College
College of Arts and Sciences
Mentor Information
Luanna B. Prevost
Description
Calls to transform STEM education increasingly emphasize student-centered practices that move beyond passive lectures toward meaningful learning, preparing the future STEM workforce for complex, science-driven challenges. Community Engaged Learning (CEL) represents one such approach. While prior CEL research has largely focused on student outcomes, STEM faculty perceptions, especially regarding motivations, benefits, and barriers, remain understudied, despite faculty being central to CEL design and sustainability. This study investigates STEM faculty perceptions of the barriers to implementing CEL. We conducted 5 focus groups, each varying from 3-6 participants, intentionally separating adopters and non-adopters. Participants were STEM faculty from research-intensive universities holding the Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification. Focus group transcripts were analyzed in MAXQDA, guided by the Diffusion of Innovation framework adaptations in STEM. Trustworthiness was supported through triangulation, peer debriefing, and consensus between coders. Analysis of faculty’s perspectives on CEL barriers constructed themes related to teaching barriers for CEL: type of courses, class size, and class content coverage. Lower division courses were discussed by adopters and non-adopters due to the “rigid structure”, large class size, difficulty of assessment, etc. Findings highlight contrasts between adopters and non-adopters’ perceptions on teaching barriers; adopters emphasized funding and institutional teaching barriers, while non-adopters were more focused on the classroom-related constraints. By documenting STEM faculty-identified barriers, these findings address a gap in CEL literature and offer insights that can guide administrators and institutions in supporting STEM faculty as they work to overcome challenges to CEL implementation.
Exploring STEM faculty perceptions on the barriers of Community Engaged Learning
Calls to transform STEM education increasingly emphasize student-centered practices that move beyond passive lectures toward meaningful learning, preparing the future STEM workforce for complex, science-driven challenges. Community Engaged Learning (CEL) represents one such approach. While prior CEL research has largely focused on student outcomes, STEM faculty perceptions, especially regarding motivations, benefits, and barriers, remain understudied, despite faculty being central to CEL design and sustainability. This study investigates STEM faculty perceptions of the barriers to implementing CEL. We conducted 5 focus groups, each varying from 3-6 participants, intentionally separating adopters and non-adopters. Participants were STEM faculty from research-intensive universities holding the Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification. Focus group transcripts were analyzed in MAXQDA, guided by the Diffusion of Innovation framework adaptations in STEM. Trustworthiness was supported through triangulation, peer debriefing, and consensus between coders. Analysis of faculty’s perspectives on CEL barriers constructed themes related to teaching barriers for CEL: type of courses, class size, and class content coverage. Lower division courses were discussed by adopters and non-adopters due to the “rigid structure”, large class size, difficulty of assessment, etc. Findings highlight contrasts between adopters and non-adopters’ perceptions on teaching barriers; adopters emphasized funding and institutional teaching barriers, while non-adopters were more focused on the classroom-related constraints. By documenting STEM faculty-identified barriers, these findings address a gap in CEL literature and offer insights that can guide administrators and institutions in supporting STEM faculty as they work to overcome challenges to CEL implementation.
