2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The nation’s need for a diverse and competent Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce contributing to economic growth, global competitiveness, and innovation is a primary driver for broadening participation in STEM. Yet, social justice and ethics policies dating as far back as the civil rights movement and earlier have not successfully diversified the current STEM workforce nor the STEM higher education system.

This paper looks across three qualitative studies during the work-based experiences (WBEs) of eleven undergraduate computer engineering and information technology systems students from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. In this paper, WBEs are defined as paid engagements for students as they work on solving real-world problems, while performing tasks and projects in partnership with an employer or community partner. Three types of WBEs are represented: internships (Study 1), apprenticeships (Study 2), and company employees (Study 3).

All three studies used the Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) methodology which has been established in 80 studies worldwide and over a dozen peer-reviewed publications. As a methodology STIR provides 1) a protocol for collaborative dialogs with an embedded humanist about upcoming decisions in the context of performing work-related activities and 2) a framework for analyzing the results of using the protocol to assess for reflexive and deliberate changes (modulation sequences). Additionally, we tested the efficacy of STIR to serve as a pedagogical intervention that supports SocioTechnical learning (STL). We define STL as 1) learning technical skills, 2) learning to reason about the normative societal dimensions of technology decisions, and 3) applying social and technical learning together in the context of work-based experiences.

Using a combination of deductive coding and temporal analysis, several empirical findings emerged, including: During each WBE, STL was found to occur, regular STIR dialogs supported STL, and STL strengthened self-efficacy. These and other qualities of STL were found to help advance Broadening Participation in STEM as it is theorized in the literature.