Informatics in Education

Programs in bioinformatics, offered in many academic institutes, are assumed to expand women’s representation in computer science (CS). Women’s enrolment in these programs is high; Our questions are: Do these programs attract different women from those attracted to CS programs? What factors underlie women’s decision to enroll in bioinformatics programs? How do these factors differ from those of women who choose CS, if at all? What career opportunities do these women anticipate and pursue? Using questionnaires and interviews, we found a statistically significant difference between the factors that motivate women to choose bioinformatics and others to study CS. Many bioinformatics students did not consider CS as an alternative. Post-facto they learned to love computing, albeit with a biology-oriented purpose. “Computing with purpose” underlies many participants’ pursuit of careers in research, CS, and bio-tech. We thus conclude that bioinformatics programs do indeed expand women’s representation in CS.

eLearning is fast progressing scientific field proposing novel and specific approaches in a range of domains. It is well established practice in universities, schools and organizations for delivering interactive, adaptive and flexible training, taking advantage of contemporary and emerging technologies. Informatics is a continuously evolving science presenting its theoretical and practical advances applicable in various research areas, including in eLearning. The paper presents an exploration focused on the symbiotic connection between Informatics and eLearning that leads to contemporary and innovative solutions, facilitating and automating a wide variety of activities at information processing. The term eLearning Informatics is conceptualized and explained as a scientific field outlining the current research achievements and further directions for development. The applied research methodology is based on outlining the main vision in the domain eLearning Informatics through utilization of bibliometric approach and construction of bibliometric networks as well as on detailed examination of topic-related scientific papers.