Exploring educational settings and projects for a balanced gender representation in undergraduate information technology education

Women’s representation in undergraduate Information Technology (IT) courses is still low in most undergraduate programs. While the problem is well known in research, teaching, and administration, despite concentrated efforts, these problems are still not addressed properly. In this chapter, we discuss some aspects that affect inbalance between genders in computer science. We provide an overview of socio-cultural factors that affect women in undergraduate IT degrees. Then we discuss learning and teaching and how improvements in the way teaching are done could lead to a better experience and retention for everyone enrolled in these degrees. In addition, we present some of the successful projects that have improved diversity and draw implications for practice.