2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

In Québec as well as in Canada, principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are not explicitly taught in engineering programs. What's more, there are few tools conveying these principles that are adapted to the context of engineering practice.

With a view to pedagogical innovation, we are currently developing a digital tool to aid inclusive design in engineering. It aims at integrating the EDI principles into the training curriculum of undergraduate students by learning how to measure the impact of a design project on gender and other population groups.
This way, we promote integration of social justice into curricular activities. The project will encourage the development of professional behavior and responsible citizenship and will enrich the development of skills in design and in analyzing the impact of engineering on society and the environment. In Canada, engineering programs must meet the accreditation standard required by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board to be certified and active. This requires graduates to develop 12 qualities, including design (Q04) and impact analysis (Q09).

The core of the pedagogical innovation approach is the adaptation of Gender Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) to the design process and the development of a digital tool to aid inclusive design based on engineering scenarios. GBA+ is a cross-cutting, intersectional analytical tool that assesses systemic inequalities and determines the potential impacts of policies, programs, and initiatives on different population groups, particularly on gender. This methodology, introduced by the Canadian federal government in mid-90s, unleashed the invisible identity factors to innovate, explore the unknown and develop more rigorous community-centered solutions to address diversity, inclusion and equity.

To support the implementation of the tool into the training of undergraduate students, we will (1) train teachers so that they are equipped to support students in using this tool in a pedagogical design activity and (2) train students in using this tool in a design project.

This pedagogical innovation fills a gap in the training of future engineers and reinforce the commitment to enhance the consideration of diversity and inclusion of underrepresented groups especially women into the design process.

We are currently at the stage of analyzing and designing the digital tool. We are working with three engineering programs at Université de Sherbrooke: civil, mechanical, and robotic. The team's roles are (1) to identify scenarios based on examples of design projects related to each engineering field, (2) validate the tool and (3) identify training needs for professors and students so that the tool can be integrated into the training curriculum of undergraduate students.

During this conference, the development process of the digital tool for inclusive design will be shared. We will present the pedagogical and innovative context in which this tool was designed. The steps involved in analyzing and designing the tool will be discussed, along with challenges and success factors.