So I'm here with Jessica Uelmen who's the program manager for
mobile nano-degrees here at Udacity.
Thank you so much for talking to us today.
>> Yeah, happy to be here.
My pleasure.
>> So the first thing I wanted to ask you was, that there's this trend
in technology that the technology industry tends to be very male-oriented.
And there's this perception that therefore,
any educational technology that comes out of the technology industry
will also be oriented more towards male style ways of learning.
So what can we do when we're designing educational technology to make sure that
we're not preserving this trend of it being by men for men?
>> Yeah, it's a really tough question and a tough thing to address, but
I think it really starts with awareness, which is great to be here and
talking about it already.
But, really scrutinizing and looking at what's being designed,
looking at things through a neutral lens.
Even getting feedback from women, or from other teachers.
Education as a field, is primarily dominated by women.
So it's kind of interesting that ed tech then becomes more male skewed.
So I think if there's a way to sort of start blending those worlds,
we'll get to a little more diverse pool.
>> Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, I actually hadn't thought about
that before, but you're right that with technology it's very male oriented, but
teaching tends to be very female oriented And so
there's a lot of great overlap there and a lot of chance for
collaboration as long as we actually go out and do it.
>> Absolutely.
>> And talking to teachers I think is something that anyone is on
the educational technology needs to do more of anyway.
>> Yes. >> And so
now we kind of kill two birds with one stone.
>> Yep. >> So, but
given that we're probably not going to change the entire industry in the next
four months.
Of the students currently in the class, what are some considerations they should
make when they're developing their tools besides possibly going out and
talking to teachers?
Are there any things they can keep in mind?
>> I think maybe just even surveying the landscape.
I mean, there's also, people do a lot of efforts for
putting educational technology solutions towards women, and
a lot of times unfortunately, that's like making it pink.
So, let's not make it pink, okay?
But, looking at those solutions, maybe seeing what they're doing and
seeing how it might be able to adapt to what they're building.
>> And so I think that the other thing that comes up here is that if our
ultimate goal is to make the technology industry itself a little bit less
male dominated, the people in this class will go on to careers in technology.
What can they do when they're in their future workplaces or
their current workplaces?
They can kind of try and combat this trend a little bit.
>> Yeah, I mean, I think the main thing and something that I always push for
is not necessarily making a woman a commodity.
It's not a hire because she's a woman, or it's not collaborating because she's
a woman, and it's a very difficult thing to do.
Because if you look at, the percentages, and
it's like wow, there's not a whole lot of women here.
We need to hire women, but that's not always the best solution.
And then when there are women in the workplace in maybe leadership roles
making their impact more visible externally and internally,
will sort of help fill that role model role that we are always talking about.
We need more women in tech role models, but doing so
will then hopefully inspire more people to pursue that as a field.
>> Yeah, and I think there's a very interesting alignment there between what
we deal with in industry, and
what we actually deal with here in the OMS program.
That as I'm recording this, hopefully it will change in future semesters.
The OMS program is 90% male, and
there's a tendency to think if it's 90% male we just need to admit more women.
>> Right. >> But that's kind of,
treating the symptom as the thing to be treated as opposed to,
it's a symptom of some underlying issue.
And here the issue is appeal to women, or if there are any obstacles that we're
not really considering that apply more to women than men.
Resolving those obstacles as opposed to just, you know,
changing admission criteria, or something like that.
>> Right.
And I think then, also, making things a little bit more welcoming, or
breaking down those like a girl stereotypes.
One of the things that always pops into my head is
I majored in electrical engineering, and so we had to take physics classes, and
it was my sophomore year, and we were in a physics study group.
It was me and a bunch of guys, because that's the way it goes, and I was
helping them solve each of the problems, and I was doing a lot of the teaching.
And one of the guys piped up and said hey,
are we going to let the girl teach us how it's done.
>> [LAUGH] >> And comments like that doesn't really
make for a welcoming environment, and it's a very benign comment, right.
It's not meant to be hurtful, but it is uncomfortable.
So just try to be aware of those types of comments.
>> Yeah, it plays some kind of assumption that the assumptions really
need to be addressed.
>> Right. >> Comment might be harmless but
what it's perpetuating is not.
>> Yes, absolutely.
>> Well, great. Well, thank you much for
talking to us today.
>> Yeah, my pleasure.
Always happy to talk.
>> [LAUGH]