WomenTech Educators Toolkit

From ice-breakers and colorful presentations to video case studies and participant workbooks, our toolkit makes it easy for you to conduct your very own WomenTech Educators workshops. You'll wow your audience with engaging presentations, interactive media and participant workbooks that feature group case studies and activities.

Plus, our kit gives your workshop leaders plenty of support. Our Trainer's Guide provides lecture notes, handouts and answers to discussion questions. Our DVD Facilitator's Guide provides instructions for best use and highlights key points. And our bibliography provides practical resources that participants can share with students.

The materials in the toolkit are based on curriculum used by IWITTS Executive Director Donna Milgram in her popular, highly-praised WomenTech Educators Train-the-Trainer Workshops, which she conducts several times a year in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Reviews

"From ice-breakers to transparency masters to video case studies, you have everything you need to conduct a workshop that prepares participants to develop strategies to encourage young women to become involved in school-to-work activities. After an introduction to the IWITT S curriculum, a young female vocational teacher came up to me and said, 'This is just the training we need at our school.' I can see I will be very busy doing the training once the word gets out about this fine curriculum."

~ Gloria Smith-Rockhold, Division of Workforce and Career Preparation Department of Education, South Dakota

"Great insights on how to get women involved in nontraditional careers."

~ Ed Anderson, Advisor, Salt Lake Community College, Utah

"The Preparing Young Women for High Skill, High Wage Careers video should be seen by ALL high school teachers."

~ Don Viles, Auto Technology Teacher Osbourn High School, Manassas, Virginia 

The WomenTech Educators Tool Kit includes our:

• Preparing Young Women for Tech Careers: A Video for Educators
• WomenTech PowerPoint
• Trainer's Guide
• Participant's Workbook
• Bibliography

Preparing Young Women for Tech Careers: A Video for Educators

Gender equity training is made easy with this engaging, interactive DVD (40 minutes) in which acted-vignettes are interwoven with documentary footage of teachers, students, internship coordinators and parents. Follow the fictional Lisa from career counseling to the classroom to an internship. Observe how her teacher, counselor and internship coordinator support her. Discussion questions follow each section: Recruitment, Classroom Retention and the Workplace.

Educators tell us they love our DVD because:

• Gender equity concepts are presented in a non-confrontational manner that everyone can relate to.
• The training questions embedded in the video provoke thoughtful discussion and spark "aha" moments.
• The 15 page facilitator's guide, which provides answers to the discussion questions and highlights key points, makes training a snap!

WomenTech PowerPoint

Our engaging WomenTech PowerPoint features the latest recruitment and retention strategies for middle and high schools, community colleges and 4-year universities. What's more, you can customize the slides to suit your workshop needs. The presentation -- over 100 slides in all -- covers a wide range of topics, including:

• Gender differences in learning styles
• Spatial relations and engineering studies
• Recruitment strategies and photos from a WomenTech Career Expo
• Retention strategies to help you avoid the "we had one once but she dropped out" syndrome
• Results from a CalWomenTech Project survey which asked female technology and trades students from two-year colleges what retention strategies are most helpful and what they'd like more of
• Tips for trainers

Trainer's Guide

Our comprehensive workshop guide to recruiting and retaining young women in technology classes gives teachers, counselors and outreach and equity coordinators time-tested strategies that can be put to work right away.

The Trainer's Guide will help you teach others how to develop a recruitment plan, identify female role models in technology occupations in your community and prepare employers to welcome young women in work-based learning experiences. Lecture notes, handouts, and case study instructions make the guide an indispensable tool for training your colleagues.

Participant's Workbook

Workshop facilitators can be sure to keep workshop participants on track with this companion to the Trainer's Guide. Upon purchase, you are granted the right to reproduce the Participant Workbook for training in your state.

The Workbook features 24 case studies across technology careers that are sure to produce lively discussions and engage participants in critical thinking. Divided by secondary and community-college levels, the case studies cover recruitment, retention and work-based learning scenarios. The recruitment and retention plan worksheets help ensure that participants walk away with a custom gender equity implementation plan for their class or school.

Bibliography

Our bibliography is chock-full of resources you can share with your students! It includes:

• Videos with female role models in technology and science careers
• Online resources for finding female role models and e-mentors
• Websites designed for girls interested in technology
• Out-of-school programs focusing on girls and technology
• Gender-segregated occupational data in your state

From the Video "Preparing Young Women for Tech Careers: A Video for Educators"

A Career Expo in Action
(Click image to play)

From the PowerPoint Presentation: Sample Slides

From the Participant Workbook: Sample Case Study

You are the Chair of the Engineering & Technology Department in your two-year College and are responsible for the Telecommunications Technology Engineering Certificate Program. Telecommunications Engineers plan, install and maintain telephone systems, cable TV and computer networks. This is a newly implemented program and employment projections are highly favorable. Starting salaries average $30,000 per year for certificate holders. As of this spring, there were no women enrolled in this program. There are 30 seats in the fall class.

• Courses are offered primarily during the day but some course offerings are also available in the evening
• There are no prerequisites but students would increase their opportunity for success if they had basic keyboarding and internet skills and some background in applied math for technology
• The percentage of women in this field is in the single digits
• There are no female instructors or alumna

What short term strategies (12 months) will you use to reach your goal of 50% female participation in the Telecommunications Technology Engineering Certificate Program in the next year?