XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE Engineering Faculty’s Mindset and The Impact on Instructional Practices Fredericka Brown Department of Mechanical Engineering The University of Texas at Tyler Tyler, Texas fbrown@uttyler.edu Kelly Cross Department of Chemical Engineering University of Nevada, Reno Reno, Nevada kcross@unr.edu Abstract – This innovative practice work-in-progress presents instructional practice through the lens of faculty mindset. The importance of investigating novel and effective approaches to recruit, retain, and graduate students in undergraduate engineering programs from a more diverse range of cultural backgrounds is becoming a focus for researchers in the field of engineering education. A key area of investigation of retention strategies is promoting change in instructional practices used in the engineering classroom [1]. Moreover, many factors influence engineering faculty’s instructional practices and in turn affect retention and matriculation of students in engineering. Effective change strategies of engineering faculty instructional practice are tied to the belief of the individual faculty [2], [3]. While substantial research studies address the strong connection between faculty’s instructional practices and the effects on student achievement, less research focuses on how faculty’s mindset drives instructional practices and this study aims to fill this gap. Dweck’s mindset theory guided this exploratory study to evaluate the relationship between engineering faculty’s mindset and their instructional practice. The study was conducted at a Carnegie classified Doctoral/Professional University within a College of Engineering. The measurement scales of the survey included the following: 1) mindset of engineering faculty [4] and 2) instructional practice [5]. Each scale included Likert type questions with items rated on a 6-point scale that ranged from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (6). The survey instrument concluded with open-ended responses to indicate the participant’s willingness to be interviewed and demographic information. Specifically, in this paper we examined the relationship between engineering faculty’s mindset and instructional practice. Based on the small study, data trends emerged across the mindset spectrum of faculty from a fixed to a growth mindset and how this influenced their instructional design choices. This study establishes ground work for best practices that other institutions can adopt to improve engineering student retention and success through the lens of the mindset of engineering faculty. Keywords – faculty attitudes; instructional methods; diversity; inclusion I. INTRODUCTION There is a growing national concern on the importance of educating engineers for the 21 st century. Paired with it are declining retention rates within undergraduate engineering programs. Engineering faculty play a key role in educating the engineers for the 21 st century and supporting engineering identity to support their retention in the field. The role of faculty is particularly important to the engineering identity development of students from marginalized groups who often report ubiquitous forms of inequity and prejudicial experiences across school context [6]-[13]. Although engineering education research explores various approaches to explain and enhance faculty-student interaction it provides limited studies that detail how to support the next generation of engineers from marginalized groups who still often struggle with a sense of authenticity, belonging, and identity [14], [15] within the social culture of engineering. Moreover, the social culture of engineering leads to varying types of experiences that can diminish engineering identity development and self-perceptions, which is linked to lack of motivation and poor academic performance. For example, African American students have a different academic experience than their White counterparts in terms of faculty interactions [16]. Also, negative self-perceptions are prevalent for marginalized students in STEM despite showing the technical aptitude to both enter and complete rigorous engineering and other STEM undergraduate education programs [17], [18]. While researchers have examined the self- perception and mindset of students [19]-[25] and how these can be performance-inhibiting, to our knowledge, researchers have not yet explored how engineering faculty’s mindset is linked to constructs that have been shown to affect student self- perception and outcomes. This research establishes groundwork for a future study of how engineering student mindset are adopted from faculty mindset and are potentially related to student choices to continue in engineering and habits of success. By characterizing the role of engineering faculty and student mindset, we can identify moderating factors that administrators and faculty can work to create tools and training to reshape the beliefs that might have a negative effect on student success and engagement. II. PUROPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS The purpose of this work in progress is to lay the foundation for the impact of faculty mindset’s impact on instructional practice. Although much engineering education research has focused on students, we are expanding the scope of this scholarship to empirically describe faculty contributions to the teaching and