Exploring the Silver Lining: Learning Through Black Immigrant Women’s Experiences in Physical and Virtual Engineering Classrooms During COVID-19

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 4:55 pm
  In Roundtable Session: To Be Black, International/Immigrant in Higher Education: A Critical Examination of Experiences, Scholarship, and Practices (Table 3)

Abstract

In this research, we used semi-structured interviews to analyze the classroom-level experiences of an understudied group: Black immigrant women. We asked two research questions: (1) How do Black immigrant women in engineering describe their classroom learning experiences? and (2) How did shifting to a virtual modality impact these classroom experiences during COVID-19? Our findings suggested that: (1) all participants experienced microaggressions from both faculty and peers, (2) participants felt more comfortable interacting with women faculty and peers, (3) virtual instruction made classes more challenging, and (4) learning during the pandemic is characterized by increased flexibility but a lack of content moderation from faculty. We discuss implications for faculty development, particularly for pedagogical training.

Authors

• Debalina Maitra, Kennesaw State University

• Meseret F. Hailu, University of Georgia

• Brooke Coley, Arizona State University