3. Frequently Asked Questions

GenderMag can cover and support topics in HCI, Software Engineering and UI. Since GenderMag rests on personas and cognitive walkthroughs, GenderMag can be a good example to teach these topics. You can also use GenderMag to teach students about inclusive design and underrepresented users, and also for UI evaluation. 

Example curriculum points that GenderMag can fit into: 

• HCI/User-Center Design and Testing and SE/Requirements Engineering (ACM CS Curricula 2013)

• Software Engineering - Software Design (HCI topics), and Software Verification and Validation (usability topics) (ACM SE Curricula 2014)

• Software - Software/Program Verification (D.2.4) (1998 ACM Computing Classification System)

Students may feel averse at first to the idea of gender in design. This can be overcome if you emphasize that the direct differences are in the facets---but as a side effect, ignoring these particular facets results in gender-biased software.

• Be mindful of GenderMag curriculum students are learning in other courses. Some content doesn’t need to be repeated for the same students (e.g., lecture on doing the full GenderMag Method).

• However, it’s good to provide backup curriculum for transfer students, etc. (e.g., access to slides/video about doing the full GenderMag Method)

• Fit GenderMag into existing curriculum—Treating it as separate could communicate to students, “this isn’t relevant to my degree”

• When introducing GenderMag personas—Either introduce just Abi or Abi+Pat+Tim all together—not just Abi+Tim (avoid binary)

Yes! We’d love to post your adapted curriculum on this site. Instructions.

• You can email us at gendermag.method@gmail.com