Diversity and Gender in Application Development, 4 credits

Main field of study

Course level

Advancement level

Course offered for

• Master of Science in Information Technology

Prerequisites

One year of studies at an engineering program or similar, as well as some experience of programming and systems development. To be able to complete the examination of the course, either the student has to take the course Design and development of interactive systems in parallel, or have previous or ongoing experiences from design of graphical user interfaces, similar to what is done in Design and development of interactive systems, as well as experience of group work/projects in larger groups than 2 students (e.g., PBL group work, project work, or similar).

Intended learning outcomes

After completing the course the student should be able to: 

• Describe, explain, and critically analyse gender relations connected to technical design and development (part 1). 
• In writing, investigate, analyse, and problematise gender-political issues that appear in virtual contexts (part 2). 
• Describe and orally discuss the interactions between gender, race, class, and technical educations and work places, from a historical prespective (part 3). 
• Apply a problematising technology analysis, based on a gender perspective, and tie these insights to issues appearing in a professional (work place) setting (part 3).

Course content

The course is intended to give 2:nd year students on the IT-program an understanding of the role that gender and diversity plays in application development, as well as in their education and in the work place. The course has three parts and each part consists of one or two lectures, one seminar, and one or two classroom exercises. The students will be presented with the following ideas: that gender and identity are a life experience and it affects how and what we know of the world; identity, including gender, is made, and is therefore flexible, non-binary, and time/place-dependent; IT workplaces have a history that also affects gender; and the virtual world has real consequences on peoples experiences. 

The three course parts are: 

• Part 1: gender, diversity, and design. 
• Part 2: Diversity and gender in a virtual reality. 
• Part 3: Diversity and gender in society. 

Teaching and working methods

The course is built around lectures, classroom exercises, and seminars, distributed over the three part sof the course, as well as written reports. Active participation in the course parts is required for passing the course. Individual written assignments are the basis for higher grades. 

The course applies problem-based learning with PBL-group work and student-directed learning. The PBL group work is coordinated through the course Design and development of interactive systems. 

Examination

Grades

Other information

About teaching and examination language

The teaching language is presented in the Overview tab for each course. The examination language relates to the teaching language as follows: 

• If teaching language is Swedish, the course as a whole or in large parts, is taught in Swedish. Please note that although teaching language is Swedish, parts of the course could be given in English. Examination language is Swedish. 
• If teaching language is Swedish/English, the course as a whole will be taught in English if students without prior knowledge of the Swedish language participate. Examination language is Swedish or English (depending on teaching language). 
• If teaching language is English, the course as a whole is taught in English. Examination language is English. 

Other

The course is conducted in a manner where both men's and women's experience and knowledge are made visible and developed. 

The planning and implementation of a course should correspond to the course syllabus. The course evaluation should therefore be conducted with the course syllabus as a starting point.  

Department

Director of Studies or equivalent

Examiner

Education components

Course literature

Books

• Wachter-Boettcher, Sara, (2017) Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech W. W. Norton and Company

Other