The Heroine's Learning Journey

contribute to solving the low female student participation in the STEM areas. Our goal is to develop a course that can give them a flavor of the labor market with a language and syllabus developed specifically for female students, in a part-time bootcamp format, focused on practical and real-life projects, integrated with platforms like MOOC Técnico, GitHub and StackOverflow. Various resources will be used, through the use of video, narratives, gamification, and podcasts.The online course syllabus will be on Machine Learning with Mathematics, including the theories of self-determination and goal setting as a basis. By the creation of the Heroine's Learning Club,  girls will be able to connect themselves, exchanging experiences from different countries, but with the commonality of sharing the same language, the Portuguese. At the end of the experience, students will feel more confident and better prepared to achieve a career opportunity in the sector.

Gender equality in the STEM areas is a global challenge and there is scientific data that evidence the low participation from women in STEM courses and also very few successful placements in the tech labor market. The indicators that show how many women are affected, can be found in studies from organizations like the World Bank, Unesco, and the European Commission. The OECD recently brought new evidence based on data from the OECD's International Student Assessment Program. The UN has records of speeches that have covered this problem, such as the one recently made by the actress, Emma Watson, at the launch of the “HeForShe” campaign.

Some factors that contribute to this problem (and is related to our solution) are: a lack of visibility for projects developed by female STEM students; insufficient inclusive language, academic support and role models in STEM for girls; few technological platforms that have narratives and suitable design for the female audience; lack of specific groups where they are welcomed; general prejudice in technology groups and finally, very few internship opportunities granted. In our team there are people connected with the EU project  FOSTWOM

Our proposal, for girls and young women in the field of STEM Education, would allow them to build a greater self-reliance skill set, project management principles, access to software development tools, and fundamentals of programming. To achieve this, it will require the effort to develop a real project that runs as an application, allowing programming management and collaborative tasks, developed by each other, increasing their machine learning and mathematics skills and preparing them for the labor market and stimulating the hiring of women talent by technology companies.

The development process would be based on problem-based learning, and it would have an active learning methodology, self-regulation of learning, gamification, and motivational theories, like Flow, Goal, and Self-Determination.

The present application would work as an educational plugin, accessed online, by an application or website (for example, a MOOC) that can integrate other technological support platforms, such as wikis, video editors, project repository, and programming coding in order to build an educational infrastructure. The solution is a narrative, adapted from the Hero's Journey, developed by Joseph Campbell, for the educational area, focusing on female learners in STEM subjects.

Our target audience is girls aged between 15 and 21, from Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP), where they can improve their mathematical skills, and are repressed over STEM topics and have a lack of prospect to work in the technology area, specifically in the field of Programming, Data Mining, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence.

The Heroine’s Learning Journey project ambition is to be a reference transformation on how girls behave and learn, to work in the field of technology, offering intrinsic motivation, self-confidence, a welcoming environment, appropriate design, language, and usability for the progress of their educational and professional skills.

As an expected result after taking the course, hundreds or even thousands of girls would have become stronger enough to face their professional, cultural, and market challenges, increasing the participation rate of girls in the STEM areas and technology careers.

COVID-19 imposed a series of challenges. Millions of students were unable to attend school and were encouraged to use online learning platforms, as recommended by UNESCO. There is currently a great evolution in the way of producing and consuming pedagogical content, and conducting classes. As free information becomes more prevalent in society, can we leverage the power of MOOCs to help people become more self-taught? How to favor better gender equality in education and in the professional environment of STEM? In particular, how do girls feel and how can they become strong enough for these old and new challenges?

There are several solutions for online learning today. Some use platforms, where the online courses called MOOC run and can be openly accessed. Some examples can be found in edX, Coursera, and Udemy. However, most STEM online courses assume a diverse target audience, few are specifically concerned with the female audience aged between 15 and 21 years. Other online learning solutions have a problem-based approach, focused on preparing students for the job market, such as bootcamp-style courses, such as ironhack and lewagon. However, like most of existing MOOCs courses, these Bootcamp courses do not have specific courses aimed at girls between 15 and 21 years old, and with very high fees making them less accessible. Our proposal is a teaching model focused on our target audience, reduced and sustainable cost, prioritizing the integration of technologies, low self-development, with a language and design specific to the female universe. In addition, it would be based on a doctoral thesis with the adaptation of the Hero's journey of the educational and female context as a narrative. Our area, to increase girls’ STEM Skill Sets, is convergent with the increasing demand in the market for professionals: Machine Learning and mathematics. A good example of this importance can be seen in the interview , where Galina, exemplifies that “You feel like a detective, discovering a story from the raw data”. What we want and strive to create are new Heroine Learners, confident, and more ready for the job market.

Our solution involves, as a key component, AI technology, specifically machine learning. This happens in four ways:

1. In the learning of technology and mathematical concepts by girls.

2. In the development of artifacts, built from this technology, such as applications, chatbot or even robots. Our intention is for the girls to be "guided" by a mentor, goddess of wisdom, a chatbot, who interacts with them to clear basic doubts. In addition, each girl will create her own artificial “identity” to represent her human form in discussion groups and projects.

3. In the progressive incorporation of this technology in our project, encouraging the girls themselves to develop new functionalities and new forms of artificial female presence, helping in the evolution of the technologies applied in the course.

4. In the integration with the GitHub platform for girls to offer their machine learning solutions created as a catalog of projects, giving visibility to their work and expand gender equality. Encouraging girls, over 18, to create linkedin accounts to publicize their work and learn about job market opportunities.

The existing online solutions that are focused on preparing students for the job market, bootcamp-style courses, such as ironhack and lewagon, are very effective in providing enrollees Programming skills in a short period of time. The Bootcamp model, with its emphasis on practical and real-world projects, allows better preparation for Data analysis in two months than several years of a University degree. On the other hand, initiatives as Microsoft partners like Girls Who Code, that are summer immersion tech programs, are friendly environments for girls to connect and at the same time to learn to build apps, games and websites. The Heroine’s Learning Journey, using the two concepts: Immersive programming bootcamp and connectivity around tech projects, has a good chance to appeal and motivate girls between 15 and 21 years old. Moreover, Machine Learning technology unified with mathematics has much evidence that it works, since its inception in 1960, when John McCarthy, a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), combined elements of IPL with lambda calculus (a system formal mathematical-logical) to produce the LISP (List Processor) programming language, until its present moment. Some of the evidence that is widely used and works are: MizarMode, and its role of the mathematical library in the development of interactive tests, Amazon research area, many books on the use of mathematics and machine learning and recent data on the job market and what it takes to become an expert.

Our theory of change is described below, starting with our organization, divided into 5 questions (5W2h), in the sequence the activities, immediate results and long-term results are presented.

Organization:

What? A new learning process for STEM areas, focused on girls between 15 and 21 years old.

Why? Because there are indications that prove the low interest of women in the areas of STEAM and in the job market with technology. Low gender equality in the technology environment

Where? It will be done in Brazil and Portugal

When? Launch scheduled for the first semester of 2021

Who? Under the leadership of a mathematics teacher at the Instituto Técnico Superior, supported by a Phd Student  with a thesis on the motivation of girls in the STEAM areas, a teacher and guest researchers, and two startups, one Brazilian and one Portuguese.

How? Through the development and integration of technologies for the assembly of the teaching platform and the elaboration of specific didactic content for a machine learning and mathematics discipline, based on a doctoral thesis.

How much? € 50,000

Activities - Problem-based learning, self-regulated learning, participation in a group of tech girls, conversations and discussions with other girls from different countries who speak the same language, Portuguese, contact with chatbots, participation in a heroic journey

Short-term results - increased interest in girls in the areas of STEM, loss of fear of programming and math, learning of tools and internet platforms,

Long-term results - progression of girls' skills in mathematics and machine learning, improved preparation for the job market, visibility of projects, internship opportunities, more confidence, transformation of ordinary girls into heroine apprentice girls, more gender equality in technology and an increase in the number of women in the labor market, better relationships in Internet technology discussion groups, better relationships with men in the workplace, a more complete and independent life.

Currently, the Brazilian startup serves more than 250,000 students, 4,000 schools, in 72 municipal networks, with solutions in education and social assistance areas. The Portuguese startup, TreeTree2, in addition to being supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Instituto Superior Técnico, serves more than 3,000 students in Portugal, with more than 8 specific projects for curious and motivated students, one of them being the LaMAA project, helping them to define and carry out their own projects. The Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) is a public school of engineering, located in three campi, Alameda, TagusPark, and Loures. In 2019, IST had approximately 11,500 students, distributed among 19 undergraduate degrees, 31 master programs, and 33 Ph.D. programs.The MOOC Técnico is since October 2016, the IST’s MOOCs platform with a strong pedagogic strategy that takes into account both the Portuguese  and International higher education context in the STEM areas. The fourteen online courses produced so far, are developed through a multidisciplinary collaboration between the teaching staff and the MOOC development team. Presently, there are more than 14,000 enrollees in MOOC Técnico platform.

Our goal for next year is to increase these numbers by at least 20%, and in five years by 50%. The number of girls that our solution will directly and significantly affect is expected to increase by 60% each year.

We are a group of young scientists, entrepreneurs, researchers and professors who dream of quality education, greater gender equality and expansion of the youth labor market and which at this moment projects, through of MIT Solve, to increase the number of girls in the areas of STEM.

With the current experience in the market and in the area of education, we believe that we can change the quality of life of millions of girls. This challenge is ambitious, but it is part of our efforts to help create a better world, through the education and professionalization of girls. We believe in a more egalitarian and inclusive society. The impact of COVID-19 worldwide, made us reflect on our role in a new world, where technologies need to be better understood and applied, the challenges of the online world and the new configuration of companies and people, motivate us even more to to believe that our proposal, starting with Brazil and Portugal, can be expanded to a global level. To this end, our results for next year will give us more confidence and experience to seek replication in other countries, especially in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We know that the challenges will be great, mainly due to the cultural barrier existing by the different languages. We believe, however, that we will be able to show potential investors and organizations that we can replicate our project on increasingly larger scales, expanding the number of startups and universities participating in the project.

Overall, for both cases, we need investment with three research grants to support researchers, worth $ 18,000 and investment in digital marketing actions worth $ 10,000.

For next year, we understand as barriers, the hiring of a development team, containing three developers and a design to work for a period of six months in the integration of technologies of the discipline of machine learning with mathematics. This cost is approximately $ 40,000.

For the next five years, our challenge is to get support from international institutions and bodies capable of supporting us to provide our solution to countries other than Brazil and Portugal. In addition, look for new start-ups in other countries to replicate our solution

Currently, we have a PhD Researcher and a Math Professor dedicated to the project. Through the doctoral research, it was already possible to conduct data collection, reports, articles and publications related to our class of problems, to develop the model, containing gamification, self-regulation of learning, and inverted classroom, which would be applied in the narrative of the Heroine’s Learning Journey. Moreover, part of the team has an extensive experience in teaching Math and Machine Learning for High School students on an extracurricular basis.

Through the years of practicing Math classes, applying flipped classroom and formative assessment methodologies at Instituto Superior Técnico, we have the necessary experience evidence for the elaboration of the programmatic content of the subject. In addition to being the author of two Math MOOCs with successful reruns, we are part of the scientific-pedagogy team of MOOC Técnico. Therefore, we are able to use the IST studio facilities for recording the content videos, and podcasts for free.

To resolve the gap of scholarships for other researchers, we are analyzing open calls for proposals and dialoguing with partners who can support us on this issue. For the need for digital marketing, we are allocating human resources from the two start-ups to carry out the service. For the need of developers, we are submitting a proposal for the Pedagogical Innovation Projects (PIP) 2020-2021, where we will be able to obtain the assistance of $4,000, still missing around $36,000 to pay programmers and designers.

Currently working on the solution:

 -A full-time PhD Researcher

-A part-time Math Professor

-A part-time Content Manager

-A part-time PhD Researcher

-Two part-time Machine Learning Teachers

-Two professors with PhD in Computing, as advisors

 In hiring stage:

-Two full-time Software Developers

-A full-time Graphic Designer

-A full-time Content Producer

Potential collaborators

-A Researcher

-An Administrative

-Two Analysts

We believe our team is well prepared because it has the necessary academic skill set for scientific research, evidence-based on validated processes and methodologies, and interactions in research groups, as well as network contacts with other private and public institutions.

Members of our team are people with extensive experience in teaching Math and Machine Learning both for High School (as an extracurricular activity) and University degree students. In doing that, we apply active learning and problem-based learning methodologies, gamification and make an extensive use of online contents from different learning platforms. Moreover, in our team there are people with a good level of software development, web and graphic design, and with a large experience in team building.

There’s also the participation from a non-profit Portuguese startup and a profit-oriented Brazilian startup, that participates in projects with a social impact objective.

Finally, for this specific proposal, we have enrolled in the suggested course and have filled out the information based on this process as described by the Business and Impact Planning for Social Enterprises course.

MOOC Técnico is the MOOCs’ platform at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). The online courses are developed by professors and researchers of IST and partner institutions, such as national and international higher educational schools. The development of the fourteen online courses produced so far, its technical and pedagogical preparation, and its content production  are assured by the multidisciplinary team of the Design and Multimedia Unit of the Computer and Network Services (SI).  Presently, there are more than 14,000 enrolled participants in MOOC Técnico platform. We coordinate the MOOC Técnico team.

INESC-ID is a non-profit institution, privately owned by IST and INESC, officially declared of public interest. Currently, we integrate more than one hundred PhD researchers and two hundred post-graduation students divided between nineteen research groups, organized in five main INESC-ID has participated in more than 50 research projects funded by the European Union and more than 190 funded by nationals entities. Until today, our researchers have published more than 700 papers in international journal papers, more than 3000 papers in international conferences, and have registered 15 patents and/or brands. 

TreeTree2 is a non-profit organization that aims to contribute to the development of extracurricular Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) activities for children and young people. Since 2015, the group of scientists, PhDs and engineers that make up TreeTree2 has been helping thousands of children and young people to develop their social, emotional and technical skills, preparing them for a better personal and professional future. We promote the extracurricular activities in TreeTree2. 

Currently, mainly due to the impact of COVID-19, technology professionals, especially machine learning with mathematics, are very well paid and there is a shortage of qualified human resources. Our business model is based on the doctoral research called “The Heroine’s Learner Journey”.

As a doctoral thesis, the work had an academic sequence and on this occasion, it was based on Design Science Research, which needs scientific validation to prove that the model developed in the thesis has scientific proof.

We use as a strategy the approach of two startups from Brazil and Portugal that have converging values within their thesis proposal, that is, increasing 

Also, in order for the solution to be sustainable, we are analyzing the costs that may be charged through student certificates, talking to technology companies that may be interested in participating through financing scholarships and other financial support, to allow the solution model to be as inclusive as possible and affordable for the girls. We believe these companies have a general interest since they may have an efficient return on investment by increasing their human resource capabilities.

We estimate that the basic income may come from the course completion certificates. We are also considering alternative funding through crowdfunding platforms.

Our business model is based on Education and Employment. We offer opportunities to learn emerging technologies for girls aged 15 to 21 with a real possibility of pursuing a career in the tech sector. We hope to bring together small, medium and large companies to financially support the project, either through direct investment in the organization or through scholarship sponsorship, and internship opportunities.

Another way to raise funds for our project is through institutions that support projects linked to girls' education, such as UNESCO, IDB and UN and parallel funding projects, such as PIP.

We are signing up for Solve, because we believe in a more just and equal world, with balanced chances for women and men in the STEM areas, in education and career opportunities. We are a team of specialists and researchers with years of experience in the areas of education and technology, uniting academia, and private initiative. Therefore, we believe that being a Solver, we will be able to connect with other partners who believe in our principle and values and create a network enabling innovative projects for the future of humanity. Within this new network, we will be able to have access to a wider network of investors and opportunities for financial support for the sustainability of our solution.

Our partnership goals aim to support our solution, both in terms of sustainability and for the expansion of our proposal to other countries beyond the Portuguese language Organization (CPLP). The support in technology solutions can introduce us to new forms of applied knowledge that can be useful to review or even added to our solution. The partnership for financing and revenue models are one of the main aids we seek. With this support, we believe that we can be better prepared for our proposal and seeking support and sustainability, especially in the short and medium terms. The monitoring and evaluation components would enable us to better understand our growth, risks, market challenges, and also the social impact. Finally, marketing, media, and exposure can help us directly, saving revenue to publicize our proposal in Brazil and Portugal, allowing us to mitigate the fear in math and programming from thousands of girls.

We would like to partner with organizations that typically invest and support in the education areas. We believe that the partnership could begin with initial meetings for more detailed conversations. Organizations like UNESCO, IDB, and the UN seem to us great references. We would also like to partner with scientific research grant funding institutions to help the solution evolve, such as Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, based in Portugal, which is strategic and can help us consolidate our proposal in Portugal and boost new partners in Brazil

As described above, our solution aims to meet greater gender equality from women in the STEM areas, both in education and in the labor market field.

As described above, our solution aims to meet greater gender equality from women in the STEM areas, both in education and in the labor market field.

Our team is mostly based in Portugal. Our proposal involves the evolution of programming and math skills, which includes new digital skills. We trust that the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a strategic partner, which can help us in consolidating our proposal in Portugal and boost new partners in Brazil. Our solution already has a pilot application in Portugal and is targeted at girls ages up to 21 and helps them in pursuing a career in the tech sector.

Our solution includes mathematics and machine learning, aligned with this award criteria, in addition, our idea is to evolve the use of this technology and prepare girls for the job market. We plan to consolidate this issue of learning and become a global reference in the generation of machine learning applications, increasing the positive impact of having more girls working in the technology sector.