"The Development and Implementation of "Class Community Norms" to Facilitate Learning in a Social Justice-Oriented Classroom

Abstract

The authors present a Full Paper in the Innovative Practice category. Their work describes and reflects upon the development of guidelines governing interactions within a critically reflective educational space. The Class Community Norms were co-developed by the instructor and students in an undergraduate course required for Integrated Engineering majors on the intersections of engineering and social justice during the Fall 2021 semester. The course aimed to challenge and build alternatives to existing structures of individual and systemic dominance within engineering and engineering education rooted in heteropatriarchy, racism, colonialism, and the classism that is inherent to capitalism. The intentional establishment of the space was paramount due to the course’s focus on critical conversation and collaborative group work that challenged established norms within engineering spaces.While it is increasingly common practice for teachers, facilitators, and social activists to intentionally initialize collaborative spaces with lists of norms (also sometimes called "guidelines" or "ground rules"), the exercise can sometimes be superficial, unidirectional, and fleeting, lacking any form of reflection upon implementation. It is also important to note that this practice is not common in any form within engineering or STEM education. Alternatively, the instructor and students collaboratively constructed, reflected upon, and continually revised the Class Community Norms throughout the duration of the course. In light of a critical pedagogical framework, this work was done with explicitly-stated goals of recognizing and deconstructing social hierarchies and promoting growth-orientated learning.The resulting Class Community Norms - norms related to learning, communication, teamwork, and accountability - are presented herein. The pedagogical methodology used for the development of, reflection on, and revision to the Class Community Norms is included for the use of instructors and practitioners in engineering education, STEM education, and elsewhere. The authors (who are the instructor and several students from the class) also put forth their personal reflections on the implementation of the project, addressing their individual experiences, difficulties they encountered, and the impact of their social positionalities. Finally, recommendations are made for the ongoing development of this practice with the goal of constructing spaces that are critical, collaborative, growth-oriented, and promote individual and collective accountability. The authorship team encourages the use and refinement of the Class Community Norms practice within engineering educational spaces to promote discussion and collaboration that challenges existing structures of dominance within engineering education.