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The AMPLIFY project, funded through the NSF HSI Program, seeks to amplify the educational change leadership of Engineering Instructional Faculty (EIF) working at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). HSIs are public or private institutions of higher education enrolling over 25% full-time undergraduate Hispanic or Latinx-identifying students [1]. Many HSIs are exemplars of developing culturally responsive learning environments and supporting the persistence and access of Latinx engineering students, as well as students who identify as members of other marginalized populations [2]. Our interest in the EIF population at HSIs arises from the growing body of literature indicating that these faculty play a central role in educational change through targeted initiatives, such as student-centered support programs and the use of inclusive curricula that connect to their students’ cultural identities [3]–[7]. Our research focuses on exploring methods for amplifying the engineering educational change efforts at HSIs by 1) making visible the experiences of engineering instructional faculty at HSIs and 2) designing, implementing, and evaluating a leadership development model for engineering instructional faculty, thereby 3) equipping and supporting these faculty as they lead educational change efforts. To achieve these goals, our project team, comprising educational researchers, engineering instructional faculty, instructional designers, and graduate students from three HSIs (two majority-minority and one emerging HSI), seeks to address the following research questions: 1) What factors impact the self-efficacy and agency of EIF at HSIs to engage in educational change initiatives that encourage culturally responsive, evidence-based teaching within their classrooms, institutions, or beyond? 2) What are the necessary competencies for EIF to be leaders of this sort of educational change? 3) What individual, institutional, and professional development program features support the educational change leadership development of EIF at HSIs? 4) How does engagement in leadership development programming impact EIF educational leadership self-efficacy and agency toward developing and using culturally responsive and evidence-based approaches at HSIs? This multi-year project uses various qualitative, quantitative, and participatory research methods embedded in a series of action research cycles to provide a richer understanding of the successes and needs of EIF at HSIs [8]. The subsequent design and implementation of the AMPLIFY Institute will make visible the features and content of instructional faculty development programs that promote educational innovation at HSIs and foster a deeper understanding of the framework's impact on faculty innovation and leadership.
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Inclusive, asset-based instructional strategies in engineering design: empowering faculty with professional development
To better support engineering students and to create an inclusive and welcoming educational context, it is necessary to reimagine instructional methods and approaches. In contrast to deficit educational models that focus on perceptions of what students lack, asset-based practices focus on how students’ lived experiences can be used to enrich and strengthen their educational experiences. There is a need to support faculty in adopting existing techniques or developing new techniques in undergraduate courses, as most existing literature related to asset-based practices is focused on K-12 settings. Engineering design courses provide an ideal context for asset-based practices because the design process requires a diverse set of knowledge, experiences, and skills. Guided by self-determination theory, an understanding of implicit bias and stereotype threat, and the large existing body of research on asset-based pedagogy, we seek to support engineering student outcomes by empowering faculty with tools and strategies to incorporate asset-based practices in their courses. We are engaged in a three-year project focused on assessing the impact of asset-based practices in engineering design courses a large, public, land-grant, Hispanic-serving institution in the southwestern United States, funded by the NSF IUSE:EDU program. Here, we will summarize the design and results from our professional development for faculty, including theoretical frameworks and evidence guiding our work. We share content from our professional development, summarizing learning objectives, presentation content, and activities. Additionally, we present comments shared by instructors related to our professional development, including common barriers to implementing educational innovations in their courses. Our work will provide insights to practitioners interested in promoting inclusive classroom practices in engineering education and researchers who are translating research to practice, especially through professional development.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2215003
- PAR ID:
- 10429104
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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In this work-in-progress paper, we present a study design for exploring strategies to involve engineering faculty in inclusive teaching practices, which are practices that integrate informal mentoring strategies into everyday communication with students in efforts to improve their interest, capacity, and belongingness in engineering. As part of a larger NSF-funded study on the interactions of engineering professional formation with diversity and inclusion, we will use semi-structured interviews to investigate an electrical and computer engineering (ECE) faculty’s intention to implement inclusive teaching practices, using Fishbein and Ajzen’s reasoned action model to define intention. The interviews will be focused around an inclusive teaching “tip sheet” that was recently distributed to the ECE faculty. These interviews will allow us to characterize factors that influence the development of such an intention within the context of an engineering department, in order to make recommendations for administration.more » « less
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The Rising Engineering Education Faculty Experience program (REEFE) is a professional development program that connects graduate students in engineering education with faculty members at teaching-focused institutions. The program goal is to simultaneously support faculty growth in engineering education and graduate student growth as academic change agents. Our program has transitioned from a partnership between one engineering education graduate program and one engineering institution to a consortium of engineering education graduate programs that sends students to multiple institutions across the country. The REEFE Consortium also developed a unique partnership with the Making Academic Change Happen initiative to offer continuous training to graduate students during their REEFE experience. Many positive outcomes have come from the development of the REEFE Consortium, including better graduate training in research at the coordinating institution, a better understanding of program logistics, and new and strengthened professional relationships. We discovered a number of challenges associated with providing intensive professional development opportunities to graduate students, including timing of experiences relative to degree progress, loss of connection to the home research community, and financial impact, especially as it relates to travel and housing. While a search of existing literature in professional development in higher education has provided best practices for existing programs, there is little to no available research highlighting barriers that exist to offering different types of professional development opportunities to graduate student populations. These barriers are important to highlight as they provide critical information needed in the design and decision making for those seeking to create useful professional development opportunities for graduate populations. This paper provides an updated description of the Rising Engineering Education Faculty Experience program as we attempt to scale the program. We summarize the existing literature on barriers to participation in professional development opportunities for graduate students. Finally, we describe how REEFE both addresses and fails to address these barriers.more » « less
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To broaden efforts for improving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in biomedical engineering (BME) education—a key area of emphasis is the integration of inclusive teaching practices. While BME faculty generally support these efforts, translating support into action remains challenging. This project aimed to address this need through a 3-phase inclusive teaching training, consisting of graduate students, faculty, and engineering education consultants. In Phase I, graduate students and faculty participated in a 6-week learning community on inclusive teaching (Foundational Learning). In Phase II, graduate students were paired with faculty to modify or develop new inclusive teaching materials to be integrated into a BME course (Experiential Learning). Phase III was the implementation of these materials. To assess Phases I & II, graduate student participants reflected on their experiences on the project. To assess Phase III, surveys were administered to students in IT-BME-affiliated courses as well as those taking other BME-related courses. Phases I & II: graduate students responded positively to the opportunity to engage in this inclusive teaching experiential learning opportunity. Phase III: survey results indicated that the incorporation of inclusive teaching practices in BME courses enhanced the student learning experience. The IT-BME project supported graduate students and faculty in learning about, creating, and implementing inclusive teaching practices in a collaborative and supportive environment. This project will serve to both train the next class of instructors and use their study of inclusive teaching concepts to facilitate the creation of ideas and materials that will benefit the BME curriculum and students.more » « less
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The population of nontraditional engineering students (NTES) is increasing across campuses as more students are returning from the workforce to complete their education and students who need to take on part-time or full-time jobs to support their education. Nontraditional students (NTS) are defined as students who satisfy at least one of the seven criteria provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) or are older than 24 years of age in an undergraduate program. Research into NTES generally focused on their demographics, the challenges they faced and educational outcomes, and specific methods of teaching NTES. Existing studies on NTES focus on NTES’ deficiencies and methods to improve the outcomes of NTES in engineering programs. None of the existing studies in NTES are asset-based that focus on their strengths such as their lived experiences or leveraging their strengths to increase engaged student learning for all students. The objective of this study is to identify the characteristics of NTES lived experience that can be incorporated into engineering classrooms to increase engagement for all students. Interviews with NTES were conducted to identify the characteristics of NTES past experience that were of interest to traditional engineering students in their engineering courses and classrooms. Interviews were transcribed and coded for analysis.more » « less
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