Visualizing Success Using AI-generated Images: Unveiling Challenges and Success Strategies of Undergraduate Women in IT Degrees
2024-11-14 21:37
We would like to invite you to our next seminar on Thursday, November 21, featuring three presenters: Alexandra Nam, Ariya Seidin, and Moldir Amanzhol, who are presenting their research under a CARCEIT project “Visualizing Success Using AI-generated Images: Unveiling Challenges and Success Strategies of Undergraduate Women in IT Degrees”, mentored by NUGSE Associate Professor Dr. Munyaradzi Hwami.
The project examines the experiences of undergraduate women in Kazakhstan pursuing degrees in information technology (IT), a field with rapid development but significant gender disparities. Despite national efforts to increase educational opportunities in IT in Kazakhstan, there are significant gender disparities in IT education, aligning with global trends of women's underrepresentation in STEM fields. While existing literature has explored gender gaps in STEM in Kazakhstan, limited studies focus on higher education in IT, where distinct challenges may affect women’s educational persistence and career aspirations.
This project aims to address this gap by investigating the specific barriers and strategies that young women in IT majors identify as critical to their success in IT. 30 undergraduate women in IT used an AI tool to visually represent key factors they feel are missing or essential to their academic and career success in IT. These visualizations were further discussed to identify personal and institutional factors impacting education in IT. Through this design, the study offers a nuanced understanding of the academic and professional challenges faced by undergraduate women in ICT, providing participatory insights to inform action that can support gender equity in the IT pipeline.
The seminar will take place Nazarbayev University, Block C3, Room 2002.