Three cheers for the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, its Women Into Engineering Advisory Committee, and their Women Into Engineering Project!
The Women Into Engineering Project was designed to encourage and support Ontario universities in the removal of barriers for women studying and working in faculties of engineering. The Project examined the entry and retention rates of women into Ontario engineering faculties and, specifically, the effect of communication and gender differences in the classroom upon those rates. This research resulted in the creation of Communication and Gender Differences in the Classroom, a Workshop Kit (2003) for faculty and staff.
The Workshop Kit can be downloaded as an Adobe PDF and is full of useful references. You could easily use this kit to conduct a workshop on your campus. Here's something interesting I learned from the kit: Consider the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators. It turns out the majority of engineers are of the ISTJ type. But a significant minority are counter-type, E_FP. And, it so happens, students who are of the countertype predominate among those who don't pass first-year engineering. I'm thinking this can't be good.
The workshop folks are looking for additional resources and want you to share your good stuff with them:
The workshop is now being expanded to include the concept of professional identity and appropriate behaviour, qualities that industry is looking for in their engineer employees. [The project is looking for] anyone who has done work on the topic of professional identity of engineers and ways to engage students and professors in that discussion. All referrals or suggestions of sources would be much appreciated. Reply to: Ann Holmes & Associates, Consulting in education and social issues, 112 Robinson St, Toronto ON Canada M6J 1L9 PHONE 416-603-4356 EMAIL annholmes AT sympatico DOT ca
Give them a ring if you have a handle on this kind of info. And don't be shy, tell them about yourself if you have expertise to share!
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