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Small Shifts: New Methods for Improving Communication Experiences for Women in Early Engineering Courses

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Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

June 26, 2024

Conference Session

Writing and Technical Communications

Tagged Division

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

25

DOI

10.18260/1-2--47973

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/47973

Download Count

100

Paper Authors

biography

Jonathan M Adams Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott

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Jonathan Adams is an assistant professor of rhetoric and composition and the writing program administrator at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ. His research on rhetorical theory, infrastructure, and communication pedagogy informs his teaching of courses in rhetoric, composition, and technical communication in engineering.

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Ashley Rea Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott

biography

Brian Roth Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott

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Dr. Brian Roth is an associate professor in the aerospace engineering department at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. His teaching focuses on design courses such as Intro to Engineering and Capstone Design. This informs his research interests in team formation, development, and assessment.

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Katrina Marie Robertson Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott

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Trey Thomas Talko Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott

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Abstract

One of the primary difficulties in improving the communication experiences of students in the engineering classroom is knowing where to begin. Educators are often presented with hundreds of improvement ideas that involve varying amounts of resources, time, and ability to implement. These challenges are increased significantly when dealing with issues of gender disparity and gender maltreatment that often plague the fields of engineering and science communication. While we may have a myriad of ideas to improve the experiences of women communicating in the early engineering classroom, selecting one and implementing it can seem impossible

To help resolve these issues, this methodological paper presents a new research method called, "Infrastructural rhetorical analysis" derived from the field of rhetoric and communication. The paper then applies this method to a case study involving the experiences of women in the first-year engineering classroom, which cross-references collected institutional and infrastructural data to determine a concrete classroom intervention that will make the most difference with the least amount of resources needed to implement it.

This new "Infrastructural rhetorical" approach uses a series of rhetorically coded documents and interviews to examine the nature of communication structures in the engineering classroom. These documents and interviews are then cross-referenced against each other and against a "malleability analysis" to plan a specific classroom intervention to improve the communication practiced by students in engineering. Initial findings and results of an interventional engineering classroom case study are also provided to contextualize the application of such methods to an engineering and design course framework. Our research ultimately seeks to connect researchers in communication with practitioners in engineering education to provide new and robust methods that will strengthen the practices of both fields.

Adams, J. M., & Rea, A., & Roth, B., & Robertson, K. M., & Talko, T. T. (2024, June), Small Shifts: New Methods for Improving Communication Experiences for Women in Early Engineering Courses Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--47973

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