Gender and Technology: Designing for Diversity

Bennett, D., Brunner, C., Honey, M. (1999). Gender and technology: designing for diversity. Center for Children and Technology, 1-10.

Summary/Analysis
The article investigates issues of gender and diversity and how students engage in various technological environments. Also, it explores issues of how males and females approach technology and utilize it differently including subject matter, practical use, imagery, and themes. The article also suggests that educational systems need to find new ways to incorporate and link girls to professional careers involving technology and provide flexible environments for both sexes to learn and engage in.

The abstract summary of the article had some interesting ideas and concepts and that’s what attracted me to it. Yet when I actually read the text it did not support all of the issues the authors had intended. I also felt the research was biased and did not link any concrete data to their main concepts. The authors tend to skip around subjects and did not explain the relevant points they had. I would not suggest this article to be used for any concrete data.

Resources/Quotes

What we need to do to engage both boys and girls with technology that is neither over determined or exclusive is to think about designs that can incorporate multiple perspectives and varying themes. (3)

At the hear of this new methodology is a constructivist approach to understanding where diverse groups of learners are invited into flexible technological environments that do not restrict parameters for engagement to a predetermined set of metaphors, images, storylines, or pathways. (7)