Sunday, September 09, 2007

Reviewing Goals, eMentoring, and The National Center for Women and Information Technology

My blogging anniversary is looming and I am feeling a bit harried. As I review the the goals I set for myself over the course of the year am now wondering if I will be able to work through all of them over the next few months. One of my goals was to post at least three times a month and while most months I do, September will be iffy.

Find myself wishing I could read, write, and reflect a little bit more than I do, but often feel the need to work fast. So in this hurried reflective post on my goals, I see I have explored a few women’s issues related to higher education, leadership, and education technology Also, found over a 100+ women bloggers and most of these were in the first three months of blogging.

In this quick review of my blog I see posts connected to leadership issues and reflection on posts as scant. So I went out looking for organizations that focus on issues of effectively address issues of gender and technology and found The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). This organization's stated mission is "to ensure that women's knowledge and skills are fully represented in the creation, development, and consumption of information technology".

NCWIT has an eMentoring project that is worth reading about. Its focus on same-sex mentoring offers young women interested in information technology opportunities to connect with like minded professionals without geographic constraints. Mentors interact with mentees via email and use online materials, communication, and coaching. The research collected in this project is promising. Wish there was something similar for middle-aged women.