sign the form where indicated.
- Return the signed form by fax, mail, or email by February 8, 2012 to:
- IWITTS: Online Training
1150 Ballena Bay, Suite 102
Alameda, CA 94501
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Phone: (510) 749-0200; Fax: (510) 749-0500 - Space is limited to 25 attendees. Seats will be reserved on a first come-first served basis. Don’t wait, apply today.
More information:
For additional information about the More Female Students in Just One Year Training and System, contact IWITTS with the above contact information.
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After attending the workshop with IWITTS, I was committed to making sure that didn’t happen again. At this year’s Open House, the College of Sciences held a special Women in Technology event in partnership with the College of Engineering. The girls who came had a great experience, they learned a lot, and I’m confident that it strengthened their resolve to pursue careers in science and engineering. Our goal is to have enough female students in science and engineering majors so that the process can become self-reinforcing " ~ Fred Martin, Associate Dean, College of Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell |
"Last year, the Computer Science department held an Open House event for prospective students. Although a few female high school students came, none of our female faculty members could attend and there weren’t any women there representing the department. This training is FREE to educators connected with any ATE project or center.
Space in the WomenTech Educators Online Training is limited. Don't miss out -- apply now.
Just click the Apply Now button, and you'll receive all of the proven recruitment and retention strategies that will help your school increase the number of women and girls in your STEM classrooms in just one year.
Join me, and you'll learn how to see more female faces in your technology classrooms, starting next semester.
I'll see you there!
Donna
