Equitable Attainment of Engineering Degrees: A Tri-University Study & Improvement Effort

Raian Islam; Gregory L. Heileman; Kian G. Alavy; David Ruiter

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43401
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/43401
Download Count: 95

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Paper Authors

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Raian Islam The University of Arizona

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Raian Islam is a current Master’s student and a Graduate Research Assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. She received her BSc. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Ahsanullah University of
Science and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2019. Her current research interests include higher education data analytics, machine learning and photovoltaics.

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biography

Gregory L. Heileman The University of Arizona orcid.org/0000-0002-5221-5682

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Gregory (Greg) L. Heileman currently serves as the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona, where he is responsible for facilitating collaboration across campus to strategically enhance quality and institutional capacity related to undergraduate programs and academic administration. Professor Heileman currently serves on the Executive Committee of AZTransfer, an organization that works across the system of higher education in the State of Arizona to ensure students have access to efficient, seamless, and simple ways to transfer from a community college to a university in Arizona. He serves on the board of the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities, a consortium that brings together research university leaders with expertise in the theory and practice of undergraduate education and student success. In addition, he is a fellow at the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. Professor Heileman’s work on analytics related to student success has led to the development of a theory of curricular analytics that is now being used broadly across higher education in order to inform improvement efforts related to curricular efficiency, curricular equity, and student progression. A website facilitating access to curricular analytics tools is available at: CurricularAnalytics.org.

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Kian G. Alavy University of Arizona

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David Ruiter University of California, San Diego

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Abstract

In this paper we describe a study, involving three universities, that considers various factors related to more equitable attainment of engineering degrees. Equity in this case refers to students from all backgrounds having similar outcomes in terms of their ability to earn an engineering degree within four years. The need for an increasing supply of engineering graduates is well understood as a necessary component for sustaining innovative industrial growth, national security, and global competitiveness, among other areas of national need requiring engineering talent. Furthermore, it is also now well understood that diverse engineering teams will generally produce better designs. Thus, there are both capacity and quality arguments supporting this work. In order to address these issues, this study will consider the vast unrealized reservoir of potential diverse engineering talent that could be more fully developed by providing more efficient and effective pathways to degree completion. The universities engaged in this work are the University of Arizona, the University of California-San Diego, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The design of the study was organized around three principles, (1) Collaboration: the study designers and administrators would work to facilitate a multi-institutional taskforce-based improvement effort focused on the roles that curriculum and instruction play in engineering student success; (2) Disciplinary Focus: using an asset-based approach, the study participants would leverage disciplinary expertise and best practices; (3) Student Centered: The study design must foster reflection on engineering curricula, possibly leading to reforms producing improvement in equitable student success outcomes, in alignment with each universities’ strategic plan.

The study design involves a consideration of the various instructional and structural complexity factors that may contribute to delays in student progression through engineering degree programs. In order to initiate this work, curricula from twenty different colleges of engineering across the country were collected, and then partitioned according to discipline. The five specific disciplines under consideration in this study are: Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Faculty and administrators from each of the three schools were provided with curricular complexity analyses according to their discipline. These analyses revealed the large variability in curricular structure and student success outcomes within each of these disciplines. Faculty and administrators formed subcommittees according to these disciplines and were asked to look for best practices and potential barriers, and to consider avenues of reform of their own programs according to curricular structure or instructional practices.

Citation
Format

Islam, R., & Heileman, G. L., & Alavy, K. G., & Ruiter, D. (2023, June), Equitable Attainment of Engineering Degrees: A Tri-University Study & Improvement Effort Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43401

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - In this paper we describe a study, involving three universities, that considers various factors related to more equitable attainment of engineering degrees. Equity in this case refers to students from all backgrounds having similar outcomes in terms of their ability to earn an engineering degree within four years.  The need for an increasing supply of engineering graduates is well understood as a necessary component for sustaining innovative industrial growth, national security, and global competitiveness, among other areas of national need requiring engineering talent. Furthermore, it is also now well understood that diverse engineering teams will generally produce better designs.  Thus, there are both capacity and quality arguments supporting this work. In order to address these issues, this study will consider the vast unrealized reservoir of potential diverse engineering talent that could be more fully developed by providing more efficient and effective pathways to degree completion.
 
The universities engaged in this work are the University of Arizona, the University of California-San Diego, and the Georgia Institute of Technology.  The design of the study was organized around three principles, (1) Collaboration: the study designers and administrators would work to facilitate a multi-institutional taskforce-based improvement effort focused on the roles that curriculum and instruction play in engineering student success; (2) Disciplinary Focus: using an asset-based approach, the study participants would leverage disciplinary expertise and best practices; (3) Student Centered: The study design must foster reflection on engineering curricula, possibly leading to reforms producing improvement in equitable student success outcomes, in alignment with each universities’ strategic plan. 

The study design involves a consideration of the various instructional and structural complexity factors that may contribute to delays in student progression through engineering degree programs. In order to initiate this work, curricula from twenty different colleges of engineering across the country were collected, and then partitioned according to discipline. The five specific disciplines under consideration in this study are: Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Faculty and administrators from each of the three schools were provided with curricular complexity analyses according to their discipline.  These analyses revealed the large variability in curricular structure and student success outcomes within each of these disciplines. Faculty and administrators formed subcommittees according to these disciplines and were asked to look for best practices and potential barriers, and to consider avenues of reform of their own programs according to curricular structure or instructional practices. 

AU  - Raian Islam
AU  - Gregory L. Heileman
AU  - Kian G. Alavy
AU  - David Ruiter
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Equitable Attainment of Engineering Degrees: A Tri-University Study & Improvement Effort
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/43401
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43401
ER  -