Gender Issues in Learning and Working with Information Technology

Gender, equity, learning, and information technology can intersect to form a theoretical and abstract field of knowledge emanating from very real, concrete, lived experiences. Gender Issues in Learning and Working with Technology: Social Constructs and Cultural Contexts discusses the social studies of information technology, specifically how IT skills are learned and how such skills are gendered. This book draws upon the disciplines of sociology, education, cultural and media studies, and gender studies, using a variety of research methods and theoretical perspectives to approach gender and IT in different contexts: education settings, work settings and everyday life. This unique reference source brings to light gender relations and IT, examining them in a multidimensional way.

Shirley Booth is, at the time of writing, Professor at the Wits School of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and at the same time visiting professor in the Department of Education at University of Gothenburg in Sweden. She initiated the network of researchers with interests in gender, learning and IT under the auspices of the LearnIT research programme of the Knowledge Foundation of Sweden, which ultimately led to this book. Her own research interest is primarily learning and teaching in higher education, in particular in the areas of the mathematical, natural and engineering sciences, and also in teacher education. Her doctoral thesis concerned students learning to programme, and the methodological approach she used there, phenomenography, has remained an abiding research interest. She co-authored the book Learning and Awareness with Professor Ference Marton, where phenomenography was developed further into a theory of variation and learning.

Sara Goodman, FL, MS, is a lecturer at the Centre for Gender Studies, Lund University, Sweden and coordinates the international masters program Master of Science in Social Studies of Gender at the Faculty of Social Science. Between 1998 and 2004, she lead the development of the gender studies education at Lund University and has received two awards for contributions in teaching: in 2005, the Lund University Prize for Teaching and in 2002, the Social Science Faculty Award for the Course of the Year. Her research interests are interdisciplinary and have focused on work, knowledge, gender, science and technology studies, information technology as well as the Third World studies in different constellations. More recently her research interests have also focused upon the teaching and development of gender studies as well as critical feminist pedagogy. Sara Goodman has represented Lund University in ATHENA( Advanced Thematic Network on Higher Education in Womens Studies 1998 2009) since its inception and she has served as a member of the ATHENA taskforce for the last nine years. She currently is a member of a research project, Physics and Learning in Groups based at Chalmers School of Engineering and Gothenburg University.

Gill Kirkup, Dr., B.A., B.Ed., M. Phil, Ph.D, is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Educational Technology, Open University, UK. She is also the Head of Research, Data and Policy at the UK Resources Centre for Women in Science Engineering and Technology 2008-2011, part-time secondment. Gill Kirkup has researched and written about gender and technology for more than twenty years. Her publications record is very long it includes three co-authored books and three co-edited books: over forty chapters in books and over 30 journal articles. The book she co-authored with Ruth Carter ""Women in Engineering: A Good Place to Be?"" Macmillan (1990) remains a foundational text on the work and lives of women engineers. Her work is also involved with understanding the operation of gender in distance education and the gendering of ICTs for learning. Since the 1980s this work has been done in collaboration with colleagues from a number of European countries, in particular Germany, Netherlands and Sweden. Gill Kirkup is also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, member of the Association of Learning Technologies, member of the Fawcett Society. Represented the Open University (UK) in Athena ( Advanced Thematic Network on Higher Education in Womens Studies) 1999- 2009.