Women Leaders In Online/Distance Education Associations/Organizations

There is no doubt that more women are needed in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Numerous reports (cf. Cook, Mason, Morse, & Neuhauser, 2015; Corbett & Hill, 2015; Landivar, 2013), articles (cf. Marks, 2015), books (cf. Sandberg, 2013), and data represented in infographics (cf. “Women who tech,” n.d.) substantiate the need, not only for more representation in these fields, but also for women’s leadership.

However, it is unclear how many women are involved in educational technology (also known as instructional technology) or the growing field of online/distance education, an area that falls under the even broader STEM field umbrella.

Further highlighting the gender disparity in the field of educational technology, Scharber, Pazurek, and Ouyang (2015) conducted an analysis of major, refereed educational technology journals. Their analyses evidenced both subtle and dramatic gender differences in authorship for the publications they examined in their review.