Exploring e-mentoring: co-designing & un-platforming. Issue 11 (2nd November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alhadlaq, Aseel; Kharrufa, Ahmed; Olivier, Patrick
• Is Part Of: Behaviour & information technology. Volume 38:Issue 11(2019)
• Page Start: 1122
• Page End: 1142
• Publication Date: 2019-11-02
• Subjects: E-mentoring -- co-design -- un-platforming -- generation Z -- teenagers -- youth; Electronic data processing -- Periodicals; Human engineering -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Periodicals; 303.4833
• DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2019.1571110
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0144-929X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The underrepresentation of women in the STEM workforce is a global issue. In Saudi Arabia, women constitute 48% of undergraduates in STEM, but their participation in STEM careers remains particularly low. We explored the current state of e-mentoring, and the potential for co-designing to enhance e-mentoring experiences for youth in the Saudi context. We report on how we sought to understand the opportunities, barriers and requirements of e-mentoring for young women in Saudi Arabia through (1) the application of a traditional programme of STEM e-mentoring, (2) workshops on the redesign of e-mentoring, and (3) a co-design activity as the first phase of an alternative e-mentoring process. The study demonstrated that the traits of the participants' generation had a major effect on the findings; more so than cultural norms. This means that the findings have wider implications than just within the Saudi context. We identify a number of recommendations for designing e-mentoring programmes for young women and teenagers, including un-platforming traditional approaches to e-mentoring and the inclusion of co-design activities as a first step in the e-mentoring process.