Browsing by Author "Taylor, Ashley Rae"
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- The Change: A Narrative-Informed Case Study Exploring the Tension between Structures and Agency in the Educational Trajectories of Engineering Students from Underserved BackgroundsTaylor, Ashley Rae (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-05)In the United States context, there is a particularly prevalent dialogue about the transformative power of an engineering degree for underserved students. Long positioned as a mechanism for moving up the social ladder, engineering education is often discussed as a mechanism for upward mobility, promising underserved students the opportunity to climb. However, a critical examination of who enrolls and persists in engineering degree programs suggests not everyone can equitably leverage the transformative power of an engineering degree, with persistent inequities for underserved students. Though literature highlights systemic barriers faced by underserved engineering students, much less is known about how underserved students navigate barriers to pursue an engineering bachelor's degree. Accordingly, the purpose of my study was to explore how students from underserved backgrounds navigate their educational trajectories, focusing on the interplay between structures and agency. Using a Bourdieusian lens, my study was guided by the overarching research question: In their narratives, how do students from underserved backgrounds describe navigating their educational trajectories towards a bachelor's engineering degree? I used a single case study methodology with embedded units of analysis to explore this research question. My primary data sources included narrative interviews with 32 underserved engineering students and geospatial community-level data extrapolated from students' home zip codes. My results indicate that underserved engineering students describe a variety of strategies to enact agency by planning, optimizing, and, at times, redirecting their educational trajectories. This study also highlights the influence of family, community, economic, and political environments on the educational journeys of underserved engineering students, as students described navigating and adapting to these various social environments. Students also describe their environments as dynamic, with trajectories changing based on critical incidents such as a parent illness or loss of work. Lastly, students' narratives highlight a diverse range of reasons for pursuing engineering, which often extended beyond private goods approaches to engineering education. My results present implications for engineering education, the most notable of which is that underserved students are not a monolithic group and represent a diverse range of lived experiences. My results also highlight agency as a collective endeavor, challenging popular notions that agency is operationalized at the level of a single individual. Lastly, students' lived experiences with material hardship highlight the dynamic and multidimensional nature of economic disadvantage. Such insights compel engineering educators to reexamine how we conceptualize and measure economic disadvantage in higher education. Ultimately, this research highlights opportunities to increase access and equity in engineering education for underserved students.
- Innovating for Global Health through Community-Based Participatory Research: Design of Mechanical Suction Machines for Rural Health Clinics in MalawiTaylor, Ashley Rae (Virginia Tech, 2016-09-21)Clinicians in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) face many challenges, including high patient-to-staff ratios, limited resources, and inconsistent access to electricity. This research aimed to improve health outcomes in LMIC through an enlightened understanding of challenges associated with healthcare technology. To understand LMIC barriers to acquiring, maintaining, and repairing medical equipment, a community-based participatory study was conducted at three clinical settings in southern Malawi. Thirty-six clinical staff participated in surveys and focus groups to provide information on medical device challenges. Results from the study emphasize the importance of community-based participatory innovation to improve global health. Many clinical staff expressed frustration regarding inability to prevent patient mortality attributed to equipment failure. Data from the community-based participatory study of medical technology conducted in Malawi revealed key insights for designing for low and middle income countries, and more specifically, for communities in southern Malawi. Specifically, partner communities identified mechanical suction machines as a top priority for design innovation. Working with technical and clinical staff in Malawian communities, a prototype mechanical suction machine was designed and constructed. This work suggests that engineers working in low and middle income countries face a unique sundry of design requirements that require an intimate understanding of the local community, including community leaders, community beliefs and values, and locally available resources. Technology innovation for global health should incorporate community expertise and assets, and health and technical education efforts should be developed to increase working knowledge of medical devices.