Dive Brief:

• Women in online discussions in science, engineering, and computer science courses tend to ask more questions and answer fewer questions, a new study shows.
• The study, by Piazza Technologies, the maker of a digital class-participation tool, also shows that women tend to answer questions anonymously rather than identifying themselves in online discussions, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
• According to Piazza, the gender differences show that there is a confidence gap between men and women enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and math classes.

Dive Insight:

Harvey Mudd College in California is held up by Piazza as an example of a school that has managed to start closing the gender confidence gap in its computer science classes, changing its curriculum and culture to be more welcoming to women. It also helps that intro computer science classes at the college emphasize creative problem solving and real-world scenarios. The Piazza study ran from the spring of 2012 to the fall of 2014, following 420,389 STEM class students, both at graduate and undergrad levels. Piazza’s online discussion platform is used by more than 1,000 colleges.