Girls education and education technology are two conversation happening, separately. In the former, educators and major tech companies attempt to increase girls’ engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) and ’empowering’ them to compete with boys. In the latter, schools are grappling with the likes of Google and Microsoft competing to get a foothold in the education system. One conversation focuses on girls and the other doesn’t, which is a problem for several reasons.
School is pushing girls out
According to the National Women’s Law Centre, girls are being pushed out of school at alarming rates. Everything from harassment to sexual assault to sexist dress codes is making it challenging. I call the whole thing a pot of chaos.
If education technology doesn’t address the ways girls are prevented from learning it’s useless. Edtech has to help make it possible to learn safely inside and outside the classroom. It’s as much about things as it is about the space.
The experience matters more than the numbers
There isn’t enough focus on the experiences of women in STEM. Rather, the focus has been on increasing the presence of girls in STEM, which influences what kind of change schools are most likely to make.
It’s unfortunate; so many women have come forward to tell the truth about being in STEM: they are underpaid, overworked, undervalued and subject to a level of sexist behaviour that forces many of them to quit. However, there are problems even before they reach the workplace. Sexism and unchecked power, especially by boys, discourages girls from participating.
Boys often take up more space than girls in classrooms. When boys take up space, they get rewarded in ways that girls don’t. They receive praise and positions. Meanwhile, girls are often punished for doing the same thing. Power dynamics like these dictate how a girl may understand her place in the world. She may believe falsehoods about who she can be.
Empowerment can be a farce
If you search “girls and education technology”, a bunch of articles about STEM and empowering girls to learn come up. Unfortunately, this is an example of what the #edtech conversation has become. Additionally, this assumption ignores an important fact: girls have stories and experiences that they want to share. Girls are making waves and creating educational innovation all around the world. They are solving real problems. Putting technology in a classroom is not going to charge a girl by virtue of it being there. Furthermore, expanding what the technology can do to solve real world problems, like sexism, may be able to.
History underrepresents women
You ever flip through a science textbook and see so many female figures and their innovations mentioned? Yeah, me neither.
Women are still missing from historical and educational texts of information. There is very little in the average K-12 school curriculum that highlights the accomplishments of women beyond them just being there. Education technology has to be intentional with making women visible to young female students. That is more empowering than simply saying to a girl that the STEM world needs her.
There’s still hope
Education technology has the opportunity to fundamentally enhance girls’ education by changing the learning space. Flipped classrooms have the capacity to allow girls to do most of their concentrating on work outside of the classroom. Maker spaces can give girls the opportunity to think of themselves as change makers. Including personalized learning between teachers and students helps transform the learning environment into something worth participating in despite challenges and hardships. What these approaches all have in common is that they fundamentally change the space of learning for the better.
Educators, companies and other stakeholders can’t relegate girls to the sidelines while are discussing the impact of education technology. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself:
What would happen if #edtech intentionally helped lock into STEM?