Women in Technology: Shaping the Future

June 21-25, 2027 Rose Hill

Non-Credit Course

 

Who gets to shape the future of technology? In this interactive course, students will explore women’s contributions and career journeys through hands-on design challenges, engaging discussions, and direct conversations with women working as innovators, entrepreneurs, designers, and technology leaders—including planned virtual and in-person visits to their companies in New York City. Students will examine how opportunity, identity, and access influence who creates technology and whose needs it serves, then develop and present their own ideas for a more inclusive future shaped by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. No prior coding experience is required—just curiosity and a willingness to imagine, collaborate, and lead.

Skills/Learning Outcomes

Upon completion, students will be able to:

• Explain how women from different backgrounds have contributed to technology and identify lessons from their career journeys.
• Ask thoughtful questions of professionals and connect insights from conversations and workplace visits to their own interests and potential pathways.
• Evaluate a familiar technology for whose needs it serves, whose perspectives may be missing, and how its design could become more inclusive.
• Consider opportunities, ethical responsibilities, and potential unintended consequences associated with AI and other emerging technologies.
• Collaborate to develop a simple prototype addressing a meaningful problem, incorporating feedback from peers and women working in the field.
• Present and defend a proposed solution, explaining its intended users, value, and design choices.
• Identify a practical next step toward further learning, career exploration, or leadership.

Overall Takeaways

Students will leave with a broader understanding of how they can help shape technology through engineering, design, entrepreneurship, business, policy, ethics, and communication. Meeting women in the field—and visiting their workplaces—will make these possibilities concrete, offering firsthand perspectives on daily work, leadership, career choices, obstacles, and unexpected opportunities.

The course will strengthen students’ confidence in asking questions, contributing ideas, collaborating, and communicating a vision. Each student will leave with a project they helped create, a perspective they can defend, and a personal next step for exploring their interests and potential.

Instructor Bio

Dr. Kristi Marchesani is an educator, speaker, and global education advocate whose work connects emerging technologies, student learning, and leadership. As Global Director of Education Partnerships and Initiatives at The Spaceship Academy, she has taught courses in Future Leaders of AI and Future Thinking, advises the Future Shapers Fellowship, and builds AI learning tools. Through the Fellowship, she helps young people explore emerging technologies, consider their potential for good, and imagine their own roles in shaping the future. With nearly three decades of experience in teaching, student support, and international program leadership, Dr. Marchesani has taught and mentored learners from more than 60 countries. She has presented at more than 25 national and international conferences on student learning, global trends, and educational innovation. She holds a PhD in Educational Leadership and is committed to helping students develop the curiosity, confidence, and judgment to participate in—and lead—a rapidly changing technological world.

Course Schedule

Proposed schedule; speakers and company hosts to be confirmed. Women’s experiences and perspectives will be woven throughout the week.

Day	Morning	Afternoon
1: The Women Behind the Technology	Introduce the guiding question and explore women’s contributions across technology fields. Students create career journey maps and prepare questions for guests.	Interactive conversation with a woman working in technology, followed by reflection on curiosity, opportunity, support, and leadership. Introduce the team design challenge.
2: Who Is Technology Designed For?	Examine a familiar app, game, wearable, or school platform. Identify whose needs it serves and who may be overlooked. Prepare for the first workplace visit.	NYC company visit 1: workplace exploration and discussion with women involved in technology development, design, or product leadership. Students ask questions about users, teamwork, and career pathways.
3: Women Shaping What Comes Next	Reflect on the first visit and explore future scenarios involving AI, health, education, entertainment, or the environment.	Teams select a problem and develop initial concepts. An invited woman working in technology facilitates a discussion or feedback session on innovation, inclusion, and responsible leadership.
4: Build an Idea Worth Backing	NYC company visit 2: meet women in a complementary field or organization, exploring entrepreneurship, emerging technologies, and decision-making. Where feasible, students seek feedback on their project ideas.	Debrief the visit, refine prototypes, and develop short pitches explaining intended users, benefits, inclusion choices, and potential consequences.
5: Present Your Vision and Find Your Next Step	Complete prototypes, rehearse presentations, and exchange peer feedback.	Team showcase and discussion, with women professionals invited to offer feedback. Students complete individual reflections and personal next-step plans.

Course Details

Women in Technology: Shaping the Future

June 21-25, 2027
9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Rose Hill campus
Instructor: Kristi Marchesani

Course Number: SULA 0109- RN1
CRN: TBA

This non-credit course is open to high school students only.

Immersion 1 Resident Move-In/Move-Out

Date	Resident Information
May 29	All medical forms and consents due
Sunday, June 20	Move-in between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Saturday, July 26	Move-out between 6 and 9 p.m., One-Week students
Friday, July 2	Move-out by 10 a.m., Two-week students

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