Background
Alverno is a four-year, liberal arts, independent, Catholic college for women, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Chartered in 1887, the college offers undergraduate programs, continuing education for the community, and a coeducational Master of Arts program for teachers and trainers. The Cisco Networking Academy Program serves both undergraduate students and continuing education students. The College's students are diverse; 28% are African-American, 7% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian and 1% is Native-American. Students in the Cisco Networking Academy continuing education program range in age from 18 to 54 years, but most students are in their thirties, and many are returning students making a career change. Alverno grades on a pass/fail basis and is known for its Learning-centered "ability-based" curriculum.

The Numbers
The Cisco Networking Academy Program serves both continuing education students (who are male and female) and Alverno College students (all female). Most of the Academy students have been drawn from the continuing education program. The first Academy class ended in May 2000, and three other classes have been held since that time. One group has completed all 4 semesters; many of the classes have combined semesters 1 & 2 and 3 & 4. Of a total of 74 students, 50 or 68% have been female and 46 or 92% of the females have been retained.

How did the Alverno College Networking Academy program successfully recruit and retain high school girls into Information Technology (IT) classes in this urban community?

Recruitment
Initially, the Academy Director had to proactively recruit students by posting flyers around campus about the new Cisco Networking Academy Program, but now word of mouth is the primary recruitment strategy. The flyers, which were also handed out in classes, emphasized the hands-on experience students would receive in networking. Additionally, announcements were made in the computer science classes and a listing was placed in the continuing education catalogue and the Business Resource brochure (for companies that want to send their employees for training). Word has now gotten around that Alverno's Academy is a welcoming environment for female and male students and that both the instructors are female.

Prerequisites
Continuing Education students don't have any required prerequisites for the Academy, while Alverno College students are required to have an Introduction to Computers and Computer Programming. Continuing education students mostly have a baseline knowledge level of the computer and many have related hands-on experience from their workplaces. From the instructors standpoint, she sees little difference between those students who have taken the prerequisites and those without them, with the exception of IP addressing and configuration. Traditionally, says Ms. Balzer, these two areas are the most challenging part of the curriculum for the students, and having some programming background and theory does give the College students a bit of an advantage.

Success in the Classroom

"If there's one thing I know, it's that women are good at networking." -Jody Balzer, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Alverno College

Ms. Balzer observes that the male students, even though they are in the minority in the classroom, are very assertive and quick to call out the answer to questions. To give both male and female students an opportunity to respond, she and the other instructor are careful to use "wait time" techniques, rather than calling upon the first student to raise his hand.

Ms. Balzer also recognizes that, in general, the female students are less likely to have a technology problem-solving schema, and so she lets them know that they are in the process of developing an "imagination framework" for mechanical and electrical concepts. She finds that demonstrating the physical "hands-on" experience first best enables the female (and male) students to understand the corresponding concepts. Since many students are already employed in related industries she draws upon their wealth of experience to illustrate topics. For example, one student worked for a cabling company, so she had him provide a fiber optic demonstration and present on the standards related to cabling. These hands-on demonstrations serve the dual purpose of empowering the students and enabling those with less experience to relate the theory to practice.

Ms. Balzer has also found that her classes prefer to work in groups rather than individually, which is consistent with Alverno's methods, since they find each others questions helpful in the learning process. Finally, the Academy's on-line assessment set up enables Alverno to grant extensions to students who aren't ready for the exam and to take it over if needed and Ms. Balzer has found that this has assisted students in succeeding. As many of the students are older, life events come up that interfere with the timing of tests -- for example, one student lost her parent during the last days of class. Alverno's goal is to assist students to develop life-long learning abilities, which includes mastery of material, and their flexible policy on assessments has made this easier to achieve.

Contact
Jody Balzer
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Alverno College
3401 S. 39th Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
jody.balzer@alverno.edu
414-382-6386

School Web site
http://www.alverno.edu