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Effects of Uncertainty Avoidance and Country Culture on Perceptions of Power Distance in the Learning Process

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Minorities in Engineering Division Technical Session 2

Tagged Division

Minorities in Engineering

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--37016

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/37016

Download Count

3161

Paper Authors

biography

Johnny C. Woods Jr. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5430-9327

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Johnny C. Woods, Jr. is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Higher Education and Research Group Coordinator for the Engineering Competencies, Learning, and Inclusive Practices for Success (ECLIPS) Lab in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Johnny is also a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Graduate School Certificate Course--Preparing the Future Professoriate. He has a Master in Educational Foundations and Management and a Bachelor in Sociology. His dissertation research focuses on employing assets-based frameworks to explore the lived experiences of foreign-born Black students in the STEM fields at PWIs, specifically Black Sub-Saharan African-born graduate students.

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Homero Murzi Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3849-2947

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Homero Murzi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech with honorary appointments at the University of Queensland (Australia) and University of Los Andes (Venezuela). He holds degrees in Industrial Engineering (BS, MS), Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Engineering Education (PhD). Homero is the leader of the Engineering Competencies, Learning, and Inclusive Practices for Success (ECLIPS) Lab. His research focuses on contemporary and inclusive pedagogical practices, emotions in engineering, competency development, and understanding the experiences of Latinx and Native Americans in engineering from an asset-based perspective. Homero has been recognized as a Diggs Teaching Scholar, a Graduate Academy for Teaching Excellence Fellow, a Global Perspectives Fellow, a Diversity Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, and was inducted in the Bouchet Honor Society.

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Andrea L. Schuman Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Andrea is a first-year PhD student in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. Her research interests include accessibility and learning in ECE, integration of liberal arts communication in engineering, and culturally relevant pedagogy.

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Abstract

Psychological safety plays a key role in student learning and success, especially for traditionally marginalized populations. Hence, it becomes important to understand power differentials in engineering classrooms and how comfortable students are when navigating the uncertainties associated with learning in engineering disciplines. We used Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture theory to gather students' perspectives to understand the predictive nature of uncertainty avoidance and country national culture on power distance in the context of U.S. higher education. This paper argues that understanding these two constructs among engineering students can inform classroom interactions in very complex engineering settings.

Woods, J. C., & Murzi, H., & Schuman, A. L. (2021, July), Effects of Uncertainty Avoidance and Country Culture on Perceptions of Power Distance in the Learning Process Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37016

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