Beitrag Di 12. Jan 2021, 09:52

How Technovation, An International Nonprofit

How Technovation, An International Nonprofit, Is Using Mentors To Help Girls Learn About Artificial Intelligence

Bild

In August 2020, girls from countries around the world presented their AI and mobile app projects at the Technovation World Summit awards ceremony. Memory Haven, a dementia assistance AI app designed by the team from Ireland, won first place in the Senior Division. In the Junior Division, the winner was Zecha, a digital caretaker app developed by a group of girls from India. The competition, organized by the Technovation Girls and Families program, involved nearly 2,000 teams from more than 60 countries. They were called upon to identify and solve major problems, both local and worldwide, with the help of modern technology.

Technovation is an educational nonprofit with representation in 87 countries, providing access to free educational resources and technological platforms to low-income and underrepresented communities. This year, UNESCO partnered with Technovation to use its support network and detailed curriculum to help alleviate the impact of pandemic, which has disproportionately affected girls and young women all over the world. ”Never before have we witnessed educational disruption at this scale,” warns UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. In October, UNESCO announced the urgent need to double down on gender equality and technology education, in order to counteract the unprecedented learning loss.

Technovation is focused on community building, problem solving and societal responsibility. It organizes and encourages participation in a large-scale software competition that helps guide solution development, provides feedback to participants, and rewards high-quality, useful apps. With corporate and organizational partners (including the United Nations), the global program boasts thousands of mentors and chapter ambassadors.

Technovation matches girls and families with caring and knowledgeable mentors from a wide range of backgrounds, including volunteers from high-tech and business sectors, to guide teams of girls through a 12-week technology entrepreneurship curriculum. (Incidentally, such engagements also help professionals become better coaches, better managers and more inclusive leaders, in addition to supporting their morale during the pandemic.) All volunteers go through mandatory training. Along with the technical content, mentors are sensitized to cultural differences and implicit biases as they prepare to interact with girls and families from many different countries.

While many STEM outreach programs start out as promising but fail to scale up, Technovation is an inspiring example of STEM outreach done right. Its secret is the extensive mentorship provided to girls and families throughout the program. “In practice, the impact of ‘STEM in a box’ toolkits or fully loaded tablets without the proper scaffolding is negligible. These solutions rarely work to really empower and motivate someone with scarce support,” says Tara Chklovski, the founder of Technovation. “It is our fellow humans who motivate us and turn us into changemakers, and no technological tools alone will do that for us.” Indeed, research suggests that relatable adult role models help girls envision their future in STEM fields, especially in leadership positions.

Read More : pg slot