2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Using the Hero’s Journey Monomyth Framework to Understand Students’ Engineering Experiences

Presented at Diversity Trainings, Inclusive Learning, and Distance Learning

The Hero’s Journey framework has been used by prior scholars to conduct research in engineering and science education. This framework, when used for motif coding, can help identify and organize crucial aspects of a student’s narrative about their trajectory in engineering education. Following this coding technique with narrative smoothing provides a way to convey the story meaningfully and memorably. Our research team recently used this method to study a longitudinal set of interviews conducted with an Irish woman, and we herein extend the value of that work by analyzing the interview of a Kuwaiti woman studying at the same institution in Ireland. By using the Hero’s Journey framework to analyze these women’s stories, we distill core meanings and share findings that are significant for engineering educators. Their stories can help readers empathize with underrepresented students, and better understand the joys, challenges, and realities these students face. Our Kuwaiti protagonist chose to leave engineering, but the story she told can help break through existing cultural stereotypes and help us realize how much more there is to any student’s experience than first meets the eye.

Authors

Dr. Shannon Chance http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-5598-7488 Technological University Dublin & University College London [biography]

Professor Shannon Chance, PhD, is a Registered Architect holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Architecture from Virginia Tech and a PhD in Higher Education from William and Mary. She is Lecturer and Programme Chair (Honours BSc in Building Information Modeling/Digital Construction) at Technological University Dublin and Honorary Professor at University College London. She also is a LEED Accredited Professional and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) in the UK. Shannon is Deputy Editor of the European Journal of Engineering Education and has served as Full Professor of Architecture in the USA, Chair of the Research in Engineering Education Network (REEN), Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Education, Fulbright Fellow to Ireland, and a Marie Curie Research Fellow (to both Ireland and the UK).
Dr. Ines Direito http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8471-9105 University College London [biography]

Ines Direito is a Research Fellow at UCL Centre for Engineering Education - University College London (UK)
Dr. Bill Williams http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1604-748X Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Portugal [biography]

Bill Williams originally trained as a chemist at the National University of Ireland and went on to work in education in Ireland, UK, Eritrea, Kenya, Mozambique and Portugal.
He is Emeritus Professor at the Instituto PolitÃ©cnico de SetÃºbal, Portugal an

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