Creating an interest in IT: a gender study

An innovative IT summer school for secondary school students at Monash University, Australia, was designed to inform and interest participants in the range of course and career options available in the IT field. This paper reports on a comparative study that investigated the impact of the summer school on male and female students´ awareness and interest in different aspects of IT, and what influence the summer school had on their intentions for future course selection and career choice. The decreasing percentages of females in IT courses are a concern in Australian universities. A review of other studies presents some of the possible reasons for the lack of interest females show in IT courses and careers.