ITWF: Gender HCI Issues in Problem-Solving Software

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Title: Gender HCI Issues in Problem-Solving SoftwareThis project investigates the role software plays in supporting or inhibiting the participation of women in information technology. The project involves empirical studies on research questions about the impacts of gender differences in confidence, of gender-conscious support mechanisms, of gender differences in motivation, and of collaboration opportunities by males and females using problem solving software. The investigators plan to produce guidelines to help designers of problem-based software environments make design decisions that account for gender differences.The intellectual merit of this project lies in the potential contribution to human computer interface research. The topic of gender barriers in software design merits significant study. The project has thus has the potential to make a significant contribution to human computer interface and software design research as well as to provide insight into the barriers and possible solutions to the under-representation issues in information technology.The project promotes broader impacts in several ways. The investigation team is composed primarily of females and three female high school students are involved in the research, which may encourage more female participation in information technology. The investigators plan to translate the empirical results of the study into a set of model-based guidelines to be widely distributed to software developers. If implemented, the resulting software could be instrumental in removing software-related gender differences that will result in broader participation in information technology careers by females.