Virtual Development Center

The annual cycle at each VDC site begins with an Innovation Workshop in which local community groups meet with students and faculty to generate ideas for needs-based technology products. These external groups are predominantly female or provide service to women and their families. After completion of the Innovation Workshop, students spend one or two terms working with these community participants and professionals from applicable fields to develop appropriate technology-based solutions. The combination of the Innovation Workshop and the academic course constitutes a VDC course.

Students from the VDC sites present the results of their work at an annual VDC Conference held each spring. In addition to presenting the technical merits of their project, students discuss challenges, offer possible enhancements for future teams, and develop relationships with potential employers and future collaborators. In turn, Institute sponsors enjoy the opportunity of being the first corporate representatives to interact with the VDC scholars, appreciating first-hand the context of their work, skills learned, products designed, and tangible contributions to community. By 2004, 427 individuals had attended the conferences which featured presentations on 120 projects.

The VDC programme has been modelled after other more traditional service learning courses, but the VDC has also developed distinctive teaching and learning methods which specifically work to engage women's perspectives and priorities in the generation of new technologies and applications.

Women, Technology.

From just three schools in 1999, the VDC has evolved into a growing network of schools offering VDC courses, a total of ten in 2005. At the end of 2004, these institutions and their programmes had generated a substantive record of achievement, including:

• 31 Innovation Workshops were delivered to 800 students, faculty and community representatives.
• Over 370 students had completed VDC-related courses.
• Of the approximately 30 VDC courses, 14 were all-female; in most, women were the majority.
• Over 50% of Workshop participants were from external communities, with the majority of attendees being women or girls (74% in 2003- 2004).
• Over 1,500 ideas were generated, ranging from a smart bus shelter addressing women's needs for safety and warmth, a whole family calendar manager, to a faster, safer way of moving wheelchairs on and off aircraft.
• Over 120 projects were undertaken, driven by needs from over 30 community groups.
• Numerous corporate employees have been directly involved as student project mentors and Leadership Team advisors.

In Innovation Workshop survey summaries for 2003-2004, 89% of participating students indicated their experience with the workshop strengthened their decision to pursue their current major. Most of these students were juniors or seniors and presumed to be already committed to graduate. This outcome signals a potential for increase in the numbers of students finishing in engineering, as well as going on to graduate school.

Perception change is a key indicator of this increased engagement of students in technical fields. In pooled data from workshop surveys for 2003-2004:

• 41% reported broadened personal understanding of what technology 'is';
• 79% realised that they can demand more of technology, and;
• 67% revealed increased interest in creating technology.

Anecdotal evidence strongly supports that participation in the VDC is a significant motivator contributing to the retention of computer science and engineering students, especially women.