An official website of the United States government
This research explores the barriers, concerns, and obstacles undergraduate STEM educators face when implementing high-impact teaching practices (HIPs), the application of which may improve student learning outcomes. Because our study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, our results also shed light on the unique challenges of utilizing HIPs in asynchronous online-learning environments. Thirteen undergraduate instructors were interviewed about their current teaching practices in order to identify barriers to or support for adopting HIPs. Data collected through semi-structured interviews revealed administrative and financial restraints as barriers to effective teaching which have been found in previous research. A number of new and unique obstacles emerged out of teaching remotely or online during the pandemic, including a heightened concern over the instructor’s ability to connect with students and engage in the best teaching practices. This research extends our current understanding of barriers and concerns about adopting HIPs in undergraduate STEM courses because of the unique perceived threats that emerged during the pandemic. We identify strategies to equip faculty with the support they need to provide equitable learning experiences, including access to consultants who support curriculum development and implementation in the classroom, ongoing educational coaching, and increased access to professional-development opportunities and a community of inquiry to discuss teaching strategies.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2026
An Equity-Minded Approach to Broadening Participation in High- Impact Practices in Information Systems Education
This research explores an equity-minded approach to broadening participation in high-impact practices (HIPs) in information systems (IS) education. HIPs have been shown to enhance student engagement, learning, and success for all students with outsized gains for historically underserved groups in the U.S. Despite these salutary benefits, underserved groups often face systemic barriers to authentic access and participation in HIPs. Barriers include non-inclusive and unwelcoming learning environments, faculty beliefs regarding student ability, and outdated teaching practices. To address these challenges, this paper develops a framework for broadening participation in HIPs through “high-impact faculty development” focused on three key strategies: (1) cultivating an equitable and inclusive learning environment, (2) incorporating microaffirmations into everyday teaching, and (3) adopting evidence-based, inclusive teaching practices. By advancing this framework, the research contributes to the growing body of literature on social inclusion in IS education and offers a pathway for broadening participation in HIPs.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2216540
- PAR ID:
- 10611357
- Publisher / Repository:
- AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)
- Date Published:
- ISSN:
- 3066-876X
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Broadening participation, social inclusion, faculty development, micro messages, inclusive teaching
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2025/social_inclusion/social_inclusion/19
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
This work describes an effort to nudge engineering faculty toward adopting known best practices for inclusive teaching through a program called Engineering is Not Neutral: Transforming Instruction via Collaboration and Engagement Faculty (ENNTICE). This monthly faculty learning community (FLC) followed the three-year structure of the Colorado Equity Toolkit: Year 1 (reported in 2022) focused on self-inquiry including reflection; Year 2 (reported in 2023) focused on course design including training new engineering faculty; Year 3 (reported in the current paper) focused on building community. The emphasis on building community allows us to address our research question: To what degree does faculty participation in an FLC impact engineering college culture? Building community is measured through broadening participation by faculty in known best practices for inclusive teaching, including three elements of interest. First, we share within our engineering college the progress each department has made toward inclusive teaching participation, using thermometer-styled graphics like those used to illustrate progress toward a fundraising goal. Second, after reviewing certain sections of our engineering college’s plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), we submitted brainstormed ideas for implementation to our dean’s office. And third, after reviewing reports from student focus groups conducted in 2020/21, we evaluated progress and made recommendations for next steps; in this context the clarity and urgency of the student feedback is both motivational and difficult to ignore. The common theme in each of three elements is seeking to bridge the valley of neglect that so often divides scholarly work about DEI from concrete changes that benefit students, employers, and the broader community.more » « less
-
Computer science (CS) and information technology (IT) curricula are grounded in theoretical and technical skills. Topics like equity and inclusive design are rarely found in mainstream student studies. This results in graduates with outdated practices and limitations in software development. A research project was conducted to educate the faculty to integrate inclusive software design into the CS undergraduate curriculum. The objective is to produce graduates with the ability to develop inclusive software. This experience report presents the results of teaching inclusive design throughout the four-year CS and IT curriculum, focusing on the impact on faculty. This easy-to-adopt, high-impact approach improved student retention and classroom climate, broadening participation. Research questions address faculty understanding of inclusive software design, the approach's feasibility, improvement in students’ ability to design equitable software, and assessment of the inclusiveness culture for students in computing programs. Faculty attended a summer workshop to learn about inclusive design and update their teaching materials to include the GenderMag method. Beginning in CS0 and CS1 and continuing through Senior Capstone, faculty used updated course assignments to include inclusive design in 10 courses for 44 sections taught. Faculty outcomes are positive, with the planning to include inclusive design and working with other department faculty most engaging. Faculty were impressed by student ownership and adoption of inclusive design methods, particularly in the culminating capstone senior project.more » « less
-
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
-
The transformation of engineering culture towards inclusion is a key objective in the retention and professionalization of a diverse engineering workforce. Faculty are key stakeholders impacting that inclusion because of their prominent role in shaping students’ underrepresented, marginalized, and/or hidden identities and core experiences in engineering classrooms. Yet, many faculty are not provided with practicable resources and training that can enrich their knowledge, empathy, and understanding of students’ diverse and marginalized experiences that differ from their own. This lack of resources has slowed the transformation of engineering culture and provides an opportunity for practical impact by researchers and faculty developers. However, the topic of developing inclusive culture remains understudied and has evaded traditional approaches to education research. Quantitative approaches can broadly identify the presence of marginalization or inclusion, but they lack the nuance to enhance a reader’s inclusive understanding. In contrast, qualitative and narrative-based approaches provide rich accounts of marginalized experiences and perspectives, but do not typically reach a broad audience of technical engineering faculty. Thus, these accounts are often disseminated to faculty and researchers already interested and invested in broadening participation, perpetuating a cycle of “preaching to the choir”. In the Audio for Inclusion project, we answer BPE’s call for innovative methods that increase research impact on broadening participation outcomes by proposing a novel audio narrative dissemination approach to foster inclusive understandings for engineering faculty. Specifically, we ask the following research questions: ● What marginalized student narratives related to identity and agency are present in engineering educational culture? ● How does hearing these narratives impact faculty perspectives of diversity and inclusion in engineering classrooms? This interactive poster presents the student audio narratives developed so far and overviews the entire project.more » « less
