AVELA -- A Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access: Understanding Why Technology Alone Is Not Enough

Kyle Johnson; Vicente Arroyos; Celeste Garcia; Liban Hussein; Aisha Cora; Tsewone Melaku; Jay L. Cunningham; R. Benjamin Shapiro; Vikram Iyer

arXiv · 2401.14581

AVELA -- A Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access: Understanding Why Technology Alone Is Not Enough

Kyle Johnson·Vicente Arroyos·Celeste Garcia·Liban Hussein·Aisha Cora·Tsewone Melaku·Jay L. Cunningham·R. Benjamin Shapiro·Vikram Iyer

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Abstract

Unequal technology access for Black and Latine communities has been a persistent economic, social justice, and human rights issue despite increased technology accessibility due to advancements in consumer electronics like phones, tablets, and computers. We contextualize socio-technical access inequalities for Black and Latine urban communities and find that many students are hesitant to engage with available technologies due to a lack of engaging support systems. We present a holistic student-led STEM engagement model through AVELA - A Vision for Engineering Literacy and Access leveraging culturally responsive lessons, mentor embodied community representation, and service learning. To evaluate the model's impact after 4 years of mentoring 200+ university student instructors in teaching to 2,500+ secondary school students in 100+ classrooms, we conducted 24 semi-structured interviews with college AnonymizedOrganization members. We identify access barriers and provide principled recommendations for designing future STEM education programs.

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Kyle Johnson, Vicente Arroyos, Celeste Garcia, Liban Hussein, Aisha Cora, Tsewone Melaku, Jay L. Cunningham, R. Benjamin Shapiro, Vikram Iyer. 2024-01-29. AVELA -- A Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access: Understanding Why Technology Alone Is Not Enough. https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.14581

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