2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Reflective Teaching Practices for Equity-Minded Engineering Instructors

Presented at Track 1: Technical Session 2: Reflective Teaching Practices for Equity-Minded Engineering Instructors

Reflection is often cited as a critical component of effective teaching, but the term itself and its related practices often remain ambiguous. Reflecting on one's teaching is an important exercise to better understand the approaches to and success towards creating inclusive classrooms. Therefore, engineering educators must become aware of reflective practices to be able to employ them in their work. We explored essential elements of highly effective reflection practices for equity-minded educators in a workshop where faculty participants learned about three reflective practices: (i) personal reflection, (ii) reflective engagement with colleagues, and (iii) reflection with students. Through collaboration with others, attendees evaluated various reflection techniques, discussed case studies, and considered supports and barriers to how purposeful reflection can support equity-minded engineering practitioners. From this workshop, a Community of Practice of faculty was formed to analyze individual reflective practices, identify practices applicable to their classrooms, and work together to employ reflection in seven classrooms across our college. In this practice paper, we evaluate each of the above reflective practices and their utility in contextualizing more equitable curricula in a variety of course types. Additionally, we provide an engineering education framework for using reflection to understand the classroom environment educators create and its impact on equitable student learning. This practice paper presents reflections from the workshop and outcomes from the Community of Practice activities to inform equity-minded reflective instruction in engineering.

Authors

Dr. Jay Mann University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Jay Mann is Director of the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education (AE3) in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Mann is a twenty-five-year veteran educator with previous experience as a high school classroom teacher, school administrator, and teacher educator. He is a three-time graduate of the University of Illinois (A.B. in History; M.Ed. in Educational Organization and Leadership; Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction).
Dr. Ashleigh Wright University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Ashleigh R. Wright, PhD is the Associate Director of the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Grainger College of Engineering. She is responsible for collaborating with college and departmental leaders and stakeholders to identify needs and priorities, developing and implementing evidence-based strategies, and measuring progress and effectiveness quantitatively against key metrics that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to the undergraduate and graduate student communities. She also conducts research that analyzes trends, driving factors, barriers, and best practices to educate others and support organizational improvement.
Prior to joining the University, Ashleigh managed and directed many training and pathway programs that support students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM, and facilitated workshops that enhance the academic, personal, and professional development of students at North Carolina State University and Louisiana State University. She is a member of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She holds degrees in chemistry from Wofford College (B.S.), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (M.S.), and Louisiana State University (Ph.D.).
Ellen Wang Althaus http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5112-7015 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Ellen Wang Althaus, PhD is the Assistant Dean for Strategic DEI Initiatives at The Grainger College of Engineering. She is a collaborative and innovative leader forging new initiatives and building alliances to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In her current role, she is responsible for executing a college-wide strategy that infuses DEI throughout the unit. She collaborates with campus, college, and departmental leaders to identify needs and priorities; develop and implement evidenced-based strategies; and monitor and evaluate progress toward DEI. Ellen has served on the campus leadership team and cross-institutional steering committee for Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Advancing Women in STEM initiative. She is also Program Director/Co-PI for the NSF-funded Developing Equity-Minded Engineering Practitioners (DEEP) Center and Director/PI for the NSF Illinois ADVANCE grant initiative. She holds degrees in chemistry from Carleton College (BA), and Northwestern University (MS and PhD).
Wayne L Chang University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Dr. Wayne Chang is an assistant teaching professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Ali Ansari http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2957-8634 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Ali Ansari is a Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds a Masters and Ph.D in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Ali has been teaching for the past two years at Bucknell University in both the Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering and been focusing on student focused pedagogy centered around Game-based learning techniques.
Prof. Caroline Cvetkovic http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3035-7313 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Caroline Cvetkovic is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she instructs courses in quantitative physiology, biofabrication, and heat transfer. She earned her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Neuroregeneration and Department of Neurosurgery at the Houston Methodist Research Institute.
Prof. Ramez Hajj University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign
Prof. Holly M Golecki http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3691-0420 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Dr. Holly Golecki (she/her) is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Bioengineering at the University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She holds an appointment at the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine in the Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences. She is also a core faculty member at the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access in the College of Engineering. Holly studies biomaterials and soft robotics and their applications in the university classroom, in undergraduate research and in engaging K12 students in STEM. Holly received her BS/MS in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University and her PhD in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on February 9, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on February 11, 2025

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