Monday November 28th 4:00 - 4:50pm KEC 1001
Laura Beckwith Ph.D. Candidate School of EECS Oregon State University Gender HCI: Effects of Self-Efficacy on Males' and Females' Problem Solving Although gender differences in a technological world are receiving significant research attention, much of the research and practice has aimed at how society and education can impact the successes and retention of female computer science professionals--but the possibility of gender issues within problem-solving software has received no attention. To begin addressing this issue we conducted an extensive literature search outlining possible gender differences which may affect end users engaged in computer-based problem-solving tasks. In this talk I will focus on how gender differences in computer self-efficacy (a form of confidence) impact users' problem-solving effectiveness. Based on findings from a study looking at self-efficacy we made design changes to accommodate users with low self-efficacy, and then conducted a follow-up study investigating those changes. Studying these gender HCI issues is important because without knowledge of how gender differences interact with software designers could unintentionally be making design choices which leave a large portion of the population at a disadvantage for computer-based problem-solving. Bio: Laura Beckwith is PhD candidate at Oregon State University working with Margaret Burnett. She received her undergraduate degree in 1998 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in central New York State. After working as a software engineer for several years in Rochester, NY she moved to Corvallis and started her masters program in computer science. Since completing her master's degree in 2002 she has been working on her PhD entitled "Gender HCI." Her primary research interests are in HCI (human-computer interaction) and end-user software engineering. _______________________________________________ Colloquium mailing list [email protected] https://secure.engr.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/colloquium
