• Presenters
• Participants
• Planning a course
• Next steps
• Important dates
• Form for online submission of course offer

The Computing Women Congress (CWC) is a meeting-place for female students, academic and professional staff who study or work in Information Technology. CWC provides an arena to learn about and share the latest ideas of computing related topics in a supportive environment. CWC provides an open, explorative learning and teaching environment. Experimentation with new styles of learning is encouraged, with an emphasis on hands-on experience and engaging participatory techniques. Each day of the CWC will offer a number of individual courses followed by a keynote presentation in the evening.

This call for lectures invites women in computing, IT, and related interdisciplinary fields to submit offers courses. We welcome topics from the whole spectrum of computer science as well as topics from IT related gender research. Participants from all levels of experience and any variety of background are welcome to present or teach.

The Computing Women Congress 2006 is the second Pan-Pacific congress for women in IT; we welcome submissions from around the world, but primarily focus on those from the Pan-Pacific region. The congress aims to provide role models for those early in their computing careers. We welcome female students at undergraduate and graduate level, and professionals from academic, scientific or commercial backgrounds. By learning from each other’s skills and experiences, we seek to form a community that shares interests and knowledge. The CWC is based on the concept of Informatica Feminale, developed by the University of Bremen (Germany). The CWC 2005 was a great success with over 50 participants more than six different countries. With the CWC 2006, we are one step closer to establishing a series of annual congresses for Australasian women in IT.

CWC is run by women for women—whatever your contribution or background, we look forward to seeing you!

We welcome lecturers who are

• Professors and lecturers who search for committed female students to experiment with new concepts of teaching,
• Researchers and doctoral students who want to develop their own courses and present them in a supportive and comfortable environment,
• Practitioners who want to pass on their experience or who want to make first attempts in tertiary teaching,
• Researchers and practitioners from other fields who want to initiate interdisciplinary discussions with women in computer science,
• Graduate students who want to lead discussion groups for exchanging experiences as female students in computer science, and
• Participants from industry offering orientation for issues arising in study, when entering the business world, and in professional practice.

We welcome participants who are

• Students at graduate and undergraduate level  
• Students from universities and polytechnics with a major or minor in computer science or information science 
• Students studying engineering, natural sciences, mathematics, statistics, as well as social sciences and humanities, 
• High school students with an interest in studying computer science, 
• Teachers for computer science, as well as  
• Practitioners and women from IT who are looking for opportunity for further study on a high level. 

Our experience with similar events has shown that the diversity of careers and life experiences amongst participants triggers discussions and interesting contacts—contributing to the special attraction of the event.
 

What to consider when planning a course

Topics

We are looking for offers ranging over the complete spectrum of computer science: theoretical computer science, as well as applied and technical topics; gender and IT, applications of IT in adjoining areas, interdisciplinary topics. Undergraduate students often ask for courses teaching elementary skills in an hands-on manner, e.g., programming languages, databases, and basis computer interaction. Courses that encourage stronger social competence of the students are also very welcome. Graduate students often ask for management-related courses, e.g., project management, time management, and team building.

Courses jointly lead by people participants have been proven to be very rewarding; this is also an opportunity to 'live out' interdisciplinary topics. When preparing a course you should explicitly indicate the target audience and the required previous knowledge. Keep in mind that the participants want to get hands-on experience.

For all successful courses, participants will be awarded participation certificates. The courses will take place at the University of Waikato; technical details will be discussed individually.

Course Timing

Courses can vary in length. You can offer courses of 15, 12, 6, or 3 hours length. You will have to decide on which days you would like to give your course. Each day on the CWC runs with a fixed schedule: for 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon (with breaks).

• 15-hour courses: morning sessions Monday - Friday
• 12-hour courses: morning sessions Monday - Thursday or Tuesday - Friday
• 6-hour courses: afternoon sessions Monday/Tuesday or Thursday/Friday
• 3-hour courses: afternoon sessions Monday or Tuesday or Thursday or Friday

On Wednesday afternoons we have student sessions presenting their research projects. These will be called for at a later time. For the best student project presented at the CWC 2006 will be given an award.

Course Selection

The acceptance of an offer of course will be decided by the programme committee of the CWC. So far, we cannot guarantee funding for travel and accommodation for lecturers (but we are working on it). If your employer offers to sponsor you participation as a lecturer, we will announce them in our list of sponsors.

These are the next steps  in 2005/6

Deadline: All offers of courses have to be handed in by the 26th September. After that we will decide about the accepted courses; At the end of September, we will create the preliminary program for the CWC 2006. To allow for easy consultation with you, all lecturers should provide us with a contact address for that time period. Before we publish the program, all lecturers receive their relevant details from the program for acknowledgement per email. The courses are only offered after this final acknowledgement by the lecturers. The program will be available on the Internet at www.cwc.org.nz.

Important Dates for CWC 2006 

Form for Online Submission of Course Offer

Click here to get to the form.