Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in the Engineering Curriculum - Evaluating the Efficacy of a New Teaching Module

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào

Current diversity and sexual harassment trainings often emphasize information delivery, creating a gap between theoretical understanding and practical resolution of ethical dilemmas. Research indicates diversity programs can drive the largest changes among participants with minority identities while sometimes provoking hostility among majority-group members. To prepare engineering students for modern organizations, the study proposes an ethics-based diversity module. It uses longitudinal quantitative survey data from an introductory ethics course to assess attitude and behavior changes, finding reduced sexism and myth acceptance, increased intent to confront discrimination, with differential outcomes by political orientation, race, and disability status.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

| | Ad | vances in Engineering Edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2023: VOLUME 11 ISSUE 3 DOI: 10.18260/3-1-1153-36048 Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in the Engineering Curriculum: Evaluating the Efficacy of a New Teaching Module ISAAC SABATEVAN NAULT SUSAN FORTNEYMARTIN B PETERSON DEBJYOTI BANERJEE Texas A&M University ABSTRACT Current diversity and sexual harassment trainings often take an informative approach that results in a gap between theoretical knowledge and practical resolutions of ethical dilemmas. Available research suggests that diversity training programs often elicit the greatest amount of change among people with a minority identity and can result in hostility from majority group members. To better prepare all engineering students for modern-day organizations, it’s imperative that universities develop effective approaches at the student level to mitigate these discrepancies. We propose that our novel ethics-based training will elicit positive diversity-related outcomes overall. We inductively explore the differential impact of diversity training across majority and minority identities. Longitudinal quantitative data were collected to examine changes in participant attitudesand behaviors in response to the diversity module. Undergraduate engineering students enrolled in an introductory engineering ethics course at a large Southwestern university were presented with a week-long teaching module on diversity. Survey results were evaluated to measure differences in effectiveness among majority and minority students. The diversity training successfully decreased levels of sexism, acceptance of sexual harassment myths, and increased intentions to confront discrimination. Differences in outcome variables between majority and minority members were found with regard to political orientation, race, and physical and mental disability status. Overall, this study presents a promising new avenue for diversity training scholarship. Specifically, we find that an ethics-based approach to diversity training may be particularly effective for majority group students. Key words: diversity, discrimination, harassment 54 2023: VOLUME 11 ISSUE 3 ADVANCES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in the Engineering Curriculum: Evaluating the Efficacy of a New Teaching Module INTRODUCTION For decades, leaders in engineering have stressed the importance of diversity and inclusion in the engineering workforce. In 2001, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) hosted a workshop to identify and describe corporate programs that have successfully recruited, retained, and advanced women and underrepresented minorities and to discuss metrics for evaluating diversity programs. In introducing the publication based on the workshop proceedings, William A. Wulf (2002), the then-president of the NAE, emphasized that “the quality of engineering is affected by diversity (orthe lack of it) [because] engineering is a profoundly creative profession”. To improve the diversity of the engineering profession and other STEM fields the National Science Foundation (NSF) has joined the NAE in spearheading and supporting diversity initiatives to broaden participation in the engineering enterprise. For example, the NSF has sought to support the recruitment and retention of a diverse STEM workforce through grants awarded under the ADVANCE and Broadening Participation in Engineering Programs. Despite these commendable efforts, engineering still lags behind other fields in its representation of traditionally underrepresented groups. Nationally, women make up only 20% of engineering graduates, and lesbian, gay, and bisexual students are less likely than heterosexual students to major in STEM fields (Greathouse et al. 2018, Hughes 2018) . While the proportion of racial and ethnic minorities studying engineering has increased since 2016, Black and Latine students r

FAQs

Why do current diversity and sexual harassment trainings fall short?

They often take an informative approach that leaves a gap between theoretical knowledge and practical resolution of ethical dilemmas.

What training approach does the paper propose for engineering students?

A novel ethics-based teaching module designed to produce positive diversity-related outcomes.

What outcomes did the diversity module have on participants?

It decreased sexism and acceptance of sexual-harassment myths while increasing intentions to confront discrimination, with differences across majority and minority groups.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào