Work-In-Progress: Measuring Systemic Educational Wellness using the Eco-STEM Educational Ecosystem Health Survey
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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12
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--41114
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/41114
- Download Count
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337
Paper Authors
Corin Bowen California State University, Los Angeles
Corin (Corey) Bowen (she/her/hers) is a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology at California State University, Los Angeles, where she is working on the NSF-funded Eco-STEM project. Her engineering education research focuses on structural oppression in engineering systems, organizing for equitable change, and developing an agenda of Engineering for the Common Good. She conferred her Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor in April 2021. Her doctoral research included both technical and educational research. She also holds an M.S.E. in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor and a B.S.E. in civil engineering from Case Western Reserve University, both in the areas of structural engineering and solid mechanics.
Lizabeth Thompson California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Dr. Lizabeth Thompson is the Director of General Engineering and a professor in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. She holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, SLO, a MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering and an MBA from University of Southern California, and a PhD in Education from University of California, Santa Barbara. She has been at Cal Poly for nearly 30 years and has held various positions on campus including Co-Director of LAES, Director of Women’s Engineering Programs, and CENG Interim Associate Dean. Although she has taught over 25 different courses she current teaches Financial decision making, First year engineering, Senior project, and Change management. Her research is in Engineering Education where she has received $9.8 million of funding from NSF as either PI or Co-PI. She researches equitable classroom practices, integrated learning, and institutional change. She spent the 2019-2020 academic year at Cal State LA where she taught and collaborated on research related to equity and social justice. With her colleagues at Cal State LA she recently received an NSF grant called Eco-STEM which aims to transform STEM education using an asset-based ecosystem model. She is also a Co-PI on an NSF S-STEM grant called ENGAGE which is working to make a more robust transfer pathway for local Community college students. Dr. Thompson is a Co-PI on an NSF ADVANCE grant called KIND with other universities within the CSU. She is a co-advisor to Engineers without Borders, Critical Global Engagement, and oSTEM at Cal Poly.
Gustavo Menezes California State University, Los Angeles
Christina Nazar California State University, Los Angeles
Abstract
This work-in-progress research paper introduces the Educational Ecosystem Health Survey (EEHS), an educational survey instrument designed by the Eco-STEM team at California State University, Los Angeles, a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution. The Eco-STEM project applies a framework of Community Cultural Wealth and explores the metaphor of a healthy ecosystem to envision systemic change that responds to the needs and values the assets of diverse actors, who learn together for both their individual and collective good, within the educational “ecosystem.” As part of the project, the Eco-STEM team has developed the EEHS survey instrument to measure the “health” of the educational ecosystem. The results will provide valuable insight into the perceptions and experiences of students from socially and structurally oppressed groups.
The Eco-STEM EEHS is comprised of constructs from several survey instruments that have already undergone statistical validation within educational contexts, many of them within higher education. The items peruse issues of social climate, belonging, thriving and wellbeing, interest, mindfulness, stress, and perceptions of the future. Given the Community Cultural Wealth framework and the fact that two-thirds of the student body at California State University, Los Angeles identifies as Hispanic, the EEHS is offered in both Spanish and English. Students are asked to provide a multitude of institutionally relevant demographic information, such that results may be disaggregated along many categories. The EEHS is also administered to faculty, staff, and administration / management in addition to students. By including these essential actors in the analysis of the state of the educational ecosystem, we intend to also measure perceptions of experience serving the STEM educational community, rather than solely receiving it.
We will pilot the EEHS during the Spring 2022 semester. Over the next four years of the Eco-STEM project, semesterly administrations will quantify the progress of the project’s initiatives to implement effective systemic change. Our analyses will investigate the perspectives of those with oppressed social identities – individuals who actually hold majority representation within the unique demographic composition of California State University, Los Angeles. The results will offer critically important feedback to Hispanic-Serving Institutions and all institutions who strive to serve students from communities who have been left behind and even exploited by the existing systems and structures of higher education.
Keywords: Educational Ecosystems, Community Cultural Wealth, Surveys
Bowen, C., & Thompson, L., & Menezes, G., & Nazar, C. (2022, August), Work-In-Progress: Measuring Systemic Educational Wellness using the Eco-STEM Educational Ecosystem Health Survey Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41114
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