ABSTRACT

Considering the projected statistics on the composition of the future work force, it is essential that educational institutions explore their curricula to address issues related to increasing the participation of women and minority students in engineering. One of the misconceptions engineering educators often have is that science and engineering courses are not conducive for addressing gender equity and diversity issues in the classroom. Engineering curricula is ideally suited for addressing gender and diversity issues due to its relevance to real world problem solving and its opportunities for people with different skills, background, and interests. In this paper, how gender equity and diversity issues can be effectively addressed in engineering courses both from the content and the course activities angles is discussed. A step-by-step approach for transforming engineering courses to address diversity and gender equity issues is presented along with the details of how gender and diversity sensitive course content and activities were designed for several courses in industrial engineering.

INTRODUCTION

According to the National Science Foundation's 1994 report [12] on "Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering," the enrollment figures on non- white students in science and engineering majors is around 10% and this figure is considerably small compared to the enrollment figures for the same category in non-science and engineering majors. If this trend continues the composition of future work force in technology-oriented fields will not truly reflect the multicultural make-up of our society. Considering the projected statistics on the composition of the future work force, it is imperative that educational institutions improve their science and engineering curricula to address gender equity and diversity issues and help students experience, understand, and appreciate the benefits of the same before joining the work force [1, 8].

Increasing the participation of women and minorities in engineering requires innovative techniques to transform the curricula to attract and retain these students in engineering. These techniques should address various factors, such as students' learning styles, teachers' teaching styles, curriculum design, classroom interaction, selection of course materials, course administration, etc., that impact the participation of these students. Faculty also need a step-by-step methodology to follow for implementing these techniques to increase the participation of women and minorities in the engineering classroom. In this paper, such a methodology is presented.

THE METHODOLOGY

Any type of transformation activity is difficult, especially the ones that deal with educating ourselves, changing our beliefs and attitudes, and changing the way we do things. Further, faculty are often told "what" to do, but not "how" to do it and engineering faculty need some examples and success stories to see how their curricula can be effectively transformed to address issues related to women and minorities. After participating in a multicultural curriculum transformation institute during summer 1996 and educating myself first on the issues related to gender equity and diversity, I began to explore the opportunities for transforming my courses to address these issues. The following sections describe the active steps I have taken to transform my courses in the industrial engineering curriculum and for increasing the participation of women and minority students in my classroom.

Educate Yourself
Before attempting to analyze and transform our curricula, we should educate ourselves first on gender equity and diversity related issues. Educating ourselves requires keeping an open mind and giving ourselves the time to learn and examine the relevant issues. We can educate ourselves by attending institutes and seminars offered nowadays at most universities and at conferences such as ASEE, ICEE, acquiring and reading the literature from journals such as Transformations, ASEE Prism and the Journal of Engineering Education which periodically publish articles on these issues, discussing with our colleagues knowledgeable in these issues, interacting with a diverse group of students, and exploring the statistics on the demographics of the workforce.

Analyze
Once we recognize that our curricula has the potential to be transformed, the next step is to analyze what exactly needs to be transformed. This requires analyzing the various aspects of our curricula, such as our teaching styles, students' learning styles, classroom interaction, course material selection, instructional design, course activities, student feedback, etc. These should be analyzed with the gender equity and diversity perspectives in mind and the results of this analysis will help us in identifying opportunities for improvement.

Analyzing and understanding the differences between students' learning styles and teachers' teaching styles and accommodating such differences in the classroom can be beneficial for all students and not just women and minority students. Curriculum design and instructional design play a tremendous part in motivating students to learn, helping them to appreciate the course material, and retaining students in the program. The literature on curriculum design and development generally emphasizes that the instructional goals and objectives should be specified to include three domains of learning, namely, the cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor, wherever applicable [1, 2, 10, 13].

To achieve the instructional goals and objectives fully and to have a long-lasting impact on the students, curriculum researchers recommend that the educational objectives under all three domains be included in curriculum and course design. Satisfying the objectives under the three domains requires matching learning and teaching styles [5]. When mismatches occur between teaching and learning styles, it becomes difficult to satisfy the instructional goals and objectives. Most current teaching tends to be abstract, verbal, deductive, and sequential, and students tend to be passive. Felder and Silverman [5, 6] have concluded that all combinations of teaching and learning styles are needed in an engineering curriculum to reach all student types.

Working with engineering students at MIT, Kolb has developed a model of experiential learning that provides a framework for understanding learning styles [9, 14]. Kolb organized the elements of learning and learning styles into four quadrants as shown in Figure 1 with the ends of the quadrants as concrete experience (feeling) versus abstract conceptualization (thinking), and reflective observation (watching) versus active experimentation (doing). Kolb identified four distinct learning styles that fall in those four quadrants as: divergers (Type 1 learners); assimilators (Type 2 learners); convergers (Type 3 learners); and accommodators (Type 4 learners) [7]. Studies by Claxton and Ralston [3] have shown that 10% of undergraduate students are Type 1 learners, 40% are Type 2 learners, 30% are Type 3 learners, and 20% are Type 4 learners.

Similar to students' learning styles, teachers also have preferred teaching styles which also can impact a course and the information conveyed to the student. Claxton and Ralston classified teaching styles under four different categories as: Type 1, Type 2, Type 3, and Type 4 teachers. Type 1 teachers focus upon the personal development of students and tend to be highly motivational and have good relations with their students and their teaching styles usually involves questioning and class discussion. Type 2 teachers focus primarily on the transmission of knowledge in a hierarchical manner from teacher to the student and their teaching style is professor-centered lectures. Type 3 teachers primarily focus on promoting productivity and competence and want their students to acquire the necessary skills and be independent and their teaching style is usually the traditional lecture format coupled with laboratories and out-of-class room experiences. Type 4 teachers encourage experiential learning, self-discovery, and are generally stimulating, and hope to expand students' intellectual boundaries.

Claxton and Ralston have concluded from their studies of engineering faculty that 10% are of Type 1, 50% are of Type 2, 30% are of Type 3, and 10% are of Type 4. These results illustrate that the professor-dominated teaching style is the most prevalent one in engineering curriculum and that the faculty do not generally pay attention to the different learning styles of students in their courses. If the goal is to reach all students, especially women and minority students, motivate them to learn and understand, and convey the course material effectively, then the course or curriculum should be designed to accommodate diverse learning styles and teaching styles.

Teaching styles and student learning styles can be analyzed using inventories such as the Kolb inventory, and course material selection and instructional can be analyzed with the help of external reviewers. Classroom interaction and student feedback can be analyzed using a variety of assessment instruments.

Identify Resources
After identifying the opportunities for improvement in our curricula, often we may need the necessary resources to transform our curricula. This may include curriculum development materials, videos and films, external speakers, books and journal articles, internet resources, etc. After I realized the opportunities for transforming my courses, I was able to find numerous resources on the internet and have compiled and made them available on my web page at http://www.ceet.niu.edu/faculty/murali/useful.htm. With very little effort, I was able to search the internet and find case studies, examples, and news articles that I could use in my courses. One of the dangers in using internet resources is that the information available on various web sites is generally unrefereed and can be incorrect. Instructors should first review the material available on a web site that is being recommended to students and should also caution them about the possibility of incorrect information being posted on the web sites. I also maintain a list of women and minority speakers who I can call on for giving presentations in my classes. There are also catalogs of videos available on diversity issues from commercial educational video producers and trainers.

Explore Course Content
One of the common concerns engineering faculty may have is that the content of our courses may not be suited for addressing gender equity and diversity issues. This may be true for some science and engineering courses, but not necessarily for all courses. Unless we explore the content of our courses thoroughly we cannot identify the opportunities for addressing these issues. Course content can be explored from several angles: source and origin of inventions, design considerations based on gender/age/culture, application issues, facts and statistics used in the courses, etc. Once I began exploring my courses in industrial engineering, I was quite surprised to find out how the course content could be used to address gender equity and diversity issues.

The three major areas in industrial engineering are operations research (mathematical modeling and analysis), manufacturing, human factors (ergonomics), and I realized that courses in all these three areas are well-suited for addressing gender equity and diversity issues. For example, in my undergraduate operations research course, IENG370 Operations Research, I have used numerous historical facts to illustrate where many of the mathematical discoveries covered in the course came from and this helps students to understand that many cultures contributed to the development of ideas in the field. In my simulation course, IENG480 Simulation Modeling and Analysis which is an area of specialization in operations research, I have assigned a laboratory exercise for my students to simulate the use of restroom facilities by male and female workers in a manufacturing facility and comment on the results. This assignment was based on an actual news story related to the problems caused by insufficient number of restroom facilities in a Nabisco plant in Orange County, California. Lack of adequate restroom facilities in public building, theaters, sports arena, and manufacturing facilities is a common problem experienced by women and this assignment helped student to understand the need for addressing gender issues in facility design and become aware of gender equity in facility design.

Manufacturing topics such as product design, marketing, and production management are very conducive for addressing gender equity and cultural issues in the course content. I am currently developing course materials for the course, IENG100 Fundamentals of Manufacturing, and this course taken by non-engineering students at Northern Illinois University for general education credit is also being transformed to address gender equity and cultural issues. One of the topics in this course is product design and it is a rich area for addressing gender equity, age, and cultural issues. When designing consumer products ranging from simple household appliances to automobiles, it is important to consider cultural issues, gender differences, and age of users. Cultural issues can significantly impact the sale of a product if the product will be sold in other countries. For example, a simple product like a can opener sold in U.S. may not find a large market in countries such as China or India since canned goods are not popular in these countries. Gender differences can also impact product usage since there are reach and height differences between genders, and age can be a factor if the product is designed to be used by a particular age group. Cultural issues can also impact how a product manufactured in U.S. can be marketed in other countries. Relocation of U.S. manufacturing industries abroad and the impact of their pollution on global environment are also suitable topics for addressing social issues through manufacturing courses.

Production management is a topic that has ample opportunities for addressing gender equity and cultural issues. Production managers often have to consider age and gender issues when designing particular tasks on the manufacturing shop floor. Tasks that involve heavy lifting, repetitive motions, or working in a high temperature area or toxic environment may require addressing age and gender issues. Scheduling of production shifts through day and night and its impact on people is another topic that can be used to highlight social and cultural issues. These issues, however simple they may appear, are very relevant in a manufacturing course and it is easy to explain the impact of these issues from the context of manufacturing.

Human factors or ergonomics is another area in industrial engineering ripe with opportunities for addressing gender and diversity issues. Human factors focuses on issues such as work place design, job design, worker performance standards, job safety, etc., that impact humans both physiologically and psychologically. Work place design, for example, requires addressing differences in body dimensions and reach between genders, and job design requires addressing differences in average lifting capabilities between genders. Culture, gender, and age play a significant part in human factors, and therefore, this area very much suited for addressing gender and diversity issues from the content perspective.

Explore Course Materials
The materials we use in our courses can have a tremendous impact on what we convey to our students and the emphasis we place on gender equity and diversity issues. Course materials can be selected/designed to eliminate biases of various kinds, highlight power and privilege issues, introduce balanced treatment of diversity, identify stereotyping of various kinds, point out societal attitudes and perceptions, and promote student's thinking on such critical issues. After I explored the text books in my field, I was able to find numerous examples of gender bias, cultural stereotyping, references to underage drinking, etc. If we do not carefully scrutinize our course materials before prescribing them for student use, we could be easily sending the wrong message to our students. The textbooks also contained little or no references to successful women or minority scientists and engineers, and to counter this bias, I selected from various sources [11, 17] biographies of successful women and minority scientists and engineers and included them in the handouts I prepared for my students. An example of such a biography is shown in Figure 2.

Design Course Activities
If course content is not suitable for addressing gender equity and diversity issues, course activities can be used as a mechanism for addressing these issues. Course activities can include carefully designed in-class and outside class activities, homework assignments, tests, team projects, laboratory exercises, and presentations by women and minority speakers. For in-class and outside class activities there are a variety of cooperative learning techniques available which can promote respect among students for other cultures, opposite gender, and individual differences in learning.

In engineering classes women and minority students generally do not speak up or participate and class discussions are most often dominated by male students. The cooperative learning techniques give everyone an equal opportunity to participate, and be heard and respected. I have used a variety of cooperative learning techniques [16], such as the Think-Share Pair (TSP) and Think Aloud Problem Solving (TAPS) exercises for my in-class activities. The TSP exercise requires pairs of students to first think about a problem individually and then solve the problem as a pair using their combined solutions. The TAPS exercise requires one student in a pair to act as the listener and the other student as the problem solver. The problem solver is required to explain orally how he/she is solving the problem while being prompted by the listener to keep verbalizing his/her approach. The purpose of these exercises is that they give individual students an opportunity to speak up and be heard, and this promotes respect and equality among students. An example of a Think Aloud Problem Solving Pair activity assigned in my computer simulation class is shown in Figure 3.

I have learned from my past mistakes that care should also be exercised in designing homework assignments and tests so that gender bias and cultural stereotyping could be avoided. For one of my homework assignments in my information systems course I had asked students to draw a data flow diagram of the process of making Tacos. I thought students could benefit from doing this assignment for a simple process and that they could apply the same procedure for modeling a complicated engineering problem. Soon I realized that many of the international students in my class were not only unfamiliar with making tacos but also had not even tasted a taco!

In one of the midterm examination for my information systems course I had asked students to design a data model of an information system for maintaining information on "pot holes." During the exam I realized, from the look on the faces of international students, that they had not heard of the term "pot holes" in reference to holes on the road, and I had to explain it to them during the exam, wasting their valuable time. Since then I have made sure not to assume that every one of my students is familiar with popular sports or colloquial terminology, and I make a conscientious effort to design homework assignments and tests that are fair to everyone. For team projects in my courses, I usually decide the makeup of each team so that the composition of each team is balanced in terms of gender and cultural diversity. At the completion of team projects, I have assessed students' experiences in interacting with their project teammates and students' responses have only been positive about their experiences. Another course activity that is very relevant to this discussion is the use of women or minority speakers in the classroom. Engineering majors usually do not have the opportunity to see and listen to successful women or minority scientists and engineers and inviting them to give presentations in a science or engineering class can only help to promote a positive image of women and minorities in science and engineering. The mentioned activities can be introduced in all science and engineering courses, regardless of their content, to promote gender equity and diversity.

Design Classroom Interaction
Classroom interactions between faculty and students, and among students can be tailored to promote gender equity and cultural sensitivity. Faculty should ensure that classroom interactions are balanced to accommodate women and minority students and their differences in learning, communication, and interaction. It is important not to make examples of any group or put them on the spot to shoulder the responsibility of speaking for or representing their group. When using proper nouns in case studies or examples, care should be exercised to use names that represent various groups and gender. Talyor [15] suggests a number of strategies for reducing gender bias in the classroom.

Analyze Subtle Signals
Our sensitivity towards gender equity and diversity can be conveyed through subtle signals we send, such as our office decorations, cartoons and news articles that we post on bulletin boards and on our office doors, books we keep on our shelves, our memberships in social clubs, professional societies and service organizations, our informal conversations outside classroom settings, etc. I have decorated my office with very inexpensive artwork and crafts from various countries to show my openness towards other cultures and my interest in learning more about them.

Examine Course Administration
One of the places we can make explicit statements about our views and policies on gender equity and diversity issues is in the course syllabus. If appropriate, policies can be established to accommodate the observance of religious and cultural events.

Evaluate
One of the key components of curriculum design is assessment, and along with including gender equity and diversity related activities in our curricula, we should also assess their effectiveness. This requires defining the objectives of each activity clearly, informing the administrators and curricular bodies about the activities, identifying criteria for measurement, developing mechanisms for measurement, conducting formal assessments, analyzing the assessment data, making valid conclusions about the effectiveness of the activities, and feeding back the results appropriately into our curricula.

Plan for Continuous Improvement
Curriculum transformation is an ongoing process and we should plan for continuously improving our courses. The results we obtain from our assessment activities generally help us to explore the opportunities for improving the courses. It is helpful to obtain outside critique of all aspects of our courses.

Educate Others
Once we have transformed our curricula and have achieved some success, it is essential that we take the message to others. It is our responsibility to educate others and help them recognize the value in addressing gender equity and diversity issues. We can do this by presenting our success stories in conferences and professional meetings, publishing journal articles, and pursuing research in this area. These activities also have definite rewards for those of us in academia.

Considering the enrollment statistics for women and minority students in engineering programs and the projected statistics on the demographics of the future workforce, it is imperative that engineering educators must apply innovative techniques in the classroom to increase the participation of women and minority students. These techniques must address various factors that impact the participation of women and minority students in the classroom. These innovative techniques can include instructional methods that accommodate diverse learning styles of students, course activities that encourage team work inside and outside the classroom and help students develop respect for one another, use of course materials that demonstrate a balanced treatment of women and minorities, and inclusion of issues related to gender equity and diversity in course content. Faculty also need a methodology for transforming the curricula to apply these techniques. In this paper, such a methodology was presented along with examples of how the various steps in the methodology were applied to engineering courses.

The twelve steps mentioned in this paper are applicable not only to engineering curricula, but also to any curricula. The key step is the first one which deals with our willingness to educate ourselves and to explore the possibilities. My exploration of the courses I teach in engineering has clearly shown that engineering courses are indeed suitable for addressing gender equity and diversity issues, both from the content and course activities angles. The surveys I conducted in my classes indicate that my students appreciate the attention I give to gender equity and diversity issues and my interest in raising their awareness of these issues.

I certainly recommend other faculty in engineering to explore their curricula and transform them to address gender equity and diversity issues. There are also numerous resources currently available, especially on the internet, to aid faculty in this effort. Curricular transformations that support gender equity and diversity will certainly strengthen the curricula and attract more women and minorities into engineering fields and will benefit the society as a whole.

This effort was partially funded by a Curriculum and Course Development Grant, DUE/CCD 94-55748, awarded by the National Science Foundation to Northern Illinois University during 1995-1996. The author would also like to express his gratitude to the Provost's Multicultural Task Force at Northern Illinois University for the opportunity to attend the Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Institute held during summer 1996.

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