What is it about?
This multi-study project explored how gender-sensitive online course advertising affects the way people perceive educational opportunities in gender-imbalanced professions. Across three studies, we examined online course designs in the male-dominated field of IT and the female-dominated field of nursing. While gender-sensitive design significantly improved the attractiveness of IT courses and participants’ confidence in succeeding, similar effects were not found in the nursing context. The findings highlight both the potential and the limitations of inclusive design strategies across different professional domains.
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Why is it important?
Many professions continue to struggle with gender imbalance, partly because stereotypes influence who feels welcome or capable long before career decisions are made. Educational advertising can therefore play an important role in shaping perceptions of belonging. Our study investigates whether the design of online course advertisements can influence who feels personally addressed and encouraged to participate.
Perspectives
With my interdisciplinary background in psychology and information systems, I am particularly interested in how digital environments can reduce psychological barriers and create more inclusive opportunities. Working on this article showed me how even small design decisions in online course advertising can influence whether people feel addressed, welcome, and capable of succeeding.
Lorena Göritz
German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Toward an inclusive future: A user study on gender-sensitive design in online course advertising., Technology Mind and Behavior, April 2026, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/tmb0000189.
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