The Project

FOSTWOM project is a three-year (2019-2022) Co-funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ for Higher Education. FOSTWOM intend to use the inclusive potential of MOOCs to propose STEM subjects free of stereotypes on gender skills. Here you can find the ERASMUS+ project card.

Our Goals

The Fostering Women to STEM MOOCs (FOSTWOM) project is a three-year initiative Co-funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ – KA2 Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices – Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education.

FOSTWOM intend to use the inclusive potential of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to propose STEM subjects free of stereotyping assumptions on gender abilities. The consortium is interested in attracting girls and raise the number of young women that pursue careers in science and technology.

Good practices in videos and MOOCs’ design that can give girls a sense of belonging when enter STEM areas;

Encourage girls to pursue STEM careers based on role models and relevant real-world situations.

Careful choice of language and examples that mitigate the effects of stereotyping about gender-based STEM ability;

Partners

Universitat Politècnica de València

Spain, Valencia

Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa

Lisboa, Portugal

Conservatoire National Des Arts et Métiers

France, Paris

METID Politecnico di Milano

Italy, Milan

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Sweden, Stockholm

Colégio Amor de Deus

Portugal, Lisbon

I.I.S Benedetto Castelli

Italy, Brescia

Intellectual Outputs and Outcomes

FOSTWOM priority actions and further concrete measures are reflected in the following outputs and outcomes that aim to raise the number of female students and learners attending courses in STEM, both, as enrolled students in Higher Education, and as STEM MOOCs’ participants.

  • IO1: Benchmarking on Digital Learning & Gender Balance

    Report on the best MOOC practices for gender balance, which includes results of data analysis of needs diagnosis on STEM barriers for secondary schools and higher education institutions.

  • IO2: Gender Balance Toolkit for STEM MOOCs

    Toolkit to design, produce and validate STEM MOOCs under a gender balance perspective, considering the results of the needs diagnosis on STEM barriers implemented with secondary schools and higher education institutions and of a map of strategies for inclusive digital learning.

  • IO3: Inclusive STEM MOOCs

    Graduate STEM MOOC produced in collaboration with all partners, taking into consideration the main expertise of each partner’s teams. Bridging STEM MOOC designed for secondary and undergraduate students and teachers on a relevant application of Math and/or Physics.

  • IO4: Transversal Attractive MOOC

    A transversal MOOC aiming to analyse existing STEM MOOCs within the consortium through a gender balance perspective aimed to instructional designers and teaching staff involved in the development of STEM MOOC contents.

  • IO5: STEM MOOCs Pilots

    The project promotes intensive training sessions to secondary and tertiary education teachers and technical staffs regarding the design and production of gender inclusive STEM MOOCs and their implementation in face-to-face classes (e.g. flipped-classroom strategies).

  • IO6: Dissemination

    FOSTWOM strategic dissemination and communication of the project intellectual outputs, which includes but is not restricted to: Organization of Multipliers Events, participation on webinars, presentation in conferences, etc.