2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Diversity, Inclusion and the ExCEEd Teaching Workshop

There is a growing body of literature on creating a multi-cultural classroom that celebrates diversity, accounts for the global differences and experiences of students, and deliberately fosters inclusivity. A few sample topics include transformative strategies for building culturally inclusive classrooms, recognizing our biases and behaviors, using a variety of teaching strategies to accommodate diverse learning styles, and including text/reading materials from diverse authors from different races, sexual orientations, genders and abilities.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) Teaching Workshops are currently in their 20th year of existence. This landmark project has over 910 graduates from 267 universities around the world. The week-long teacher training workshop has been successful by all measures and has made a substantial difference in civil engineering education in the United States. It continues to grow and is widely supported by university deans, department heads and faculty.

The ExCEEd Teaching Workshop (ETW) was developed using existing literature in engineering education. There was no explicit effort to incorporate diversity, inclusion and multi-culturalism into the development of the seminars and content of the ETW. Despite that lack of direct focus, much of the content, strategies and emphasis suggested by the culturally inclusive literature is included in the ETW simply because the practices are universal and follow the precepts cited in the engineering educational literature.

This paper examines the content of the existing culturally inclusive literature and quantifies how much is already present in the current ETW curriculum. It then suggests how much more could be included if a deliberate effort is made to include diversity and inclusivity into the workshop content. Finally, it suggests what elements suggested in the culturally inclusive literature are not feasible to include in a one-week workshop.

COORDINATING NOTE: While this abstract would be appropriate for many different sessions, it probably best fits into a session proposed by the Committee on Educational Policy that focuses on Connectedness and Belonging in the Civil Engineering Community.