2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

An instructional transition from traditional lecturing to active learning strategies has been increasingly advocated to adopt in engineering higher education. Here, active learning refers to evidence-based instructional strategies using individual or group activities to engage students in their learning, such as solving problems in small groups or doing a think-pair-share exercise. Existing research indicates that personal characteristics (e.g., gender, race, and previous experiences) and sociocultural contexts (e.g., instructional methods and classroom environments) significantly influence students’ learning experiences and academic achievements. Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, as a personal characteristic) process information differently than their peers, which may lead to unique experiences and challenges in learning, such as staying focused during class, and further impact their academic achievements.
However, very limited research has been conducted on how ADHD influences engineering college students’ perceptions of various classroom teaching practices and related impacts on these students’ learning experiences and outcomes. This WIP study aims to understand how college engineering students with ADHD describe their instructional practices (including both lecture-based and active learning strategies).
To answer this question, we collected data through eleven focus groups and six individual interviews. During the interviews, we invited participants to reflect on classroom teaching practices of specific courses they had taken and their corresponding experiences (e.g., what they did and how they felt). We employed Saldaña’s (2018) coding methodology to systematically analyze fifteen anonymized transcripts, initiating with a deductive approach guided by Terenzini and Reason’s framework (2005), and then using an inductive process to determine emergent themes and subthemes.
The preliminary results of instructional practices illustrate three themes: teaching methods (with six sub-themes), class format and policies (five sub-themes), and instructor behaviors (with seven sub-themes). We also found that, from the participants’ perspective: 1) They preferred courses that included homework with fixed deadlines and mandatory attendance; 2) There were two main types of lecture-based courses: instructors either talked through slides or wrote on the board; 3) Asking questions and knowing students by name were effective strategies for motivating students to learn; and 4) When students sensed their instructors' efforts and positive attitudes in teaching, they were more likely to be engaged in learning.
Our project, emphasizing the lived experiences and perceptions of engineering students with ADHD, provides a student-centered approach to educational research and puts the voices of the underrepresented students directly affected by instructional practices into perspective. This work will offer practical suggestions for creating more inclusive and supportive learning environments, thereby fostering a more equitable engineering education.