2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Title: Establishing and Sustaining Inclusive Learning Communities for Supporting Faculty Creating More Inclusive Engineering Classrooms
Keywords: Faculty, Race/Ethnicity, Engineering, Undergraduate
This project is funded through the IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education) Division of the NSF.

Historically, underrepresented and minoritized students have experienced discrimination and racially stigmatizing experiences that undermine their academic achievement and impact student persistence. Research has illustrated the positive impact instructors have on their students’ success through creating and sustaining inclusive classroom environments. Faculty, particularly in technical disciplines such as engineering, have expressed their desire to improve inclusivity in their classrooms but have had difficulty finding actionable guidance to do so. In addition to needing guidance to improve inclusivity, research has also shown that to institute and sustain cultural change in a classroom or department, it is imperative to provide community to those people implementing changes in support of their efforts.

This study aimed to provide faculty with an inclusive engineering practices menu as well as community to help faculty improve and sustain inclusive environments in their classrooms. We developed and deployed inclusive engineering practices and assessed the practices through student and faculty surveys over three semesters (Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Fall 2022) across three institutions. Additionally, inclusive learning communities (ILC) were formed and convened to provide participating faculty with a supporting and learning environment to further enhance the inclusive practices menu in their classrooms. The ILCs also provided participants with a platform for feedback on the strategies developed by the research team. The learning communities at each institution were developed with the same shared goals of creating and fostering functional connections among learners and their experiences as well as developing a shared vision among one another. However, the ILCs also differed in meeting structure, whether or not incentives were provided for participation, and what levels of administration and leadership at the institutions are leading the charge for improving inclusivity in classrooms. In addition to discussing the development of the ILCs, this talk will also detail the key differences and lessons learned from each of the institution’s ILCs which were among the authors most prevalent experiences and guide the future direction of this work.