2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WIP: Centering Marginalized Students’ Voices During the Development of a Faculty Toolkit for Inclusive Excellence in Engineering Education

Presented at Engineering a Just Future: Cultivating Equity, Voice, and Community in Technical Education

The purpose of this work in progress research paper is to document the development of an inclusive teaching toolkit for engineering faculty based on the voices and experiences of traditionally underrepresented undergraduate students. This work is motivated by the larger goal of creating a faculty toolkit for inclusive excellence and related professional development opportunities for engineering faculty. The need for such a toolkit comes from the general lack of focus on classroom teaching preparation within engineering, which can lead to disproportionately negative outcomes for traditionally underrepresented students (i.e., Black, Hispanic, and Native American and/or Alaska Native individuals). The authors on this project represent multiple ranks, including undergraduate student, within the school of engineering at a PWI; thus, we have extensive insights into engineering culture, academic expectations, and the meritocracy mindset. With this understanding comes the recognition that traditional engineering values often yield inequitable outcomes for traditionally underrepresented students. Aligned with ASEE’s division of Equity, Culture, and Social Justice in Education’s pillar of Examining Systems, this project uses inclusive pedagogy recommendations and a student narrative to examine systemic practices and policies that disable the engineering participation of traditionally underrepresented undergraduate students.

The work documented in this WIP includes our review of an instructional teaching manual provided to faculty within our institution contrasted against best practices for creating inclusive learning environments. We further weave the voice and perspective of an undergraduate student who identifies as a Black female throughout our analysis to amplify the student’s experience. Initial findings from our work are that multiple institutional policies have been implemented with the intent of supporting student learning, but their impact falls short in terms of aligning with inclusive teaching practices and fostering equitable learning environments. Seemingly straightforward and objective policies, such as publishing course syllabi or grade distribution recommendations, can have significant and deep impacts on undergraduate students. Our work suggests that it is important for engineering faculty to invest in their instructional skills and to have an inclusive mindset when doing so. Preliminary actionable strategies are provided within the toolkit, equipping faculty to feel more informed about making intentionally inclusive decisions within their instructional practices.

Authors

Dr. Kelyn Rola http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5767-9232 Southern Methodist University [biography]

Dr. Kelyn Rola is a Research Professor in the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education in the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University. She is Director of the Thrive Scholars Program in the Lyle School, which supports historically underrepresented students in engineering and computer science during their transition to college. She received her Doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership at SMU with an emphasis on Higher Education. Dr. Rola’s professional efforts focus on promoting equity, inclusion, and student success in higher education. Her research projects center on supporting traditionally underrepresented students in engineering, inclusive teaching practices in engineering, social justice education in predominantly White contexts, student well-being and thriving, and navigating the hidden curriculum as a first-generation student.
Hannah Louis Southern Methodist University [biography]

Hannah Louis is a graduating senior studying Computer Science at Southern Methodist University. She is extremely passionate about equity within engineering and is an active member in her school''s NSBE chapter as well as a peer mentorship program that served underrepresented minorities within engineering. Following her graduation in May, Hannah will be a software developer at American Airlines.
Mr. Alain Mota Southern Methodist University [biography]

Alain Mota is the Program Manager at the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education. In this role, he works across projects supporting the research and implementation goals of several efforts at the institute. Specifically, the Thrive Scholars mentorship program which is focused on supporting and developing first year and transfer undergraduate underrepresented students in Engineering and Computer Science throughout the first academic year. His main area of support comes from direct one on one meetings with undergraduate students (mentee’s) that serve as an official connection with the School of Engineering. He synthesizes information through the program systems and triangulates interventions for struggling students through support of the mentors that serve as direct point of contact for the first-year students. He co-coordinates programming in the form of seminars that are focused on supporting student holistically. Alain also serves as the lead program manager of the Summer Engineering Camps an effort that is centered on development of the engineering identity through direct experiences with Engineering fields and design challenges in the informal STEM learning space. Finally, he manages and supports research and development of new and innovative approaches to exposing Pk-12 students to active learning frameworks such as Maker Sprints and Project Based Learning. Alain has a Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso and a Master of Arts in Design and Innovation from Southern Methodist University.
As part of his goals to contribute across the University Alain also supports Engineering and Science undergraduate students as they serve as camp counselors in his work at the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education. He directly manages the deployment of STEM integrated activities that surface Engineering to Middle and High School students in the Dallas area in an informal learning environment through the Hammon Engineering camps. He is also engaged in outreach programs that are seeking to serve underrepresented populations in Engineering. In his program manager role at the Institute, he contributes in fostering relationships and developing STEM activities for Voices of Hope and Jubilee Park. He is also part of the Maker Education project as his previous experiences developing teachers at the STEM academy leveraged the SMU MakerTruck as part of the training and outreach, one of the major goals to make Engineering accessible for the institute.

Before joining the University Alain worked at the Dallas Independent School District as both a mathematics and science instructional coach for elementary and middle schools. He served as the inaugural STEM department head for the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy and was a science campus coordinator for Henry B. Gonzalez Elementary. Prior to becoming an Educator Alain worked in Environmental consulting. In this space his experiences ranged from aquaculture management and research for an aquatic toxicology firm to doing statistical analysis for the nutrient criteria standards at the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality. Alain has a Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies with a focus on Environmental Engineering, Geophysics and Public Health. His research doing microbial risk assessment of import products from Mexico is published on the Journal of Food Safety. He is currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Design and Innovation at Lyle.
Ms. Kathy Michelle Hubbard Southern Methodist University

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