Overview
Our long-term goal is to transform introductory STEM courses into equitable learning environments. To do so, it is imperative that faculty, administrators, and undergraduate students recognize the structural role that courses and departments play in student success. Department leaders, as key connectors with both faculty and administrators, are central to this process. The overall objective of this proposal is to establish STEM Equity Learning Communities (SELCs) in universities across the U.S. that will foster impactful approaches for engaging faculty, department leaders, and undergraduate students in equity-minded discussions of their STEM courses. Our central hypothesis is that when SELCs use course equity measures, co-develop interpretations of the data and action plans, and present their findings to campus leadership, they will develop equity-mindedness and be well-positioned to promote this mindset in their departments. We are particularly well-prepared to undertake the proposed research because our Sloan Equity and Inclusion in STEM Introductory Courses (SEISMIC) collaboration has engaged 10 large research universities in equity measurement and course transformation conversations over the past three years.
Resources
The SELC Project is funded by the NSF IUSE Program.
Timeline
Spring 2023
Summer 2023
Fall 23 – Spring 24
Summer 2024
- Recruit SELC teams
- Discuss equity measures
- Summer Institute
- Develop local equity reports
- SELC meetings
- Inter-SELC meetings
- Public talk series
- Campus presentations
Project Leadership
Tim McKay
Principal Investigator
tamckay@umich.edu
Kem Saichaie
Principal Investigator
kemsaichaie@ucdavis.edu
Marco Molinaro
Co-Principal Investigator
marcom@umd.edu
Ryan Sweeder
Co-Principal Investigator
sweeder@msu.edu
Nita Tarchinski
Project Manager
nitaked@umich.edu
Objectives and Activities
The proposed project is our next step toward transforming STEM courses into equitable learning environments. The corresponding table ties the four key activities from our central hypothesis to our expected outcomes and the relevant change perspectives from our theory of change.
Key Activity
Description
Perspective
Expected Outcome
Establish STEM Equity Learning Communities (SELCs)
Project leadership team builds SELCs across SEISMIC institutions
Scientific Management; Evolutionary; Social Cognition; Political; Cultural; Institutional
Guide for running data-centric SELCs that can be adapted for different institutional contexts
Develop Menu of Equity Measures
Project leadership team shares SEISMIC equity measures and code with institutional researchers, who then generate equity measurements for SELCs to review
Evolutionary; Social Cognition; Political; Cultural; Institutional
Development and implementation of a broad set of equity measures that can be used and are relevant across many institutions
Co-Develop Interpretations of Data and Action Plan
SELCs meet to discuss equity data, develop equity-minded approaches to examining data, and develop action plans for their campus
Social Cognition; Political; Cultural; Institutional
Equity-minded action plans for peer universities across the U.S. to address systemic inequities in introductory STEM courses
Presentations to Campus Leadership
SELCs share recommendations with campus leadership for local reform based on action plans and consultations with the project leadership team
Scientific Management; Social Cognition; Political; Cultural; Institutional
Field-tested instruments for measuring mindsets on student success
Through these activities, we will foster impactful approaches for engaging faculty, department leaders, and undergraduate students in equity-minded discussions of their STEM courses. Further, our approach to SELCs will provide a consistent, but adaptable, platform for future cross-institution comparisons of implementation and impact. Participation in this project will be open to all 10 SEISMIC institutions. While the institutions involved through SEISMIC are all top-tier public R1 institutions, such institutions have tended to strongly hold on to academic traditions that contribute to perpetuating inequities in introductory STEM courses. These institutions also introduce thousands of students to STEM disciplines each year. By showing the engagement of this group of institutions in improving introductory STEM outcomes, and their paths towards successful changes, we believe we will have a firm footing to engage other similar, as well as different institutions in engaging in a similar process and together fostering substantial improvements from community colleges to private elite institutions. Our approach will include careful considerations on approaches to equity measurements, using these measurements in different institutional contexts, building institutional systems to engage in regular sharing of equity analyses, and prompting productive dialogue among faculty, department leaders, and undergraduate students about student success.
Teams and Events
The SELC Teams
Each participating institution will establish one SELC made up of (at minimum) four STEM faculty members, two undergraduate students, one institutional researcher, and one facilitator (evolutionary and political change perspective). The faculty members should have recent teaching experience in introductory STEM courses and a role in their department leadership or their department’s curriculum planning. We have found that faculty in these roles tend to be interested in accessing course equity data, learning how to bring this information to their departments in useful ways, and have the power to direct department conversations. Ideally, three to four STEM departments on each campus would be represented by these faculty members, resulting in impacts on 30 to 40 departments across the U.S. The participating faculty members will use past class email lists to advertise the student positions to students who completed their intro STEM courses in recent terms. We use the term “institutional researcher” loosely to refer to someone who is able to access institutional data and run R code. This type of person may have different titles at different universities. Besides accessing data, the institutional researcher will also make key decisions on how equity measurements are conducted and presented (social cognition change perspective). The facilitator can be a staff member in the local teaching and learning center, the office of diversity and inclusion, or another related unit with experience facilitating faculty conversations on equity. They will be the key contact between the local SELC on each campus and the project leadership team (institutional change perspective).
SELC Meetings
Inter-SELC Events
Each campus SELC will meet approximately monthly during the 2023-2024 academic year (year two of the project) for a total of eight SELC meetings. We will address scheduling challenges by providing clear team expectations and opportunities for members to participate outside of the scheduled meeting times if they are unable to attend. The equity measurements provided by the institutional researchers will promote evidence-based discussions based on local course-specific data and comparative data across departments. The project leadership team will provide topics (see the table below) and goals for the meetings as well as suggested activities and materials to the local facilitators, who will then facilitate the meetings and guide the SELC members through recognizing their underlying beliefs about students and student success.
| Mtg | Meeting Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Equity data and equity traps |
| 2 | Asking questions of your data |
| 3 | What inequities do you notice? What explanations do you use? |
| 4 | Alternative explanations for academic outcomes |
| 5 | Local presentation action plans |
| 6 | Seeing the system |
| 7 | Using equity data to spotlight systemic barriers |
| 8 | Addressing equity traps, responding to skepticism |
Three times throughout the academic year we will have virtual events that connect SELCs across campuses, called “Inter-SELC Events.” These events will provide opportunities to share key learnings, compare equity data and action plans across departments and institutions, learn about the successes and challenges of peer SELCs, and inspire the SELCs to continue in their work (see table below). The project leadership team will also host a public talk series during this year to continue conversations coming up in the SELC meetings and connect their work to the larger SEISMIC community. These talks will build on the successes of the online public SEISMIC speaker series developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Approx. Date | Event Topic |
|---|---|
| April 2023 | Introduction to The SELC Project |
| May 2023 | May Institute |
| October 2023 | What inequities do you notice? |
| January 2024 | Possibilities for the local presentations |
| April 2024 | Disciplinary patterns across institutions |
Our second inter-SELC meeting is our May Institute, which is taking place at UC Davis May 11-12. Members can find more information about the upcoming event on the SELC Project Canvas Site.
May Institute
Public Talk Series
Dates: May 11-12, 2023
Our 2-day Summer Institute hosted by UC Davis provided support for institutional researchers in making equity measurements and officially launched the collaborative work of our SELCs. The Institute provided opportunities to build community across institutions, especially between people with similar institutional roles, to learn about different methods for making equity measurements, to practice reviewing course equity data through an equity-minded lens, and to generate excitement for the upcoming year. Each SELC now has a preliminary plan for the equity measurements—both the analysis and how it will be shared—that will be generated for their team later this summer, based on institutional researcher capacity and overall SELC interest. These measurements look different for each campus, depending on what data tools and platforms are available. Each SELC can now review the course equity measurements they decided on in the context of department and institution data. The project leadership team will provide support for this process and will organize opportunities for institutional researchers to connect virtually across SELCs for additional support and community.
The central activity of the proposed project is a year-long series of meetings and events to support the work and goals of the SELCs. Our objective is to foster impactful approaches for engaging faculty, department leaders, and undergraduate students in equity-minded discussions of their STEM courses. It is not enough to present evidence of inequities via course equity data. This data must be supplemented by facilitated discussions, one-on-one consultations, and other resources for individuals to recognize these inequities as due to systemic problems. The activities we propose will help each individual see strategies they can engage in, as well as reforms they can push for at higher levels, to make positive changes in their STEM courses. The following table summarizes the topics for the Public Talk Series, which will be available to all.
| Talk # | Talk Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Addressing student-deficit mindsets |
| 2 | Equity measurements we should be making |
| 3 | Exploration of equity reports and tools |
| 4 | Developing equity-mindedness |
| 5 | Equity work with resistant colleagues |
| 6 | SELCs as a tool for campus change |