About
Project RESPETO will develop a handbook of materials for engineering faculty at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). This resource will help faculty understand the role of language in engineering education, including how language is used and how it can impact student learning. The handbook will offer recommended teaching practices that create inclusive and supportive learning environments for all students. This valuable resource will be made available to faculty in a digital format to ensure widespread accessibility.
Project RESPETO will conduct ethnographic research to investigate how language use within engineering disciplines can create barriers for some students. This qualitative research will:
- Examine how dominant discourses in engineering may hinder student success.
- Provide faculty and students with tools to recognize and challenge these discourses through increased sociolinguistic awareness.
- Identify and analyze pedagogical practices that can effectively challenge dominant discourses and promote inclusive language use in the classroom.
This project will explore the nuanced ways in which language influences the student's experience in engineering. By analyzing how language is used and understood within engineering disciplines, we will gain a deeper understanding of its impact on student learning and belonging.
Mission
This project will empower four cohorts of 10 undergraduate students as active researchers. These student researchers will collaborate in:
- Co-designing research methods
- Collecting data (through interviews, document analysis, surveys, and reflective journals)
- Analyzing research findings
- Disseminating project outcomes
Research findings will be shared through a digital handbook, engaging social media campaigns, and presentations at academic conferences and workshops. This project will generate valuable insights for the broader engineering education field, benefiting universities with engineering programs across the nation.
This project aims to create a valuable digital resource for engineering faculty. The handbook will provide insights into how language is used in engineering education and how these language practices can impact student access and retention. This resource will equip faculty with strategies to enhance student learning and success.
This project employs a collaborative autoethnographic approach. This innovative method involves:
- Investigating how language use within engineering disciplines can create barriers for some students.
- Equipping faculty and students with the tools and knowledge to recognize and challenge these barriers.
- Identifying and analyzing pedagogical approaches that promote student success in engineering programs.
Key project activities include:
- Student-led Research: Engaging four cohorts of 10 undergraduate students as active researchers, empowering them to contribute to all phases of the project.
- Data Collection: Gathering data through a variety of qualitative methods, including:
- Document analysis of university policies and procedures.
- Interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators.
- Student-led data collection using questionnaires, activities, and reflective journals.
- Collaborative Discussions: Fostering deep and meaningful discussions through "plática sessions" to explore diverse perspectives.
- Expert Insights: Providing opportunities for faculty and students to learn from leading international scholars in the field of engineering education through workshops and seminar
To ensure the project's findings reach a wide audience of UTSA faculty and students, activities include:
- Developing and disseminating a user-friendly digital handbook that provides practical guidance for faculty.
- Implementing a targeted social media campaign to raise awareness of the project and its resources.
- Actively engaging in knowledge sharing through:
- Presenting research findings at academic conferences and workshops.
- Organizing and conducting seminars and workshops for faculty and students.
- Providing opportunities for both principal investigators and student researchers to share their findings with the broader academic community.
This NSF-funded project aims to enhance the success of all students in engineering by investigating how language practices within engineering disciplines can create barriers to learning and belonging. The project will explore how to create more inclusive and supportive learning environments for all students.
Total Funding
$3,641,116.00
RESPETO Team
Martha Sidury Christiansen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics/TESOL
Principal Investigator of Project RESPETO
Karla Mariana Escobar, MBA
Graduate Research Assistant, Project RESPETO
Culture, Literacy and Language Ph.D. student / ConTex fellow
The RESPETO grant is in collaboration with Dr. Alex Mejia (PI).
