Using Self-Determination Theory to build communities of support to aid in the retention of women in engineering

Online aviation learning experience during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Hong Kong and Mainland China

“…To reduce this gender gap, prior studies have indicated that feminist approaches such as mentoring among female pilots and extra learning procedures and assistance could help change their stereotypes of females in aviation (eg, Dell et al., 2018; Smith et al., 2021; Yanıkoğlu et al., 2020). The supportive environment has encouraged educators to develop collaborative and feminist pedagogies to tackle the gender disparity and influence their motivation by satisfying the psychological needs of female students.…”

“…We found that the gender effect is not significant in this study although it has a moderately significant effect on self-determination, which can be explained by previous researchers. For example, Dell et al (2018) pointed out that self-determination has the strongest genderbased effect and further suggested building a community of support to aid in the retention of women in engineering fields (such as aviation). However, being under-represented in an occupation and working in an industry with masculine discourses create several challenges for female pilots (Ferla & Graham, 2019).…”

The need for relatedness in college engineering: A self-determination lens on academic help seeking.

“…Being minoritized as a woman in STEM can lead to microaggressions that undermine women's autonomy. For example, in a study using focus groups and interviews to understand women's experiences in a STEM scholarship program, one woman described an interaction with peers in which she was relegated to the task of notetaking-thereby undervaluing her role and undermining her ability to provide meaningful contributions to the group (Dell et al, 2018). When females develop strong relationships with their instructor, this can serve as a foundation wherein faculty instructors can intervene in situations where women's need for autonomy is thwarted and can better position educators to create opportunities for meaningful choices or communicate access to varied opportunities or resources for women to engage in STEM.…”

Work in Progress: Building Community, Providing Scholarships, Developing Leaders: Recruiting and Retaining Underrepresented Students in Engineering and Computer Engineering Departments

“…These activities were designed to cultivate an environment of support and connection among scholars while also engaging participants in an active learning experience. Such approaches have garnered support in the literature as being efficacious in improving the GPAs of underrepresented students in engineering majors [10], [11]. Specifically, the course was designed to provide a space for students to share their experience as an underrepresented ECSE major to create a sense of support amongst students that has been identified as necessary for improving student outcomes [10].…”

“…Such approaches have garnered support in the literature as being efficacious in improving the GPAs of underrepresented students in engineering majors [10], [11]. Specifically, the course was designed to provide a space for students to share their experience as an underrepresented ECSE major to create a sense of support amongst students that has been identified as necessary for improving student outcomes [10]. Further, the active learning component of the course was aimed at increasing the engineering identity of participating students, which has been positively associated with GPA in engineering students [11].…”