notabletechnicalwomen.org

What It Is

Notable Women in Computing Playing Cards is an open educational project that uses playing cards and posters to preserve and share the historical contributions of women in computing. It is not an online course platform in the traditional sense, but rather a teaching aid for computer science classes, STEM activities, and technology history education. The website provides card decks and poster files such as “Notable Women in Computing” and “TechWomen Emerging Leaders,” which users can download for free and print themselves.

Core Content and Teaching Format

The core of the project is a deck of playing cards featuring 54 notable women in computing, accompanied by a people index, background on their achievements, and Wikipedia links. Its educational value lies mainly in two areas: inspiring discussion around gender diversity and the history of technology, and using a physical deck of cards to teach computing concepts. The site lists “10 Ways to Teach Computing Using a Deck of Cards,” covering topics such as arrays, classes and objects, computational thinking, cryptography, linked lists, sorting, and recursive merge. It is well suited for teachers who want to run visual demonstrations and group activities in the classroom. The teaching language is English, and there is no structured video course system, assignment grading, or learning progress tracking.

Pricing and Licensing

As of January 30, 2021, the site no longer sells card decks or posters directly. All files remain available for free download under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 U.S. license. The text notes that professionally self-printed decks cost about $22, while locally printed posters cost about $30. It also provides third-party printing examples, with a single deck costing about $12.70 plus $5.99 shipping, and bulk printing potentially reducing the cost to around $3 per deck. Historically, the project sold items at cost and used Kickstarter support to donate decks to educators.

Pros and Cons

Its strengths are its distinctive theme, strong public-interest value, open resources, and credible background, with participation from Duke University professor Susan H. Rodger, Katy Dickinson, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, and others. It connects abstract algorithm teaching with real-life stories, which can make classroom activities more engaging. The drawbacks are also clear: it is not a complete course, and it does not offer certificates, assessments, or a structured learning path. Physical decks need to be printed by users themselves, which adds a small barrier for general users. Some file versions are noted as possibly outdated. For use in Chinese classrooms, the English content would require translation and localization.

Who It’s For and Access from China

It is suitable for computer science teachers, STEM educators, advocates of women’s history in technology, organizers of tech community events, and nonprofit projects that aim to encourage women and girls to enter computing. For individual learners, it is better used as inspirational material rather than as a main course. The source text does not provide information on access from China, so availability is unknown. Even if the site is accessible, the availability of downloadable files, external links, or third-party printing services would still need to be tested in practice.