Network of Good Practices to Reduce Gender Gap in Engineering Courses

The main objective of this study is to develop a tool to diagnose how to improve the network of good practices to reduce gender gap in engineering education that was created by the working group in gender and diversity of the Portuguese Society for Engineering Education. The paper makes an introduction of the topic and the reasons for the creation of the network of good practices. The descriptive analysis of the network was performed as well as the developed work made by the members within the two years since its creation. To enlarge, improve and strengthen the network a qualitative survey was developed to capture the perceptions and practices of the members and better understand what to do to improve the effectiveness of the network. Barriers and enablers of an informal good practices network for collaborative and cooperative work in online settings were identified and used to develop the survey. The study focused three main areas related to the domain of the network, the members, and the practices. The study is meaningful, and it contributes to open avenues to develop future actions with the goal of improving the effectiveness of the network.