Advancing Engineering Education Using a Teaching Focused Plan For Creating an Inclusive Classroom
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A large university has recently started several initiatives within its newly created engineering education faculty group to support faculty in creating a more inclusive classroom where diversity and inclusion can be safely discussed in the context of current events and course topics. These initiatives include 1) a weekly teaching fellows program where faculty experiment with inclusive practices and watch videos of their implementation and reflect on their success, 2) a weekly meeting with the faculty of engineering education as a whole where faculty regularly share the techniques that have been successful, and 3) a weekly reading group for students and faculty discussing how race and inclusion can be better integrated into the classroom. This paper will discuss the techniques tested, their results across multiple classrooms and engineering disciplines, the successes of faculty trying these techniques in their classroom for the first time, and the results of an analysis of qualitative and quantitative data analysis on these events. Qualitative data includes interviews describing experiences in the classroom as well as feedback from students in the classroom about their experiences. Quantitative data include chi^2 analysis of qualitative data, quantitative data from surveys and polls in the classroom, and quantitative analysis of the faculty who attempted it and their Likert responses. A particular focus will be attended to the experiences of faculty teaching first-year students. Results show that the initiative has been quite successful and a large number of faculty have attempted previously considered risky methods of creating an inclusive classroom with excellent success. Results also demonstrate that success breeds success, and the more faculty that attempt changing their engineering classroom to be more inclusive, the more other faculty are willing to attempt similar techniques in their own classrooms.
Tracy Anne Hammond, .., Jacques C. Richard, .., Charles Patrick Jr, .., Lance Leon Allen White, .., Samantha Ray, .., Robert Harold Lightfoot Jr, .., ... Donna Jaison.
