Diversity in IT: An Educator's Perspective
Diversity in IT: An Educator's Perspective
The term diversity is one with many definitions depending on context. It receives a lot of attention in the media in relation to business, government, and education. Information technology is a rich and broad field, and there is need to address diversity in that arena.
Dr. Goran Trajkovski of Towson University, USA, addresses the fluidity of the definition of diversity in his new book, Diversity in Information Technology Education: Issues and Controversies, published by Idea Group Publishing.
It is true that the definitions of the term diversity vary, based on context, Trajkovski agreed. While training faculty, I ask them to write their definition of the word. I have gotten many definitions over the years, but the one that has stuck with me as very original is that diversity is not me, or it is everything I am not. I can say that that is the definition that the contributors to Diversity in Information Technology Education: Issues and Controversies worked with, which can be seen from the book itself. The chapters cover a diverse range of diversity categories, its various aspects, dimensions, and how they relate to IT education.
Trajkovski explained that the picture of diversity in IT becomes clearer when the researcher looks at relevant statistics, or at introspective testimonials given by the authors or the surveyed.
It seems that at present the predominant, severe issues at this time are the numbers of female and African American students in the classrooms, Trajkovski said. Studies investigate the influence of the environment and other parameters that might have been the cause of the problems, and propose ways of fixing the problems. But not only gender and racial issues are being discussed. Disability and national origin issues, for example, are also observed. Diversity of a different kind can also emerge in a classroom setting. With open-ended and autopoietic setups, out of the multiagent human environment various social phenomena emerge and are observed.
The reason Trajkovski decided to edit Diversity in Information Technology Education: Issues and Controversies was a personal one.
The idea for this volume came out of my personal need as educator for a teacher's tool of this kind, he said. I used a few general education materials available, and thought of transforming them to fit my teaching style and my students. I am glad that this book is being published, as it will save a lot of out young instructing successors a lot of efforts that we had to go thorough when we needed a volume like this one.
For more from Dr. Trajkovski about Diversity in Information Technology Educ=
ation: Issues and Controversies, visit the book=92s Web site at
http://www.idea-group.com/books/additional.asp?id=5531&title=Author+Interview&contributors .
For additional information about IGI publications, or this newsletter, plea=
se contact:
Mr. Andrew Bundy
Tel: 717-533-8845 ext. 29
Fax: 717-533-7115
Email: abundy@idea-group.com
posted by Victor Lloyd Smith @ 5:41 PM
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