Any discussion of technology must include a mention of staffing, current programmatic issues, and strategic direction. Quite fortunately, at Emma Willard these three issues have come together synchronistically in the last few months. Educating Girls in the New Computer Age. Written in an effort to explore strategies for making the computer culture more accessible to young women, this report provides no easy answers and leaves many complex questions unaddressed. Perhaps that is why it has attracted enormous attention within the ranks of both elementary and secondary educators, as well as among teacher education programs.
Girls have legitimate reservations about the computer culture.
Their likes and dislikes point to a need for the computer culture to address software development, the instruction of computer science, and the goals for computer technology. Teachers in grades K-12 are critical of the computer culture in that professional development has not kept pace with technological advancements, and instructional software is not fully integrated with curriculum needs in meaningful ways. Statistics indicate that girls are underrepresented in computer science courses, programming laboratories, and computer clubs. Their disenchantment with the computer culture is cause for concern among educators, especially given the career choices that evolve from an interest in immersion in the computer culture. The ways in which girls currently participate in the computer culture are limiting.