Integrating Diversity into Engineering Assignments and Course Design

Posted on by

Author: Natascha Trellinger Buswell

Natascha Buswell is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Contact: nbuswell@uci.edu

My reckoning that I needed to start teaching about diversity

In June 2018, I was at the ASEE conference and Dr. Donna Riley (starting at 17 minutes in this video) told the room, “we are already teaching diversity in our classrooms.” Before I could complete my thought, that no, actually I don’t have a diversity assignment or lesson in my class, she continued:

“What we teach is silence. And when we say nothing, we are teaching our students that diversity has no place in engineering. That we can’t even talk about it. And so while we think we are remaining neutral, there is actually a null-curriculum that’s going on that is quite damaging to our students.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about Dr. Riley’s words. However, it wasn’t until the following Spring 2019 Quarter that I finally created an assignment that addressed diversity in my mechanics of materials course. I decided to start by addressing product design and how many products fail to consider diverse users. There are many, many examples (I introduced the assignment by telling my students about the first female crash test dummy (which was implemented in 2011)) and my assignment was straightforward: Find an example of a product that fails to consider diversity in its design. Describe the product and describe how it could be re-engineered to be more inclusive of diverse users. The students found great examples, some of which I have listed below.

My next step is to expand on this assignment to address even more uncomfortable aspects of diversity and inclusion. Yes, talking about diversity can be uncomfortable; however, it is a good reminder that if you have been able to get away without talking about diversity, you are privileged. Studies show that people from Black and Brown communities talk about race with their children as a matter of necessity.

In future assignments, I will have students research an engineering company or field and learn about its demographics. My goal here is for students to recognize WHY so many products make it to production and implementation without fully considering diversity. It’s largely because our products are mostly designed for and by white men. This is one reason we need our diverse students to be celebrated and welcomed into engineering.

Tips for how can you add diversity into your engineering course

An assignment: Whatever engineering class you teach, product and process diversity (or rather, lack thereof) is a part of it. The current events surrounding vaccination plans is a great example of a process that does not consider diversity. As I described above, find one example to get students started and then see what your students come up with.

Throughout your course structure: While including an assignment that addresses diversity directly is a great first step, the structure and foundation of engineering courses need to consider equity, diversity, and inclusion too. Here are some ways you can consider diversity right away to make your students feel more included.

  • Drop one homework/quiz/etc., score for everyone. Many professors state in their syllabus that late assignments or make-ups are not accepted for any reason. While I encourage all instructors to consider the implications of such a policy (how might no late assignments affect students who work or have kids differently?), I especially encourage instructors to avoid making exceptions for students who ask for them (I talk about this problematic notion in a recent paper). As a student who never asked for extensions in undergrad (after all, the syllabus said no exceptions), it is inequitable to only grant extensions to students who ask for them. If you say no exceptions, that should really mean no exceptions. Even better, though, is to provide one dropped homework grade for everyone, no matter the reason.
  • Specify what counts as an excused absence. Include syllabus statements about what counts as an excused absence or reason for makeup exams. Student athletes often need to take exams at different times, but immigration related absences are almost never mentioned in course syllabi. When I took the DREAM Center’s training to become an UndocuAlly, I heard from a student who took a zero on an exam because she had to miss it in order to attend an immigration related court hearing. She didn’t think her instructor would consider this a legitimate reason to reschedule her exam since it wasn’t mentioned in the syllabus.

Be brave enough to learn about diversity from your students

My guess is that the past year, with the pandemic and national racial reckoning, has made it clear to many of us that diversity needs to be a topic of discussion in our school of engineering. A few weeks ago, Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem touched me deeply. In it, she says:

For there is always light
If only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it

Similarly, as teachers, we need to be brave enough to learn from our students and to make mistakes along the way. The next generation will inherently see things differently than the current, especially with respect to diversity and inclusion. We need to understand that diversity is a professional competency for engineers. We need to make space for our students to cultivate their ideas and bring them forth, rather than only teach what we currently know. If we want to do something we’ve never done before, we need to do things we’ve never done before. If we want the next generation of engineers to thrive in an equitable and diverse field of engineering, we need to open up to discussions about diversity issues.

So I challenge you: Ask not only what you can teach your students, but what you can learn from them. Celebrate your students’ fresh perspectives and diverse views. Open your eyes to the new ways they can imagine the field of engineering.

Additional Resources

It can be overwhelming to get started. Here are some UCI resources to help you become a more inclusive educator:

  • IDEAA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-Racism, Access) – includes videos, readings, and resources about allyship.
  • Office of Inclusive Excellence – Take the Pledge to build a culture where Black people thrive at UCI.
  • DTEI Anti-Racist Reading List – A collection of research in developing anti-racist education tools.

And a couple more eye-opening reads: