Adding Diversity and Culture to the Engineer's Toolkit: Evaluating a Unique Course Option for Engineering Students

摘要

Lack of diversity in engineering is a persistent problem at both industry and collegiate levels. Defined for this paper as individual qualities divergent from historical characteristics (or even stereotypes) of engineers, diversity, at times, seems to be at odds with the culture of engineering itself. Lack of diversity in engineering manifests in a decreased retention rate of underrepresented minorities and women pursuing engineering degrees and engineering careers, a culture of homogeneity in engineering education and professional practice, and ensuing limitations to engineering design and product development. A more diverse engineering enterprise, by contrast, increases inclusivity and can provide a competitive advantage in industry. One potential solution to this problem is the integration of diversity education into engineering curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Diversity education here includes courses addressing the culture and social context of engineering, the disparate outcomes of engineers belonging to groups traditionally underrepresented in engineering, and inclusive engineering practice. Courses such as these would help students contextualize their experiences and those of others in a larger body of knowledge about human interaction, challenge implicit biases, and make a statement about institutional values of inclusion. These courses may align with a larger movement in engineering education to integrate ethics, human-centered design, leadership development, and community-based project work—considerations of people, in other words—into more traditional technical coursework. This paper examines one such course offered at Stanford in 2017 as both a case study and reflection opportunity. This paper is authored by a student who was enrolled in the 2017 course, with the collaboration and co-authorship of the course instructors. Together our work relays the course experience from a first-hand perspective (through the experience of the lead author) and evaluates several course aspects, including its impact and efficacy (through instrumentation developed by the instructors and by the institution and administered to all students in the class). We share recommendations for course improvement, and for related curricular efforts in engineering, based on both student reflection and evaluation data. Our analysis and recommendations focus on inclusivity, which is the ability of students of all backgrounds to engage meaningfully with the course. Since the goal of such courses is to attract students with a range of experiences and backgrounds, inclusivity in every course component is critical.