{"id":76996,"date":"2025-05-22T00:09:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T04:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=76996"},"modified":"2025-05-22T00:09:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T04:09:06","slug":"rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

For decades, colleges, government agencies and foundations have experimented with\u00a0recruitment and retention efforts<\/a>\u00a0designed to increase diversity in engineering programs.<\/p>\n

However, the efforts\u00a0have not significantly boosted<\/a>\u00a0the number of women, students of color, individuals with disabilities and other underrepresented groups studying and earning degrees in STEM and engineering fields.<\/p>\n

Latino, Black, Native American and Alaska Native students\u00a0are underrepresented<\/a>\u00a0among science and engineering degree recipients at the bachelor\u2019s degree level and above. The groups are also underrepresented among STEM workers with at least a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I study equity and social justice in STEM learning. In\u00a0my recent study<\/a>, I found that more students from diverse backgrounds could excel in engineering programs if course content were tailored to a wider variety of learning preferences.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/strong><\/h4>\n

During my time as a program officer at the\u00a0National Science Foundation<\/a>, an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering, I reviewed plenty of research focused on broadening participation and diversifying student enrollment in STEM fields.<\/p>\n

Progress can stall on efforts to boost diversity because college instructors do not consider the synergistic relationship between the content and the learner.<\/p>\n

Teachers are the mediators, and it is students\u2019 experiences with the curriculum that matter.<\/p>\n

It was long a common belief that students have different learning styles. These included kinesthetic, learning through hands-on experiences and physical activity; auditory, learning by listening to information; and visual, learning by seeing information.<\/p>\n

More recent research\u00a0does not support<\/a>\u00a0the idea that teaching students according to their learning style leads to improved learning.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I prefer the term \u201clearning preferences<\/a>\u201d rather than learning styles. We all have preferences \u2013 whether for ice cream flavors, home decor or how we receive information, including how we learn.<\/p>\n

Learning preferences are broader and more flexible, allowing multiple ways of engaging with content.<\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s say a teacher always presented equations in a classroom and the student just could not get it. However, it was the only way the information was presented. To the individual learner, they have failed. Some people would say, \u201cThese kids can\u2019t learn,\u201d and subsequently counsel the student out of the class.<\/p>\n

Then, years are spent repeating the same cycle.<\/p>\n

However, educators can broaden their viewpoints if they look at the students as customers. If a customer is shopping for a shirt, they look for one that catches their eye. Ultimately, they find one they like.<\/p>\n

Instructors need to take the same approach when trying to help students understand what is happening in class. For instance, if I have trouble with equations, I should be provided with options to engage with the lesson in ways that align with my learning preferences.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Learning styles have been heavily researched. However, content preferences have not been well explored.<\/p>\n

In a truly democratic education system, curriculum design should reflect the voices of all stakeholders and not just those in positions of power, namely instructors.<\/p>\n

Using data mining and artificial intelligence, educators have a variety of options for creating content for the various preferences a learner may want or need. For example, if a student prefers other representational content, such as word problems, graphics or simulations, AI can create diverse representations so that the learner is exposed to a variety of representations.<\/p>\n

I argue that future studies need to consider the use of technologies such as adaptive learning applications to understand students\u2019 learning preferences.<\/p>\n

Prioritizing diverse learning perspectives in STEM could help create a more inclusive and responsive learning environment.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Sharon Tettegah is Professor of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For decades, colleges, government agencies and foundations have experimented with\u00a0recruitment and retention efforts\u00a0designed to increase diversity in engineering programs. However, the efforts\u00a0have not significantly boosted\u00a0the number of women, students of color, individuals with disabilities and other underrepresented groups studying and earning degrees in STEM and engineering fields. Latino, Black, Native American and Alaska Native students\u00a0are […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[435364],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-76996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-engineering-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For decades, colleges, government agencies and foundations have experimented with\u00a0recruitment and retention efforts\u00a0designed to increase diversity in engineering programs. However, the efforts\u00a0have not significantly boosted\u00a0the number of women, students of color, individuals with disabilities and other underrepresented groups studying and earning degrees in STEM and engineering fields. Latino, Black, Native American and Alaska Native students\u00a0are […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-22T04:09:06+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/engineeringeducation.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"383\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-22T04:09:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":615,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/engineeringeducation.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"engineering education\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Higher Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/engineeringeducation.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-22T04:09:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/engineeringeducation.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/engineeringeducation.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":383},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"For decades, colleges, government agencies and foundations have experimented with\u00a0recruitment and retention efforts\u00a0designed to increase diversity in engineering programs. However, the efforts\u00a0have not significantly boosted\u00a0the number of women, students of color, individuals with disabilities and other underrepresented groups studying and earning degrees in STEM and engineering fields. Latino, Black, Native American and Alaska Native students\u00a0are […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2025-05-22T04:09:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":383,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/engineeringeducation.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity","datePublished":"2025-05-22T04:09:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/"},"wordCount":615,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/engineeringeducation.jpg","keywords":["engineering education"],"articleSection":["Higher Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/","name":"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/engineeringeducation.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-22T04:09:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/engineeringeducation.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/engineeringeducation.jpg","width":680,"height":383},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/rethinking-engineering-education-why-focusing-on-learning-preferences-matters-for-diversity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rethinking engineering education: Why focusing on learning preferences matters for diversity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76996"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77005,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76996\/revisions\/77005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76996"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=76996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}