The overarching push to attract more girls into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields is being met with exciting programs geared to bridge the gap between general education and advanced careers.
While school systems can do their part ensuring what is taught in the classroom is beneficial and translatable to the real world, with so much on their plates, they can use any help they can get.
In general, American students can use a lot of help in the STEM subjects. In a nationwide test administered in 2016, which was designed to test students on “troubleshooting real-world scenarios,” results showed that “43 percent of US eighth graders tested met or exceeded the benchmark for proficiency on the exam.”
These results left educators wondering what more could be done to prepare the country’s students to not just do well, but to excel in global competition.
GirlsWhoCode is helping.
To date, GirlsWhoCode has helped over 40,000 girls across the United States, and in all fifty states, learn how to code.
On a mission to help close the gender gap seen in technology, this relatively new program (it launched in 2012) encourages creativity, bravery, and teamwork in order to solve problems. The end result, then, isn’t just coding knowledge, but confidence, too.
As a non-profit, however, GirlsWhoCode has to solve problems of its own, finding innovative ways to increase efficiency while keeping costs low. One of their most compelling solutions has been introducing chatbots to help in the application and enrollment process for their courses.
Created single-handedly by Dayna Hines, the former Senior Manager of Operations, this enrollment bot was trained to do the piles of work that no one could get to, or that would at least require additional paid staff.
Because of the aid of the automated enrollment chatbot, candidates receive messages that ensure they don’t miss deadlines, walking girls everywhere step-by-step through the process and giving them access to upcoming and nearby events.
Since implementing their chatbots, GirlsWhoCode has reduced administrative work while simultaneously increasing communication and efficiency. Capable of processing applications and forms more quickly, GirlsWhoCode utilizes simple SMS automation and communication channels to keep their courses constantly filled – and their doors open.
As an early pioneer, GirlsWhoCode has created an employee that works without fatiguing and who doesn’t require a penny in payment.
The idea of using a bot to help with enrollment is smart, and is an idea that should appeal to a diverse number of organizations, from large insurance companies to the IRS.
Barely tapped at the moment, enrollment bots like the one utilized by GirlsWhoCode could completely facilitate data collection, analysis, enrollment, and acceptance, and through a wide-range of channels that are open to third party control.
