Thinking inside the box: Self-efficacy of women in engineering

We describe an initiative to investigate how institutional practices implementing information technology can promote retention of women in engineering through enhancing their self-perceptions and motivations. The initiative uses the self-efficacy theory to implement teaching techniques designed to promote educational attributes: greater motivation, effort, and persistence. The particular method we chose was to design and teach a course to educate women in the area of computer problem diagnosis and repair. Continued demonstration and reinforcement of the proficiency attained by the women throughout the course in computer technology distinguished them among colleagues and established an environment conducive to enhancing students' feelings of self-efficacy and associated control beliefs.