Toward Equity and Inclusivity in Engineering Classrooms: Understanding Students' Disparities in Response to Clinical Observations and Needs-Finding Course Development

Jacquelynn Ann Horsey; Alyssandra P Navarro; Timothy J. Muldoon; Mostafa Elsaadany

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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: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Engineering Inclusivity: Challenging Disparities and Cultivating Resilience in Education
Tagged Divisions: Equity and Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48163

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Paper Authors

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Jacquelynn Ann Horsey University of Arkansas

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Jacquelynn is an undergraduate student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

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Alyssandra P Navarro University of Arkansas

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Timothy J. Muldoon University of Arkansas

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Dr. Timothy Muldoon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Muldoon teaches the Clinical Observations and Needs Finding, the Biomedical Instrumentation, and the Biomedical Microscopy courses within the Department, and also serves as the Undergraduate Coordinator. Dr. Muldoon’s research interests include engineering education, miniaturized optical imaging and spectroscopy approaches for endoscopy applications, and metabolic imaging of the tumor microenvironment.

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Mostafa Elsaadany University of Arkansas orcid.org/0000-0001-9388-8149

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Dr. Mostafa Elsaadany is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Elsaadany teaches Introduction to Biomedical Engineering, Biomechanical Engineering, Biomolecular Engineering, Senior Design, and Entrepreneurial Bioengineering. He is active in Engineering Education Research, where he studies different mentoring strategies to ensure historically marginalized groups' academic and professional success. Further, he studies strategies for instilling the entrepreneurial mindset in engineering students and innovative teaching approaches such as using virtual reality.

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Abstract

A central theme to the field of biomedical engineering is the ability to identify clinical problems and propose and develop engineering approaches to solving these problems. In order to train students in developing these skills, our department has developed a clinical and industry immersion course that serves as a pre-requisite to the senior design course in the undergraduate curriculum. The specific content and efficacy of these types of courses are likely to vary significantly depending on a range of factors, including the Institutions’ access to academic medical centers and biomedical industry sites proximate to their location, as well as the specific demographic composition of the student body. The field of biomedical engineering- as in other fields of engineering- broadly exhibits particular demographics that differ from that of the general population. As a result, students from certain underrepresented groups may experience disparate learning outcomes from these types of courses, and strategies to improve clinical immersion courses for these groups are limited in the engineering education literature. A major focus of this study was to quantify how our clinical immersion course impacts students from historically marginalized groups in race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, and age. Comparisons will be made between historically marginalized groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, women, and first-generation college students and their dominant counterparts. Pre- and post- course Likert scale questions will be used to analyze the student’s sense of self-efficacy, abilities to make connections and create value, and general interests in engineering. Preliminary data analysis indicates that there are discrepancies in the results of different demographic groups. Between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students, Hispanic students not only reported a lower level of agreeance prior to the course but also reported the most growth following the completion of the course. Further analysis will be conducted to reveal the intricacies of the relationship between historically marginalized groups and their experiences in this class. A qualitative analysis software will be used to evaluate the open-response questions between these groups to more clearly identify which factors are most influential for students’ learning outcomes and sense of belongingness in the field. This study intends to understand the differential impacts of a service-learning course on historically marginalized groups, in an attempt to improve the equity and quality of our curriculum.

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Format

Horsey, J. A., & Navarro, A. P., & Muldoon, T. J., & Elsaadany, M. (2024, June), Toward Equity and Inclusivity in Engineering Classrooms: Understanding Students' Disparities in Response to Clinical Observations and Needs-Finding Course Development Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48163

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - A central theme to the field of biomedical engineering is the ability to identify clinical problems and propose and develop engineering approaches to solving these problems. In order to train students in developing these skills, our department has developed a clinical and industry immersion course that serves as a pre-requisite to the senior design course in the undergraduate curriculum. The specific content and efficacy of these types of courses are likely to vary significantly depending on a range of factors, including the Institutions’ access to academic medical centers and biomedical industry sites proximate to their location, as well as the specific demographic composition of the student body. The field of biomedical engineering- as in other fields of engineering- broadly exhibits particular demographics that differ from that of the general population. As a result, students from certain underrepresented groups may experience disparate learning outcomes from these types of courses, and strategies to improve clinical immersion courses for these groups are limited in the engineering education literature. A major focus of this study was to quantify how our clinical immersion course impacts students from historically marginalized groups in race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, and age. Comparisons will be made between historically marginalized groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, women, and first-generation college students and their dominant counterparts. Pre- and post- course Likert scale questions will be used to analyze the student’s sense of self-efficacy, abilities to make connections and create value, and general interests in engineering.  Preliminary data analysis indicates that there are discrepancies in the results of different demographic groups. Between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students, Hispanic students not only reported a lower level of agreeance prior to the course but also reported the most growth following the completion of the course. Further analysis will be conducted to reveal the intricacies of the relationship between historically marginalized groups and their experiences in this class. A qualitative analysis software will be used to evaluate the open-response questions between these groups to more clearly identify which factors are most influential for students’ learning outcomes and sense of belongingness in the field. This study intends to understand the differential impacts of a service-learning course on historically marginalized groups, in an attempt to improve the equity and quality of our curriculum. 
AU  - Jacquelynn Ann Horsey
AU  - Alyssandra P Navarro
AU  - Timothy J. Muldoon
AU  - Mostafa Elsaadany
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Toward Equity and Inclusivity in Engineering Classrooms: Understanding Students' Disparities in Response to Clinical Observations and Needs-Finding Course Development
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/48163
ER  -