No abstract

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues are urgent in education. We developed and evaluated a massive open online course ( N = 963) with embedded equity simulations that attempted to equip educators with equity teaching practices. Applying a structural topic model (STM)—a type of natural language processing (NLP)—we examined how participants with different equity attitudes responded in simulations. Over a sequence of four simulations, the simulation behavior of participants with less equitable beliefs converged to be more similar with the simulated behavior of participants with more equitable beliefs ( ES [effect size] = 1.08 SD). This finding was corroborated by overall changes in equity mindsets ( ES = 0.88 SD) and changed in self-reported equity-promoting practices ( ES = 0.32 SD). Digital simulations when combined with NLP offer a compelling approach to both teaching about DEI topics and formatively assessing learner behavior in large-scale learning environments.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues are urgent in education, given the widespread evidence of discriminatory behavior and widening racial disparities. Although DEI trainings can change participants’ attitudes they have minimal effects on behaviors. Simulations are a promising approach to address this gap between attitudinal and behavioral change. We developed an online course for educators (N = 963) that included a series of equity simulations and applied the structural topic model (STM), to identify alignment between participants' simulated behavior and equity attitudes on surveys. STM identified meaningful topics within participants’ simulation responses and that the prevalence of these topics varied by equity attitudes. We also measured changes in participants' behaviors over different, successive, simulations, by comparing with a reference group of high equity-oriented participants. Participants made significant shifts in the simulations toward equity-promoting behaviors (ES = 0.99), which corresponded with changes in equity-oriented attitudes (ES=0.74) and self-reported equity-promoting behaviors (ES=0.30).