October 2009 Volume 12 Number 4 - Educational Technology ...

With respect to the design of the wConnect online community, the university participants offered a variety of
suggestions about features that could help or hurt participation; these are summarized in Table 2. With respect to
positives, there was an emphasis on news, but also on social connections, e.g. access to information about friends, a
chance to network with other women. A number of more specific suggestions about system details were also made,
for instance that the website should look good, have an easy to use navigation scheme, and so on. Note that although
getting “news” seems like a desired feature, there was also concern about not getting too many notifications,
especially emails that do not contain any real content, or newsletters that arrive too frequently.
Table 2. Themes from Undergraduate Focus Groups
Attractors for online participation Detractors for online participation
Just being part of a major
No regular updates
Email notifications
Newsletters that are too frequent
Fresh content (events, job postings)
Too many emails, especially automatic emails that just
Advice on interviews
repeat the same stuff
Contact information
No responses to my own or others’ postings
A friend’s profile
Not interactive
Networking with other women
Not aesthetically pleasing
Easy navigation; user friendly
Difficult to navigate
Aesthetic appeal
Clickable headlines
Interactive like a Wiki
Too many ads
Our interactions with female alumnae have been grounded on the premise that there are too few women in the CIS
workforce and that there might be ways for professionals like themselves to address this imbalance. We also wanted
to understand whether and how wConnect membership might impact their current work context, for instance could it
create a strengthen a recruiting channel, or add to their status as leaders in their workplace. Like the discussions with
undergraduates, we have organized these interactions into brainstorming sessions about what online activities that
might make participation in an outreach effort more fun, easier to manage and make them feel more connected and
engaged as alumnae. The general reaction was again quite positive, with most participants believing it would be
helpful in attracting and retaining women in CIS. However, two participants from a company with a strong image
and associated expectations for employees’ behavior told us that they may not be able to get involved without
permission, because their management is always concerned about online public activities. A secure and authenticated
environment would make participation easier for them.
Table 3: Themes from IST Alumnae
Attractors for online participation Detractors for online participation
Increasing awareness about their companies.
A one-on-one relationship may be too
Students would like to hear about the kinds of projects they do in their involved on either side.
company.
Students may think that alumnae are
Students could learn about the different kinds of job they could have. responsible for decision on
Alumnae could match information about a project at their work with a internships/jobs.
course that a student likes.
Leaving behind virtual footprints.
Help students write targeted resumes and prepare interviews for their Feeling some conflict of interest.
company.
Professional vs. personal identity in social
Alumnae could get credit from their company for participation on this networking.
online community.
Talking about ongoing projects when there
Alumnae find which courses attract students to their company so they is no match to students’ interest may turn
can target those courses to do a class project.
off some students.
Small bio and advice from alumnae on their profile.
Lack of anonymity.
Table 3 summarizes some of the specific attractors and detractors for online participation that came out of our
discussions with alumnae and that we plan to carry forward in our design of the online community system. Not
surprisingly, many of the attractors reflected some of the work-oriented benefits these professional women might
gain from participating in the community, for example visibility of their company with students, or more specific
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