Recentering the User: How an Inclusive Design Class Pushes Students to See Beyond Their Own Experiences

Abstract The purpose of this ECSJ-DEED joint technical session practice paper is to disseminate the successes and challenges of implementing an inclusive design mechanical engineering elective. Grounded in a design thinking framework, the inclusive engineering design course focused on (1) the value of a human-centered design approach, (2) the intersection of social justice and design thinking, and (3) the implications of design choices on historically marginalized groups. Course artifacts, student reflections, and instructional team reflections are used to understand the growth in mindset of the students and instructor through this course. Additionally, these resources are used to present best practices and key learning for future implementation. This project focused on examining systems. Groups historically excluded from engineering, including people of color, disabled, LGBTQ+, and women, were recentered through the human centered design process. Students evaluated engineering systems for exclusion and ideated on the source of these design flaws. In doing so, they built a framework for inclusion calculation, established best practices for user-informed design, and implemented guardrails to mitigate the risk of future exclusion. Students reported in self-reflections that the methodologies pushed them to decenter their own experiences in the course design project, opening themselves up to problem definitions and innovative solutions they previously lacked the perspective to find. The pedagogical choices in this course development were grounded in anti-deficit teaching practices. The instructional team attempted to create an environment to develop cultural competencies in students. This was done by bringing discussions of social justice, equity, and inclusion into an engineering course. Student reflections indicate this course content to be unlike others in their curriculum. Instructor reflections observe a growth in students' language around diversity, equity, and inclusion and their willingness to engage in social justice work. The authors believe this to be a critical gain in student cultural awareness that can translate beyond the course.