This Research paper describes the development of the [project name redacted] Student Opinion Survey as a tool designed to aid in the development of a healthy STEM educational ecosystem for students, faculty, and staff at a majority-minority Hispanic-Serving Institution. An important aspect of this endeavor is to obtain meaningful feedback from students about their experiences in STEM classrooms. However, current institutional student opinion surveys lack important context instructors require to make decisions as they intentionally construct inclusive classroom spaces. The [project name redacted] project is developing a student opinion survey and process designed to provide meaningful feedback to instructors. Climate, structure, and vibrancy, three aspects that are critical to evaluating the health of any healthy educational ecosystem, were used to develop the survey. This work is situated in the engineering education community’s effort to create more inclusive classroom environments.
The [project name redacted] Student Opinion Survey contains three component parts: a Demographic Survey, a Values Survey, and an Experiences Survey. The Demographic Survey includes items previously shown by the [project name redacted] project to have significant impacts on perceptions of ecosystem health for our students, such as race/ethnicity, gender, living situation, and household income level. Using institutional data collection and longitudinal tracking, the Demographic Survey will be completed once, and participants will be provided with the opportunity to update their responses each semester. The Values Survey has been developed based on the [project name redacted] project conceptualization of a healthy educational ecosystem, one that focuses on classroom climate, structure, and vibrancy. The Values Survey measures students’ views on the importance of each aspect. It will be completed once, and students will have the opportunity to update their responses each semester. Instructors will receive reports on their students’ responses to the Demographics and Values Survey at the beginning of each semester, which will provide instructors with a basis for intentional decision-making and the establishment of an inclusive classroom space. Finally, at the end of the semester, each student will be encouraged to respond to the Experience Survey for each course in which they were enrolled. This survey is also structured around the proposed constructs of climate, structure, and vibrancy. Reports provided to instructors on each of their classes at the end of the semester will provide useful feedback on which to reflect and design intentional changes for future courses.
In this paper, we describe the development of the three component parts of the [project name redacted] Student Opinion Survey as well as the proposed process of implementation. We also present the results of confirmatory factor analyses on a pilot study of the Values and Experiences Surveys, which measures the construct reliability for the proposed constructs of climate, structure, and vibrancy. Evidence of validity will enable the institutionalization of a new process that centers the voices of our students and supports the evolution of an educational ecosystem in which all can thrive. This paper will be presented as a traditional lecture.
The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025