BUILDING INCLUSIVE MAKER COMMUNITIES FOR ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS

Bellingham Technical College, Bellingham WA

Investigators

Abstract

The Bellingham Technical College "Building Inclusive Maker Communities for Engineering Technology Students" (MakerCETS) project will increase the number of low-income, academically talented STEM students who persist, graduate, and transfer to a four-year program or enter the STEM workforce. The program will provide scholarships, student support services, and help students develop positive identities and technical skills through the development of inclusive, maker-based learning (MBL) communities. Students, faculty and their industry and community partners will collaboratively design maker-based project sequences that integrate technology, innovation, and industry-based research projects into the student experience. Maker-based learning experiences are similar to traditional project-based learning experiences, but extend beyond the classroom through long-term project involvement and direct community connections. The MakerCETS project will provide scholarships for three cohorts of 12 low-income, academically talented students over the course of five years and will focus on connecting these 36 students to their peers and regional engineering technology communities. The MakerCETS project will increase student access to STEM programs by providing financial assistance and academic support for Engineering Technology program students with the goals of increasing retention, graduation, and transfer rates and improving student workforce placement opportunities. This project will broaden participation in STEM through the development of student support and networking structures and the inclusion of maker-based work that has been shown to increase diversity and is especially attractive to women. Participants will engage in an MBL sequence, create individualized educational and career plans, build strong academic communities and workforce networks, have access to robust placement support services, and benefit from seamless transfer opportunities to BTC's new Baccalaureate of Applied Science in Engineering Technology and Western Washington University's College of Science & Engineering. Project staff will investigate the impact this maker-inspired, community building approach has on success rates and perceived self-efficacy for STEM students and use results to inform and disseminate the creation of an adaptable, replicable student engagement and support model. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.