]), I present an argument in this paper that ChatGPT is animportant tool for creating equitable access, especially for international students or students withtraditionally marginalized identities in engineering education. I present this from thepositionalities of student educators in engineering courses with reading and writing componentsand as international students in the US having relied on machine translation in their own studentexperiences. Using an approach similar to Coppola and Turns [11], I draw upon findingsgathered from interviewing other instructors of engineering courses within my department, aswell as a reflection of my own experiences as an instructor in engineering courses. I presentmicrocultures of student experiences of using
; Paper StyleThe team of authors was formed through a shared interest in exploring life as engineeringeducators outside academia. The call for collaboration was extended via LinkedIn, which yieldeda diverse group of participants, though perhaps not uncoincidentally – all women. Our team,initially intended as a panel for the ASEE 2023 conference, evolved into this collaborative paperafter the panel's rejection, emphasizing the importance and relevance of our stories in the broaderdiscourse of engineering education.Thus for the paper, each author was invited to respond to a set of six questions crafted by thelead author, reflecting on their individual journeys outside academia. This panel-style approachallowed for both personal reflection and
students across both iterations, along with students’ final projects andwritten reflections on the awareness events [8].There was some shift in students’ perceptions of the issue of homelessness. Pre- and post-responses revealed that the deficit perspective that homelessness is the result of inherentindividual characteristics was mostly present in pre-surveys and decreased but did not disappearafter the project [8]. Students' written reflections demonstrated their surprise that their previousnotions of the causes of homelessness and the demographics of individuals experiencinghomelessness were inaccurate or incomplete [31]. However, several students did present acritical and systemic view of social injustices, mostly in their post-responses [8
descriptions of stretch assignments, theirlearning experiences around stretch assignments, and the insights they have gleaned aboutadvancement, placing their words in conversation with previous sociological research on workassignments and workplace inequality. Our findings show how the dimensions of these types ofassignments are not at all clear and unified, with participants’ descriptions reflecting a mixture ofoften inconsistent and contradictory understandings, such as: random, meritocratic, ad hoc,sought on one’s own, given by top leaders, exploitative, beneficial, enjoyable, and scary. Suchassignments are conceived as important for advancement or even “secretly” required forpromotion, but there is no consensus on how to access them or connect
the only person in a computing class who has my racial identity.3. *I am comfortable discussing topics related to race and racial discrimination with computing department faculty and/or staff who: a. *Have the same racial identity as me b. *Do not have the same racial identity as me4. *I feel like people assume my performance in class reflects my racial group.5. *I feel like I must suppress aspects of myself to be successful in my computing department.Construct 4: Perceptions of Race1. *I consider myself very knowledgeable about topics related to race.2. *Black, Native/Indigenous, and Latinx people are underrepresented in computing majors. Depending on who you ask, some people think it is because of one or more of the
patterns that reflect a central organizing concept. Weaimed to create a set of themes that were distinctive yet complementary. Next, we came togetherto review and define themes via consensus, moving from a summative to interpretative positionand seeking to ensure clarity, cohesion, and precision.ResultsThe participants’ reflections on their personal and academic experiences as engineering studentsrevealed shared experiences of wanting to solve personal problems independently, whilestruggling to balance academic responsibilities with other aspects of their lives as students. Uponfurther discussion, students described the unique factors of their personal identities and theirengineering student status that facilitated and hindered their help-seeking
without implicitly placing theonus for change on students” [8, p. 576]. A focus on student success within institutions thatweren’t built with them in mind is important for reframing the narrative regarding “achievementgaps,” but this theory can also be helpful for illuminating misalignment between assets possessedby students from groups systemically marginalized in STEM fields and the capital valued byacademic institutions. In doing so, we can identify levers for institutional transformation thatcould help elevate the value of community cultural wealth beyond counterspaces/ethnic enclaveswithin the university setting.By identifying areas of misalignment between student assets and institutional values reflected inpolicies, we can illustrate the
-standard English speaker) as powerless, inadequate, or deficient.Theoretical FrameworkIn this paper, we draw from Flores and Rosa [26] conceptualization of raciolinguistics to analyzehow engineering is portrayed and communicated in social media memes, and the potential ofthese in influencing how discourses around engineering identity are constructed.We pay particular attention to raciolinguistics because memes are not just humorous orentertaining images; they often reflect and reinforce societal norms, values and power dynamics,including those related to race and language. Flores and Rosa [26] introduced the concept ofraciolinguistics, which indicates that language – in all of its forms – is used to construct race, andtherefore influences how
all of our students across the four courses. In a social and political environment thatincreasingly pushed and continues to push for a “return to normal” and reverting to practices thatwere prevalent prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic [23], we intended to design aclassroom that would make participation accessible to all students while still meeting courseobjectives. In our assessment of these courses, our personal reflections and indications fromstudent performances and grades reflect that our version of the courses still met establishedlearning objectives and taught students the key skills they needed to get from these courses. Insuch a light, we evaluate the success or failure of our HyFlex modalities. The first and perhaps
was seed-funded by an internal two-year university Strategic Initiative Award and advances four of USD’sEnvisioning 2024 goals: 1) enhancing student learning and success, 2) strengthening diversity,inclusion, and social justice, 3) elevating faculty and staff engagement, and 4) amplifying localand global engagement and reputation. Our Strategic Initiative funding concludes in 2021, and weare moving into a financial model that includes a combination of external and donor funding.The Engineering Exchange for Social Justice (ExSJ) FrameworkWhen we reflect on the critical questions inspired by materials engineer and socio-technical expertUrsula Franklin [14], who decides what is engineered and why? and who benefits and who pays?,in the ideal
underrepresentedbackgrounds that I worked with over two years as they engaged in engineering work through anout-of-school community engineering program. Designed by a team containing the author, theprogram engages youth in defining a community engineering problem of interest, researchingthat problem, and developing a solution. I led the programming multiple times over three yearswithin an afterschool and summer context. 75% of sessions were video-recorded, resulting in atleast ten hours of clearly visible video per youth. I interviewed youth via focus groups at the endof each project and collected all youth-produced artifacts. To conclude data collection, Iconducted reflective, stimulated-recall interviews with each youth. Per qualitative best practices,I member
, andthe richness of human experiences—and write it up based on the simplified, linear sequencedemanded in academia. It was not just about the aesthetic structure (introduction, literature,methods, results, discussions, etc.), it was how this dominant dissertation rhetoric silenced thetrue ambivalence and complexities of my findings. This traditional style and structure focused onknowledge production more than depth of holistic understanding (Kociatkiewicz & Kostera,2023). I relate to this reflection from another PhD student as she considered this same challenge: “How could I condense my research into a series of neatly defined chapters? I was attempting to follow the normative pattern of a conventional thesis [...] It seems
belonging at theuniversity level consists of five items that assess students’ sense of belonging within theiruniversity. Items were answered on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1= Not at all, 7= Very much so).An average score across items was calculated with higher scores reflecting higher sense ofbelonging at the university level. A sample item for sense of belonging- university level is “I feelthere is a sense of community at this school.” Sense of belonging- engineering major level. Sense of belonging at the engineeringmajor level consists of ten items that measure students’ perceptions of belonging within theirengineering major. Items were answered on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1= Not at all, 7= Verymuch so). An average score across items
, efforts made to diversity campuscannot be chalked up to individual accomplishments or failures, but rather demonstrate howinstitutional cultures determine which policies are adopted and acted upon [13]. We have selected these frameworks to reflect our commitment to better understanding howinstitutions, in conjunction with individual actors, can improve their diversity outcomes.Furthermore, our rationale is to look specifically at the institutional barriers that participantsmention that prevent them from being effective at carrying out diversity work, even if they arecommitted to that effort.Methods, Context and SampleThis paper developed from a larger project aimed at creating a sociotechnical framework toview, analyze and understand the
have on thelived experiences of scholars in the field (e.g., as it relates to their citation count, academicprestige, and career progression).The above discussion led to the hypothesis that the CS collaboration networks in the literaturewere overly representative of the collaboration networks of white and Asian scholars incomputing. By extension, reported network measures such as degree (or the average number ofunique coauthors) would not be reflective of the collaboration experiences of non-white andAsian computer scientists. Further, this work posited this difference would skew in favor ofwhite and Asian scholars. That is, if the “average” (e.g., race-neutral approach) computerscientist has x number of unique collaborators, then minoritized
,2014, p. 13). As such, PD activities should enable BIPOCx contingent faculty in engineering to 3authentically design, develop, and implement intended outcomes. Notably, asset-based practicescannot be disconnected from the realities and multiple worlds that BIPOCx people in engineeringface (Mejia et al., 2022). Thus, PD activities should provide room for deep reflection andpurposeful iteration and center the voices of those impacted.Comparative Critical Theories Derived from legal scholarship, critical theories offer an analytical lens to examine racialand ethnic inequalities experienced by BIPOCx individuals. Over the years, critical
developmental research &implementation phases:Influencers for Transformative Education [5, 2]:1. Critical awareness of culture2. Professional identity development3. Participation in communities of mentoring and learning4. Holistic skill integration through reflection5. The development of professional integrity through affective awarenessFig. 2 [3] is a visual representation of the process of these five influencers’ impacts on studentexperiences in an electrical and computer engineering program. This model of the fiveinfluencing factors was then used in the development of the subsequent study's interventions.Figure 2. Process of Transformative Learning as Affected by the 5 Influencers: Culture,Participating in Communities, Reflection, Professional
-STEM mentor, encouraged her to pursue computing based on her performance and interest inclass. He specifically told her that “every computer scientist” answers questions in the same waythat Leyla does and confirmed that she belongs in computing. Leyla reflected, “impostersyndrome wasn’t a thing that semester.”Each participant reported that her family was supportive of her pursuing a STEM degree. ForDiana, a first-generation student, interest in STEM began early—reinforced by her parents’ valueof education and STEM: “Since I've been a kid, there's always been that STEM influence in mylife.” Families were also supportive of Scholars’ well-being more generally.College Experiences in Computing - Low PointsAll of the “low” points described by
addnew examples to the list, for instance, examples identified by the students. If a student reportsthat they did not find relevant examples in our list, but they provided a new one, we will analyzeand consider for addition the new example provided.After the students identify a potential role model that inspires them in the course's domain (e.g.,databases or programming), each student will describe this role model on a discussion board andindicate the main criteria on which the selection was based. A moderated discussion will takeplace with feedback from the instructor and other students. The second part ends with a shortassignment serving as self-reflection for the role model identification process. In this assignmentthe students will summarize
about the opportunities andchallenges available to them; this also relates to their identity work. For example, students maywonder whether they are being heard in the group and if they belong in a particular communityof practice. Content uncertainty includes questions about the ideas, approaches, or intended endresult of an activity. This type of uncertainty is similar to what Hartner-Tiefenthaler et al. refer toas epistemological uncertainty, which they define as a “subjective feeling of being unsure aboutthe content, process or outcome of a task.” (p. 21, 2018). We adopt the latter term,epistemological uncertainty, to reflect that questions about process can include questions aboutwhat counts as valuable ways of knowing and doing
, such as multi-layered and culturallyrelevant mentoring and support, in amplifying the participants’ resilience and personal andprofessional development. The three participants’ community-serving mindset and authenticreciprocity with high school students prompted them to become reflective and critical advocatesof the program’s original intent. As a result, they played a pivotal role in fulfilling the ultimategoal of institutional collaboration—diversifying the STEM workforce.IntroductionDiversity is widely recognized as a pivotal factor for innovation and ground-breakingtransformation in scientific research [1]. As a result, the National Science Foundation (NSF) andother federal funding agencies have long supported the creation of diverse
involved framing of the BPC goals, assessingcurrent data systems for points of vulnerability and opportunity, a data request from the statesystems, data visualization, utilization and reflection.Data was drawn from reflective team journals; notes, collaborative materials and observationsmade during collaborative meetings; and the technical assistance requests made during theproject.When developing data infrastructure in support of BPC, diverse teams matter. Teams neededrepresentation from people who can access institutional or state data, understand the practicalcontext of the data to support interpretation, and help tie data to broader advocacy efforts.Ongoing team engagement, both within and across states, allowed the space to consider
inclusion and equity are not. Some viewinclusion as a tool wielded by those in authority. Inclusion requires the group to include theindividual, rather than for the individual to take on that burden. An ideal DEI environmentencourages and hears authentic selves. People who want to improve DEI should engage inrepeated reflection to allow their ideas to evolve over time. Those at the top of the hierarchy,who are often not from minoritized groups, particularly need to reflect on their privileges andpositionalities in order to enact effective change [10].Engineers are still viewed by society as oblivious and antisocial, which lessens the appeal ofengineering to some. Others see engineering as heavily aligned with military and corporateinterests rather
student populated surveyed consisted of 68% male and 32%female, of which 95% are Hispanic/Latino. The authors employed a qualitative research design,and the primary method of data collection was a self-developed survey instrument consisting of atotal five open-ended questions. The process for developing the survey items consisted ofquestions that sought to examine instructional and pedagogical strategies implemented to teachstudents rigorous engineering concepts based on students’ experiences in the course. As such, thequestions provided students the opportunity to delineate, reflect, and share valuable insight andexperiences that can help develop and refine effective and equitable engineering pedagogy.The data analysis consisted of an open
Figured Worlds serves as a powerful frame for ourwork because it captures the complex influence of socially- and culturally-produced systems(i.e., figured worlds) on one’s capacity (i.e., agency) to purposefully and reflectively act withinthem. The ways we choose to – or choose not to – represent ourselves as we navigate figuredworlds, and the feedback we receive while interacting with them, serve as indicators ofidentification with social groups and their privileges [13]. For a system to be considered afigured world, it must have four characteristics: (1) historically developed through the works ofparticipants; (2) include social encounters in which participant positions matter; (3) sociallyorganized and reproduced; and (4) relate individuals to
lower-division students to engineering as a sociotechnical discipline—that engineering is inherently political, and that we must understand our own stances asindividuals in conjunction with considering social impacts of our engineering [1]. In keeping withthe university mission, all graduates must complete two courses with the diversity, inclusion,and social justice (DISJ) university core flag, which seeks to help students develop critical self-reflection and the ability to analyze the complexities of social constructions in everyday life. As aresult of our campus environment, our version of User-Centered Design has evolved to beunique in its objective to cover topics including justice, power, intersectionality, and privilege andoppression
types corresponding to each of the variables, as well as the mean andstandard deviation scores, are presented in Table 1. The highest mean motivation scores wereobserved in the following items (a) item 3, “Because I think that a college education will help mebetter prepare for the career I have chosen,” with a mean of 4.32; (b) item 22, “In order to have abetter salary later on,” reflecting a mean of 4.32; (c) item 8, “In order to obtain a moreprestigious job later on,” registering a mean of 4.26; and (d) item 10, “Because eventually it willenable me to enter the job market in a field that I like,” with a mean of 4.16. As it may beobserved, all items displaying the highest mean values are associated with extrinsic motivationelements. Items 3
rigorousdiscipline focusing heavily on math and science [4], [5], [6]. Due to these attitudes, students andlab instructors tend to focus more on technical knowledge rather than communication skills inlabs. Another study found that the written engineering documents seldom contained socio-cultural features of engineering and the trade-offs between productivity and safety or health of anoperator [7]. This type of neutral and objective text couldn’t reflect the complexity and human-related real-world engineering problems [7]. In this study, we want to model engineeringthinking to increase students’ awareness of rhetorically-focused writing in ME labs. Manyengineering programs have writing-intensive lab courses designed to simultaneously improveengineering
ideas (Figure 1). The bridge design challenge drewfrom a similar project in a first-yearengineering reflection course and asecond-year engineering foundationscourse in the authors' academic programbased on work by Chen andWodin-Schwartz [14]. The bridge designproject began with a prompt from a citymayor hoping to connect two parts oftown with a bridge. However, the bridgehad to begin and end in specific zones oneither side which were to be demolishedto make way for the bridge. Context wasalso added in the prompt, saying, "TheMayor says they trust your decision aslong as you can explain it!" to helpalleviate the youth's fears aboutpreemptively having a "correct" answer.Six zones were created, three on eachside, of which youth had to
What were the Alliance members’ prior experiences in collaborativenetworks that they bring into the new Alliance? and In the context of equity, how are the newlyformed Alliance’s members’ funds of knowledge being honored and valued?. To answer thesequestions, we used the Framework Method [40] for conducting a qualitative study using a semi-structured interview protocol with members from partner organizations within this Alliance2 .3.1 Data CollectionTwo of the researchers conducted the interviews in which participants reflected on the first fourmonths of the start of the Alliance to gain baseline knowledge of the type of early patterns andnorms being established and factors that may contribute to their establishment. We asked questionsdesigned