As society increasingly relies on digital technologies in many different aspects, those who lack relevant access and skills are lagging increasingly behind. Among the underserved groups disproportionately affected by the digital divide are women who are transitioning from incarceration and seeking to reenter the workforce outside the carceral system (women-in-transition). Women-in-transition rarely have been exposed to sound technology education, as they have generally been isolated from the digital environment while in incarceration. Furthermore, while women have become the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population in the United States in recent decades, prison education and reentry programs are still not well adjusted for them. Most programs are mainly designed for the dominant male population. Consequently, women-in-transition face significant post-incarceration challenges in accessing and using relevant digital technologies and thus have added difficulties in entering or reentering the workforce. Against this backdrop, our multi-disciplinary research team has conducted empirical research as part of technology education offered to women-in-transition in the Midwest. In this article, we report results from our interviews with 75 women-in-transition in the Midwest that were conducted to develop a tailored technology education program for the women. More than half of the participants in our study are women of color and face precarious housing and financial situations. Then, we discuss principles that we adopted in developing our education program for the marginalized women and participants’ feedback on the program. Our team launched in-person sessions with women-in-reentry at public libraries in February 2020 and had to move the sessions online in March due to COVID-19. Our research-informed educational program is designed primarily to support the women in enhancing their knowledge and comfort with technology and nurturing computational thinking. Our study shows that low self-efficacy and mental health challenges, as well as lack of resources for technology access and use, are some of the major issues that need to be addressed in supporting technology learning among women-in-transition. This research offers scholarly and practical implications for computing education for women-in-transition and other marginalized populations.

中文翻译：

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从监禁中过渡的妇女的非正式技术教育

随着社会在许多不同方面越来越依赖数字技术，那些缺乏相关访问和技能的人越来越落后。在受数字鸿沟严重影响的服务不足的群体中，有正在从监禁中过渡并寻求在监狱系统之外重新进入劳动力市场的女性（转型中的女性）。处于过渡期的女性很少接触到良好的技术教育，因为她们在被监禁期间通常与数字环境隔离。此外，尽管近几十年来女性已成为美国被监禁人口中增长最快的部分，但监狱教育和再入狱计划仍未针对她们进行很好的调整。大多数程序主要是为占主导地位的男性群体设计的。所以，转型中的妇女在获得和使用相关数字技术方面面临着重大的入狱后挑战，因此在进入或重新进入劳动力市场方面增加了困难。在此背景下，我们的多学科研究团队开展了实证研究，作为为中西部转型期女性提供的技术教育的一部分。在本文中，我们报告了我们对中西部 75 名转型女性的访谈结果，这些访谈旨在为女性制定量身定制的技术教育计划。在我们的研究中，超过一半的参与者是有色人种女性，她们面临着不稳定的住房和财务状况。然后，我们讨论了我们在为边缘化妇女制定教育计划时采用的原则以及参与者对该计划的反馈。我们的团队于 2020 年 2 月在公共图书馆与女性重新进入的人进行了面对面的会议，由于 COVID-19，我们不得不在 3 月将这些会议转移到网上。我们的研究型教育计划主要旨在支持女性提高对技术的了解和舒适度，并培养计算思维。我们的研究表明，低自我效能和心理健康挑战，以及缺乏获取和使用技术的资源，是支持转型女性学习技术需要解决的一些主要问题。这项研究为转型女性和其他边缘化人群的计算机教育提供了学术和实践意义。我们的研究型教育计划主要旨在支持女性提高对技术的了解和舒适度，并培养计算思维。我们的研究表明，低自我效能和心理健康挑战，以及缺乏获取和使用技术的资源，是支持转型女性学习技术需要解决的一些主要问题。这项研究为转型女性和其他边缘化人群的计算机教育提供了学术和实践意义。我们的研究型教育计划主要旨在支持女性提高对技术的了解和舒适度，并培养计算思维。我们的研究表明，低自我效能和心理健康挑战，以及缺乏获取和使用技术的资源，是支持转型女性学习技术需要解决的一些主要问题。这项研究为转型女性和其他边缘化人群的计算机教育提供了学术和实践意义。是在支持转型女性的技术学习过程中需要解决的一些主要问题。这项研究为转型女性和其他边缘化人群的计算机教育提供了学术和实践意义。是在支持转型女性的技术学习过程中需要解决的一些主要问题。这项研究为转型女性和其他边缘化人群的计算机教育提供了学术和实践意义。