Year: 2018

From August 12 to 30, 2019 the University of Bremen in Germany will host the 22nd Informatica Feminale, the International Summer University for Women in Informatics / Computer Science.
The Call for Contributions 2019 is open: course offers can be submitted until February 17, 2019.

Every year, Informatica Feminale offers compact teaching in Informatics / Computer Science for women students of all types of universities and colleges as well as for women professionals interested in further training.
Computer scientists and women working interdisciplinarily are cordially invited to develop and submit course offerings. Topics from the broad field of Computer Science, ICT, and Informatics are welcome: theoretical, practical, technical or applied computing. We invite scientists, to take the summer university as a test field for new teaching formats and to get experience with highly engaged and interested participants. Additionally, a special focus program will be arranged. We also invite lecturers with course offers on career topics.
The Informatica Feminale is part of the regular course offerings of Bremen University so that teaching assignments can be given to women lecturers. We are especially looking for international lecturers. Course offerings in German and in English are welcome!

Focus 2019 “Women´s Network – Feminist Networking!”
The women´s network Informatica Feminale is a place to exchange about technical and social developments, which we meet in our every-day life and which are designed by ourselves as technical experts. The Focus 2019 wants to give space and time for critical reflections and highly welcomes experimental debates on the relations of technological knowledge and developments in societies. We especially invite teaching offers, which deal with applications of technical know-how in spaces for work and life (for example within care, education, health, food, household, mobility, social networking, publicity, sports, militarization, etc.) from feminist perspectives.
Submissions for courses, panels, workshops, and talks on topics such as gender, equality, technology and ethics are highly welcome.

Companies with gender sensible organizational concepts and successful personal management strategies to promote women engineers to a broad spectrum of leading positions are invited to present their best practices to the participants of Informatica Feminale.
For human resources managers we are particullarly pointing out that, during the whole summer school there will be plenty of opportunities to sponsor and to get in touch with graduates.

For the Summer University for Women in Informatics 2019 we cordially invite women students of all types of universities and colleges as well as women professionals interested in further training from all over the world! You will experience three weeks of professional studies and establish a network with women having manifold backgrounds in a friendly and stimulating environment at the University of Bremen.

Hint:
In parallel to the Informatica Feminale, we will organize the Ingenieurinnen-Sommeruni, the Summer University for Women in Engineering. Your are invited to submit your course also there.
>Call for Contributions for the Ingenieurinnen-Sommeruni.

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• Women professors who are looking for motivated students to experiment with new concepts of teaching
• Women researchers who prepare independent courses and would like to teach in a pleasant atmosphere
• Women practitioners who would like to share their work experiences or to gain teaching experience for a university career
• Women researchers and practitioners from different fields who deal interdisciplinarily with computer science
• Students who would like to offer subject-specific discussions of experience
• Experts offering orientation for students being in the course of their studies or preparing for the transition to working life.

Interested lecturers who apply for the first time for the Informatica Feminale in Bremen should give a short overview of their professional background. Furthermore, we ask for some personal information in the submission form, which might be used for advertising the summer university in the program on the website.

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What you need to know about planning your course offer

On the following pages we would like to outline the general conditions for teaching at the Informatica Feminale and to give you advice on submitting a course. You can also find this information in the submission form for course offers.

The most important facts, to develop a course offer, are summarized in a Planning Guide. We recommend all lecturers to read it before applying.

For questions and further information please contact:

University of Bremen
Informatica Feminale
P.O. Box 330440
D-28334 Bremen
Germany
Phone +49 (0)421 218-64469
Email: if@informatica-feminale.de

or
Veronika Oechtering
Phone +49 (0)421 218-64463

Henrike Illig
Phone +49 (0)421 218-64467

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We aim for courses that cover the whole range of informatics/computer science: theoretical, practical, technical and applied informatics, as well as courses that cover interdisciplinary topics.

Focus 2019 “Women´s Network – Feminist Networking!”
The women´s network Informatica Feminale is a place to exchange about technical and social developments, which we meet in our every-day life and which are designed by ourselves as technical experts. The Focus 2019 wants to give space and time for critical reflections and highly welcomes experimental debates on the relations of technological knowledge and developments in societies. We especially invite teaching offers, which deal with applications of technical know-how in spaces for work and life (for example within care, education, health, food, household, mobility, social networking, publicity, sports, militarization, etc.) from feminist perspectives.
Submissions for courses, panels, workshops, and talks on topics such as gender, equality, technology and ethics are highly welcome.

Teaching languages are German and English.

We invite scientists, to take the summer university as test field for changed teaching formats and to get experience with highly engaged and interested participants. This open situation surprises our new lecturers every year and gives motivation to the teaching at their home universities.

Undergraduate students highly request courses that train basic skills such as experimental work and context skills. Combining theoretical and practical work – especially to deapen knowledge from regular courses – is very interesting for the summer university. Any engineering topics on advanced level and soft skills training are welcome as well!

Joint courses offered by two lecturers have proved their worth during the past summer universities; this can be a chance to promote interdisciplinarity.

Please note: We cannot accept courses that deal with single commercial products. It is recommended to focus on general concepts instead.

Further explanations are available in the submission form or via email (if@informatica-feminale.de).

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The following teaching methods and course types are possible:

• Lecture
  The teacher conveys the content of the lecture.
• Course
  Teacher-centered teaching alternates with practical exercises during the course.
• Seminar
  The content is prepared by the participants in advance, they conduct presentations and generate a written version of their work after the summer school.
• Project
  The participants work on a topic that is related to a larger project.
• Seminar lecture
  Basic knowledge is provided in the form of a lecture while specific topics are presented by participants.
• Lab
  Skills are trained with practical tasks.
• Workshop
  All topics are worked out and developed with the consultation of the participants.
• Talk
  A specific topic is presented and discussed by the teacher.
• Field trip
  IT-Systems are explored on-site.
• Plenum
  Exchange of experience between teachers and/or participants.

Several course types may be combined.
Venue will be the University of Bremen.

When you prepare a course, you should make clear which participants you want to reach and what prior knowledge you are expecting.

We will group all courses into categories of time and topic. The length of your course can vary according to our block scheme. We will arrange the schedule by taking other courses into account as well.

Please take note that the action of a block course probably cannot be varied once the summer university has started.

Technical infrastructures of the participating departments at Bremen University will be available for use. Details will be arranged individually.

Necessary software installations have to be communicated early in advance. No adminstration rights for computer labs are given to lecturers.
During the last years we had positive experience with notebook-courses, in which lecturers and participants bring their own computers. We recommend notebook-courses if the installation process of a specific software is part of the course content or if applications with critical administration rights will be used. In every classroom WiFi and beamers are available.

In the submission form you can choose the course type. We will check your specifications and if necessary recommend modifications.

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You will be expected by motivated participants, who are:

• Women students from universities, colleges and other institutions, studying Computer Science / Informatics either as major or minor subject
• Women students from the fields of engineering, sciences, social sciences and the humanities
• Women experts from practice who want to study further on a high level of qualification as well as
• (sometimes) Pupils with an interest in studying Computer Science.

This variety of life experiences and perspectives in particular is what evolves vivid discussions during the courses and is a special quality of the summer university.

We are expecting 200 to 250 participants in Bremen. The teaching will take place in small groups of 10 to 25 women. Teachers are able to limit the course size. The teaching in small groups guarantees an intensive working atmosphere. Courses with practical elements should plan with no more than 15 participants.

Based on experience, women participate in the Informatica Feminale voluntarily because they are highly motivated by their interest in the given topics or by the experimental possibilities during the courses. Most participants are women students and women experts. Many participants are attending the summer university regularly.

Students are coming from international universities and colleges. This requires a lot of communication before and during the first hours of the course to determine a common basis. Participants, who attend the Informatica Feminale for advanced vocational training, often have to take time off from work and are also paying a higher participation fee than students.

When preparing a course offer, you should clearly identify the group of participants you want to reach and what previous knowledge they should have. It should be clear whether for example only students in a specific phase of their studies are addressed or if a broad variety of participants is desired. Examples from past summer studies can give you an idea.

The submission form for courses contains phrasings of the past years.

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• Credit Points
• Preparation and follow-up work
• Appraisal and grading
• Recognition

To give students a specific idea about content, activities and requirements of a course, we need a clear description from you. The Informatica Feminale wants to enable approval of credit for student participants and teaching assignments for lecturers.

Credit Points (CP)

To enable approval of credit for bachelor and master students, courses must be rewarded with Credit Points according to the European Credit Point Transfer System (ECTS), representing the standard grading system in Bachelor and Master programs in the European Union. Each Credit Point corresponds to 30 clock hours of work (60 minutes each). This includes participation in the teaching blocks, all course work and homework including preparation and follow-up work.

Minimum is 1 Credit Point per course, 2 or more CP are possible for elaborate courses.

To receive Credit Points, participants have to fulfill the following requirements:

Credit Points	Class hours* in Bremen	Preparation and follow-up** in all
for 1 CP (or 30 clock hours)	14 class hours; or 10,5 clock hours	19,5 clock hours
for 1 CP (or 30 clock hours)	12 class hours; or 9 clock hours	21 clock hours
for 2 CP (or 60 clock hours)	14 class hours; or 10,5 clock hours	49,5 clock hours
for 2 CP (or 60 clock hours)	28 class hours; or 21 clock hours	39 clock hours
for 3 CP (or 90 clock hours)	28 class hours; or 21 clock hours	69 clock hours

* 1 class hour = 45 minutes

**Preparation and follow-up work includes

search of literature, software installation, programming work, participation in talks, presentations, team work, home work, writing of any texts, etc. All working times are seen as equivalent.

Please notice, that participants of Informatica Feminale will not have any time for this work during their stay in Bremen, because of social events in the evenings or other courses during the week. Teachers and participants will only be able to work for a specific course during class hours.

>See additional explanations to calculate teaching hours and credit points

Appraisal and grading

Additionally to Credit Points, the fulfillment of requirements will have to be valued with “passed” or “failed”. Work can be graded, but that is not obligatory!

The grading has to follow the “Allgemeiner Teil der Bachelorprüfungsordnung” of Bremen University; more information will be given to teachers after the decision of the program committee.

At the end of each course, students will get a certificate of participation.

Recognition

Additionally, students often want to get credit for their participation for an approval at their home institution. Therefore they need a precise announcement of the performance requirements before the beginning of the course.

Students themselves are responsible for the approval of credits achieved during the summer courses. Therefore they have to contact the home university for further details. Accordingly, all requirements including preparation and follow-up need to be clear before the beginning of the course.
Within the Informatics degree courses at the University of Bremen, the approval of credits is determined internally and announced on the website of the Informatica Feminale.

Examples from past courses can give you an idea of what your description should contain. In the submission form you will be asked for several possibilities.

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According to the diverse forms of teaching and to enable approval of credit for student participants and teaching assignments to teachers, different durations of lectures are possible. Over the years, a mixture of 2-, 2.5-, or 5-days courses has been implemented at the summer university.

• Longer courses
• Talks and discussions

Longer courses

The duration and time of individual lectures are arranged by the organizers in Bremen, based on the proposal of the teachers. During the planning there will be a consultation with the teachers.

The teaching times during the summer university in 2019 are fixed in a scheme:

Timer2019 to download

– Block I (Mon 12.8.-Tue 13.8.)
– Block II (Wed 14.8.-Thu 15.8.)
– Block III (Fri 16.8.-Sat 17.8.)
– Block IV (Mon 19.8.-Wed 21.8.)
– Block V (Thu 22.8.-Fri 23.8.)
– Block VI (Sat 24.8.)
– Block VII (Mon 26.8.-Wed 28.8.)
– Block VIII (Wed 28.8.-Fri 30.8.)

NEW in 2019: there will not be any courses on Sundays.

>See additional explanations to calculate teaching hours and credit points

Between double lessons, there should be a break of 30 minutes (in the mornings, we recommend the break from 10.30 to 11 am).
In special cases, there might be exceptions from this schedule after consultation with the teacher. There will be a free cafeteria only for participants and teachers at the Informatica Feminale, where breaks can be spent.

On the basis of this scheme a course with 14 class hours (1 SWS) can run for example from Monday to Wednesday or Thursday to Friday. By combining two blocks you can get a one week course resp. 28 class hours (2 SWS). Examples of previous time schedules might be helpful to you. In the submission form there will be several examples to choose from.

Talks, short presentations, and panel discussions

We also welcome talks or suggestions for talks and panel discussions. There is no remuneration for talks, but in special cases the university can partly pay travel costs.

The time blocks for presentations and talks or panel discussions (30 or 60 minutes each) are not yet fixed. You can register by using the same submission form as for course registration on our website.

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Lecturers can get teaching assignments for half week and week courses including supervision of preparation and follow-up work. This equals one resp. two semester periods per week.

The requirement of getting a teaching assignment is a complete description of the course. You will receive all of needed forms from the organizer after the decision of the program committee.

Please take note that you cannot work on account. In every case the remuneration will be equal to those for guest lecturers at the University of Bremen (depending on the lecturers’ background this is between 21 and 33 euros per teaching hour).

For more details please contact the organizers in Bremen.

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An accommodation for lecturers, and also for their children if required, is organized by the University of Bremen. In consultation with the teachers, hotel rooms or guest rooms are booked and (if not agreed upon differently) paid by the University of Bremen.

The University will also pay for travel expenses. Please take note that costs can only be refunded if they meet the statutory refund regulations of the state of Bremen.

During the whole period of the summer school there will be free child care available. Children must be registered in advance.

If the lecturer’s employer is refunding travel costs in full or in part, we would gladly list the company or institution as a sponsor on the Informatica Feminale website.

For sponsors, there are multiple ways to support the Informatica Feminale. Scholarships for students’ travel expenses are greatly appreciated. Companies also have the chance to present themselves with field trips.

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17 February	Submission deadline for course offers > Submission form
2 March	Public meeting of the program committee (Interested women are welcome. Please send a message to the Sommeruni-Team, so that we can prepare the meeting.)
February until April	Planning of the program and consultation with the lecturers
Starting in May	Announcement of the program and start of the registration for participants, organisation of publicity
Mid July	Registration deadline for participants, final confirmation of the courses
12 – 30 August	11. Ingenieurinnen-Sommeruni at the University of Bremen
12 – 30 August	22. Informatica Feminale at the University of Bremen

Notice of related events

19 – 23 February	regional meccanica feminale in Baden-Württemberg at University of Stuttgart
30 July – 03 August	regional informatica feminale in Baden-Württemberg at University of Applied Sciences Furtwangen
19 -30 August	ditact_women´s IT summer studies, Salzburg, Austria

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Please submit your teaching offer until 17 February 2019 using our
submission form.

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