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WPI鈥檚 New SWEET Center

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Teamwork is a key component of project-based learning at WPI. Working together to solve problems, our students interact as a unit, digging deep into research and proposing solutions for project sponsors, under the guidance of faculty advisors. In an effort to enhance this experience and as part of The Global School, a new resource鈥攖he SWEET (Supporting WPI in Effective and Equitable Teams) Center鈥攊s now available to help support students with challenges that might arise in any team learning environment on campus.

鈥淭eamwork is at the heart of WPI鈥檚 project-based curriculum, but despite best intentions, it doesn鈥檛 always go perfectly. We want to be more intentional about our teamwork,鈥?says Anne Ogilvie, director for team learning.

Issues like unconscious bias, stereotyping, and communication problems can disrupt teamwork or cause individuals within the team to feel undervalued or silenced. By helping students recognize and address such inequities, the SWEET Center can support better team dynamics.

鈥淭he goal of the SWEET Center is to help ensure that every WPI student has at least one highly effective and equitable team experience before they graduate, and that they leave with skills and tools to increase their own ability to collaborate effectively in teams throughout their careers," Ogilvie says. "We are delighted to bring the resources of this new center to students and faculty at WPI.鈥?lt;/p>

The SWEET Center was founded in A-Term as part of the SWEET Initiative, a multi-year effort funded by a 2017 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation. The grant was intended to develop practices for teamwork and project advising that value and utilize the contributions of all team members.

At WPI, the grant funded workshops for project advisors focused on best practices to prevent bias and stereotyping from creeping into student teams, leading to more equitable and effective experiences in courses and projects. A separate component, the SWEET Squad aimed to help students better understand their own identities and gain tools to work more effectively and equitably on teams.

The SWEET Initiative implementation team involved Curtis Abel, executive director of innovation and entrepreneurship, ad interim, Tiffiny Butler, teaching professor of biomedical engineering and director of multicultural affairs; Leslie Dodson, co-director of the Global Lab; Matt Foster, associate director of residential education; Adrienne Hall-Phillips, associate professor of marketing, Foisie Business School; Emily Perlow, assistant dean of students; Geoffrey Pfeifer, associate teaching professor of philosophy and international & global studies; Patricia Stapleton, assistant professor of social science & policy studies; and Lisa Stoddard, assistant teaching professor of environmental and sustainability studies.

WPI鈥檚 SWEET Center also offers SWEET Fellowships, a program that trains students, staff, faculty, and alumni to help develop center programs and tools for more equitable and effective teamwork. SWEET Fellows鈥?2 of whom have been trained thus far鈥攚ill also help expand individual and team consultations, which have been ongoing since D-Term. The SWEET Fellowship Training Course was developed and co-taught by Pfeifer, Elizabeth Long Lingo, assistant professor, Foisie Business School, Ogilvie, and Stoddard.

鈥淭hrough the vast experiences of WPI faculty, staff, and students, we know that students can't learn how to work on teams just by throwing them in and hoping they survive. And knowing that bias and stereotyping result in inequitable learning opportunities for students, we know that if we are going to have a project-based curriculum, we have to intentionally teach students how to work equitably and effectively in teams, and teach faculty how to better and more equitably advise them,鈥?says Stoddard, who, along with Pfeifer, led the faculty development portion of the initiative. 鈥淲PI has shown a commitment to this work, as an institution and as a body of dedicated staff, faculty and students.鈥?amp;nbsp;

鈥擫auren Borsa-Curran

WPI Program to Deal with Bias in Project Teams Well Received at HUBweek

amracicot — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Elisabeth Stoddard (assistant teaching professor, Undergraduate Studies) and Geoff Pfeifer (associate teaching professor, Humanities & Arts) brought their strategy and workshop on preventing bias on student project teams to HUBweek earlier this month, knowing that their approach can be applicable off campus in the technology industry and other fields.

During the session, HUBweek participants learned techniques for fostering diversity, inclusion, and equity, and then practiced them in planning tasks on a mock project.

Lisa Stoddard presents to attendees at WPI Seaport during HUBweek.

鈥淭his topic, diversity in teams, has a huge impact for us,鈥?said Erik Reidel, a longtime computer engineer and manager who now works as a consultant. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen it in my own teams; we see it as a barrier across the industry鈥攑eople not able to work together, people not getting to the best solutions very quickly.鈥?lt;/p>

鈥淚 think they did an excellent job,鈥?Reidel said after the presentation at WPI Seaport. 鈥淚 think they鈥檝e got some techniques that are potentially applicable. It鈥檒l be interesting to see how those can be applied to more commercial settings. If this is a way for us to operate faster and more effectively, I鈥檓 all for it.鈥?lt;/p>

Biotech veteran Fran Perler, who came to the session to see if it could assist her in helping her consulting clients communicate better, sees value in the tools and techniques developed on campus by faculty and others at WPI.

鈥淎lthough it鈥檚 focused on students, many of the things would work outside of that,鈥?she said. 鈥淚t was very educational and I got a few good ideas.鈥?lt;/p>

The Value of Diverse Ideas

The presentation, 鈥淐reating Innovation Through More Equitable Team Dynamics,鈥?and related workshop led to wide-ranging discussions among participants about the value of diverse ideas and approaches on work teams, and the need for communication and transparency among team members.

鈥淲hen you have a complex problem,鈥?one participant observed, 鈥渉aving diversity of thought helps you solve it better.鈥?lt;/p>

Participants watched a video demonstrating bad team dynamics in which two team members fought over what kind of steel to use, while a third sat by silently, clearly out of the discussion.

鈥淪teamroller,鈥?Casey Gilbert of Portland Downtown said of one of the arguing team members.

鈥淚t sort of started out based on facts and then they became personal,鈥?Perler observed. 鈥淎nd the poor woman in the middle is saying, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to be here.鈥欌€?lt;/p>

Stoddard and Pfeifer then described their use of a tool called 鈥渁sset mapping,鈥?which helps students on project teams more equitably divide tasks, with the aim of making the team more effective and the learning experience more successful for all students.

鈥淎lthough it鈥檚 focused on students, many of the things would work outside of that. It was very educational and I got a few good ideas.鈥?-Fran Perler

Students list their assets, which include things like their personal background, courses they have taken, jobs or internship they have had, projects they have worked on, skills they have acquired, and their natural talents, passions, or life experiences. They also include assets they would hope to acquire or improve during the project. Then they share their lists with one another in an exercise of confidence building and awareness, and create a chart that shows the assets of each member and how those can be applied to the project tasks.

As Stoddard and Pfeifer reported in a recently published paper, asset mapping is an effective tool that 鈥渁ddresses and minimizes stereotyping and bias on student teams broadly, but it also does so in a way that offers potential for deeper understanding of the ways bias and stereotyping affect individual students and the team as a whole.鈥?amp;nbsp;

Equity in Team Project Assignments

The pair began researching student bias and stereotyping in WPI鈥檚 first-year Great Problems Seminars program in 2016 after they and other professors identified equity problems in project team assignments that worked against female students and students of color鈥攁 situation that is common in STEM disciplines.

Then last academic year, they started using the asset mapping technique in those seminars to make project learning experiences more effective and project teams more equitable.

This year, the use of their tool has been expanded beyond the seminars to 15 more classes across 10 disciplines鈥攊ncluding other classroom projects, laboratories and even a class taking place in another country. The effort, known as Supporting WPI through Effective and Equitable Teamwork, or SWEET, has been awarded a $240,000 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation.

A Recurrent Problem in Education and the Work Force

Stoddard and Pfeifer鈥檚 work can be applied to nearly any business or organization that relies on a team-based approach to succeed.

鈥淭he same problems that happen in STEM education happen in the STEM work force, which leads to a lot of women and people of color leaving STEM once they鈥檝e gotten into it,鈥?said Stoddard.

Stoddard and Pfeifer thought their approach might fit into HUBweek, a week-long festival of ideas, featuring forums, talks, art and tech exhibits and other activities focused on innovation.

鈥淪o, when we saw the call for proposals for HUBweek, we realized that these are people in innovation and technology and business, and almost all of them are working on teams,鈥?Stoddard said. 鈥淪o we pitched it to HUBweek to see if this kind of approach would be helpful for project teams in business and other spaces. And they thought so.鈥?lt;/p>

- By Thomas Coakley

WPI Calls Out Unconscious Racial and Gender Biases in Project-based Teamwork

admin — Fri, 18 May 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Supported by a $240,000 grant from a public charitable foundation, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researchers will teach WPI students how to identify and address bias and work in groups in ways that promote equity, preparing them for an increasingly diverse workforce.

The grant, from the Davis Educational Foundation, comes as higher education grapples with unconscious biases in areas such as race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, or national origin. The problem, studies have shown, can be particularly acute in STEM institutions and organizations, where women and students of color are often underrepresented, and where traditional stereotypes still exist.

鈥淪tudents often don鈥檛 realize that they鈥檙e behaving with bias,鈥?said Elisabeth Stoddard, assistant teaching professor in the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program, and one of the grant recipients. 鈥淔or example, team members might assign women more organizational tasks, whereas men might take on more technical roles.鈥?lt;/p>

WPI researchers who received the grant are focusing on these issues in STEM institutions through a group known as Supporting WPI through Effective and Equitable Teamwork, or SWEET. In addition to Stoddard, other professors involved in the effort are Leslie Dodson, co-director of the Global Lab; Adrienne Hall-Phillips, associate professor of marketing, Foisie Business School; Emily Perlow, assistant dean of Students; Geoffrey Pfeifer, associate teaching professor of Philosophy and International & Global Studies; Patricia Stapleton, assistant professor of Social Science & Policy Studies and director of the Society, Technology & Policy program; Curtis Abel, professor of practice, Undergraduate Studies; Paula Quinn, associate director of the Center for Project-Based Learning; Philip Clay, vice president for Student Affairs; Art Heinricher, dean of Undergraduate Studies; and Kristen Wobbe, associate dean, Undergraduate Studies.

This grant is particularly important for WPI, where project-based learning is at the heart of the curriculum: All students are required to apply the knowledge learned in classes and labs to real-world situations via team projects. This work helps students become better collaborators, critical thinkers, and communicators, and better prepares them for careers after graduation.

鈥淲e鈥檝e reviewed studies that demonstrate that teams with diverse members are better at problem solving and innovating than homogeneous teams,鈥?said Stoddard, who noted that unconscious biases can impede successful teamwork in student groups, reducing or eliminating the benefits that can come from diversity.

Students affected by team members鈥?biases and stereotypes can lose confidence, avoid working in groups, and miss opportunities to learn content and develop skills valuable in the workplace. 鈥淭hese students often have to do more than their fair share of work in group projects in order to overcome stereotypes, and it can push women and students of color to leave STEM for other fields,鈥?said Stoddard.

With the grant from Davis Educational Foundation, which supports the undergraduate programs of public and private, regionally accredited, baccalaureate degree鈥揼ranting colleges and universities throughout New England, the SWEET initiative is a four-phase approach to implement equity-mindedness in teamwork. It will help students working on a team become aware of problems of inequity, such as biases in assigning tasks or certain team members dominating the decision making:

Phase 1: Curriculum Modules 鈥?Develop and implement team building and dynamics modules in courses, laboratory classes, and projects (such as WPI鈥檚 Interactive Qualifying Projects, Major Qualifying Projects).
Phase 2: ACTIVATE 鈥?Initiate a student-led series of team experiences to foster a culture of high-performing teams with a focus on effective and equitable teamwork.
Phase 3: Faculty Training 鈥?Develop and implement a training program for faculty to use the team development modules and resources in both curricular and co-curricular settings.
Phase 4: SWEET Squad 鈥?Create and launch a network of students, faculty, and staff trained to provide support and guidance to team members and those advising teams. The SWEET Squad will serve as a campus-wide consultation body and support network for teams experiencing challenges.

鈥淏y applying SWEET within WPI鈥檚 project-based curriculum, we hope to raise the awareness of unconscious bias and provide tools that will help everyone,鈥?said Hall-Phillips. 鈥淲e believe that the learning from the SWEET initiative is critical for working successfully as a team here on campus, and vital in preparing our students to thrive in their careers by helping them recognize bias when they see it, experience it, or feel themselves expressing it.鈥?lt;/p>

The long-range goal for SWEET is to institute more equity-mindedness in teamwork on campus and in campus culture; to dissolve unfair stereotypes; and to enable students to be leaders in equitable and effective teamwork in a diverse, global world and workforce. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2015 that by 2060, 56 percent of the population under age eighteen will be made up of people of color from multiple ethnicities, which will increase the overall diversity of the workforce college students will enter.

Stoddard and Pfeifer have been studying teamwork dynamics among their own students for the last two years, and their work is the foundation for Phase 1 of SWEET.

鈥淚nitially, I think stereotyping had some effect on what we all initially thought of each other,鈥?said one of the students involved in Stoddard鈥檚 class and study. (Students in the study remain anonymous, per study protocols.) But 鈥渢he group was able to move past these unspoken stereotypes we put on each other to work together successfully 鈥?I now better understand the parts of myself I have to work on when placed in a team so that it functions most successfully.鈥?lt;/p>

For more than a decade, WPI has been working to attract a more gender-balanced and diverse class. In 2007 the university was the first nationally ranked science and engineering institution to no longer require students to submit their scores on SATs and standardized tests, which have been shown to skew against women and underrepresented students. WPI also has developed numerous pre-collegiate outreach programs to engage more girls and underrepresented students of color in STEM.