Did You Know? | National Center for Women & Information Technology

Did You Know?

Did you know that new research has found a correlation between use of video games and higher scores on measures of creativity?  A study of nearly 500 12-year-olds found that the more kids played video games, the more creative they were in tasks such as drawing pictures and writing stories. Technology use measured through other gadgets — such as cell phones, the Internet, and computers (other than for video games) — was unrelated to creativity, the study found. Linda Jackson, professor of psychology at Michigan State University and lead researcher on the project, says the study appears to be the first evidence-based demonstration of a relationship between technology use and creativity. Currently about 72 percent of U.S. households play video or computer games, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

Did you know that, in order to attract more talent to your startup’s job postings, you should brag about your impressive press mentions rather than your impressive funders? This is just one of the tips recommended by Inside Startups, based on its analysis of job-ad clickthroughs; check out the rest of their top five recommendations:

Applicants don’t care nearly as much about your investors as whether you’ve been mentioned in TechCrunch or CNN.
Short, narrative job descriptions get more clickthroughs than long, exhaustive list of skills.
Interesting benefits matter. Do you pay for classes or workshops? Do you give your employees ski passes? Make sure to mention these specifically.
The industry you’re in doesn’t matter nearly as much as the profile of the job you’re offering.
Don’t label your job with terms like “rockstar” or “ninja”.

Did you know about CNN’s recent series on diversity in America? Anchor Soledad O’Brien and a CNN team have taken an in-depth look at the intersection of technology, Silicon Valley, STEM education, and entrepreneurship through the lens of what it’s like to be “Black in America”. There’s a wealth of valuable insights here, as CNN looks at the “pipeline” leading from elementary school to starting a business, and we were pleased to see articles mentioning the efforts of K-12 Alliance members TechCorps and Intel.

Did you know that the U.S. has another incentive, besides simply filling its growing number of technology jobs and driving continued innovation, to enlarge its technology workforce? USA Today recently reported on the rising phenomenon of foreign companies recruiting American students for technology jobs overseas. With a growing number of immigrant students already attending U.S. universities and then returning to their home countries to put their skills and training to work, it seems that even American citizens are looking at job opportunities outside the U.S. As technology helps level the playing field among companies competing in a global economy, one way to increase the technology workforce is to make sure we level the playing field in how we educate and employ technology workers, too.

Did you know about the remarkable gains that some of your fellow Academic Alliance members, participating in the NCWIT Pacesetters program, have made in their undergraduate enrollment of women? Pacesetters is a fast-track program that helps change-leaders from universities and companies commit their organizations to fundamental enhancements in their recruitment and retention of women, with the goal of bringing “net new” women to the computing and technology workforce. By employing new strategies in such areas as high school outreach, redesigned intro courses,  and visibility for women in computing, Pacesetters institutions have seen increases of 25%, 50%, even 100% in their undergraduate programs. Click through to read press releases from some of the participating schools.
University of Colorado
Indiana University
Santa Clara University
UC Santa Cruz
Virginia Tech
University of Washington
Did You Know? is a brief round-up of information and news that crossed NCWIT’s radar this week that we think might be of interest to you. Practices or content of the news presented are not vetted or endorsed by NCWIT.

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