2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Keywords: faculty development, inclusive pedagogy, engineering
Abstract:
Although the imperative for inclusive and equitable teaching practices within engineering education has gained significant traction, many engineering faculty members still lack the training and support necessary to effectively implement these practices in their classrooms. Our study addresses this gap through a pioneering year-long inclusive excellence faculty development program designed to enhance engineering faculty members' understanding and application of inclusive and equitable pedagogical approaches.

The year-long program consists of two phases. In the first phase, the faculty participate in a synchronous, weekly training during the spring term. The training curriculum integrates a comprehensive array of topics presented by experts. Curriculum topics include critical pedagogy, structural racism in engineering, inclusive teaching practices, and strategies for advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion within the current national context. In the second phase, the faculty redesign one of their courses to incorporate the tools and strategies learned during the training and implement the redesigned version of their course in the following academic year. The inaugural cohort, comprising 13 faculty members from diverse engineering disciplines in the College of Engineering, completed phase one in Spring 2024. Phase two will occur in the 2024-2025 academic year.

To guide both our program and research design, we utilize the elements of culturally relevant pedagogies (academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness) as a critical lens for training faculty in fostering an inclusive and equitable learning environment and enhancing the educational experiences of students from all backgrounds. Throughout the year-long program, we are conducting longitudinal interviews and surveys to follow the participants’ growth trajectories with regards to their understanding and implementation of inclusive pedagogies in engineering classrooms and the impact the program has on cultivating equity-minded practitioners in engineering education. The focus of this paper is the preliminary results regarding the motivations of engineering faculty to participate in this type of faculty development program and significantly redesign one of their courses. We seek to answer the following research question: What motivates engineering faculty to participate in an inclusive excellence faculty development program?

Through a qualitative, thematic analysis of the participants’ pre-interviews, we found that participants are motivated by a strong commitment to personal growth, student success, community building, and creating broader institutional change. Faculty are particularly driven to make their classrooms more inclusive and while they have a broad understanding of the impact inclusive pedagogy has on students’ learning experiences, they are seeking tools and strategies to improve their teaching approaches. However, their understanding of how to integrate critical consciousness into their teaching warrants further development in order to address structural inequities in the engineering curriculum.