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Minoritized and underrepresented students have historically experienced prejudice and discrimination within and outside of their classrooms, negatively impacting their educational outcomes. Research has illustrated that student academic and social success can be improved through instructors creating inclusive classroom environments that facilitate a sense of belonging. The impact of creating more inclusive environments is well-studied, however actionable guidance on how to do this, especially in more technical disciplines such as engineering, is lacking. This study aims to address this gap by developing an inclusive engineering classroom practices menu along with accompanying tools for faculty seeking to improve their classrooms. The first year of this study, as detailed at ASEE’s Annual Conference in June 2022, saw the development of the inclusive engineering classroom practices menu as well as the pilot of the inclusive learning communities for faculty across three partner institutions. The student and faculty assessment plans were also curated and involved both a student and faculty survey as well as the opportunity for students and faculty to engage in short-format interviews. This presentation will focus on the survey and interview data that has been collected in the second year of the project and the website that has been developed to further engage faculty and other institutions and partners interested in the study. This second year of this study will also see the creation of a decision matrix to aid faculty and instructors to further promote and support the implementation of inclusive practices in engineering classrooms. The continued refinement of the menu and creation of both the website and decision matrix are the next steps in the development of an inclusive classrooms toolkit that can be used across all engineering classrooms and curriculums.
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How higher education instructors conceptualize diversity: A phenomenographic study
Higher education institutions around the globe have increasingly made the commitment to diversity. Instructors play an integral role in creating inclusive learning environments. Guided by sociopolitical perspectives on learning, we ask: How do higher education instructors conceptualize diversity? How do these conceptions inform curriculum and instruction? Interview data from 30 instructors teaching at minority-serving institutions in the United States revealed three distinct conceptions of diversity defined by variations in five aspects: student identities, intelligence mindset, pedagogical motivation, learning environment, and legitimized membership. The essentialist conception is based on students having inherently determinate traits described by preexisting universal categories. The functionalist conception differentiates students by academic performance. The existentialist conception acknowledges that students have unique experiences that impact the learning process. Our results indicate that while instructors acknowledge different student features and have varying understanding for why diversity is important, some conceptions of diversity do not necessarily suggest an inclusive culture.
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- PAR ID:
- 10336188
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 16 th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2022
- ISSN:
- 1573-4552
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 289-296
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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