STEM Instructor Perceptions of Obstacles for Implementing Racially/Ethnically Diverse Guest Speakers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Students benefit from encounters with diverse role models, and invited guest lecturers or guest speakers could be one simple strategy for promoting such encounters. Little systematic research has explored guest lecturing as a distinct phenomenon, and it is unclear what barriers may impede its use. We surveyed 730 STEM and STEM-related college instructors to better understand their implementation (or non-implementation) of guests. Here, we report on the qualitative analysis of open-ended items, in which instructors describe the obstacles to implementing guests. Respondents overwhelmingly identified (1) time involved in scheduling guests and (2) curricular “fit” as primary barriers. We discuss implications for the development and support of intentional programming to advance historically underrepresented students’ belonging, persistence, and retention in STEM.

Authors

• Anthony Muro Villa, University of California - Riverside

• Quentin Sedlacek, Southern Methodist University

• Michelle Friend, University of Nebraska - Omaha

• Sara Dozier, California State University - Long Beach

• Karla Lomeli, Santa Clara University

• Greses Perez, Tufts University

• Joel Alejandro Mejia, University of Cincinnati