NSF INCLUDES Design & Development Launch Pilots (DDLPs): Engineering Community Inclusion of Individuals with Autism (ECIIA)

工程社区纳入自闭症患者（ECIIA）是一个NSF INCLUDES设计和开发启动试点项目，将利用虚拟现实（VR）技术吸引更多的自闭症高中生参与工程。ECIIA是在美国国家科学基金会资助的面向所有人的工程项目（e4usa）的基础上建立起来的，e4usa是一个旨在扩大学生和教师接触工程的高中项目。包容性实践是ECIIA的一个关键要素，参与该项目的参与者和所有人都将代表广泛的自闭症谱系，以及种族、民族、性别认同、性别和社会经济地位的交叉性。该项目将吸引社区合作者，包括e4usa高中教育工作者和学生、工程教育和VR研究人员以及工业工程师等利益相关者。ECIIA还将确保担任自闭症顾问角色的自闭症患者了解项目的各个阶段，并支持社区合作者，因为他们对项目做出了集体承诺，并制定了个性化的承诺目标和目标，这将进一步维持和扩大ECIIA。ECIIA将重点关注以下研究问题：(1)虚拟现实（VR）是否有效增加自闭症患者接受工程教育的机会？(2)参与VR环境和相关的支持是否会导致工程认同、工程自我效能感、工程兴趣和对工程设计过程的理解的发展？(3)在VR环境中支持自闭症患者作为社区合作者，是否会增加对自闭症患者在工程行业中的理解、能力和倡导？需要什么样的自闭症知识才能有效？(4)项目是否引导社区合作者增加集体和分布式领导？e4usa课程中的三个实践活动将在VR环境中开发，以提供真实和身临其境的体验，以响应每个自闭症参与者的独特需求。参与者将参与工程设计过程，这将支持工程身份，自我效能和兴趣的发展。集体影响（CI）框架将应用于致力于解决复杂问题的不同个人，并为这一历史上被排斥的人群引发工程路径的变化。将收集定量和定性数据来评估参与者的参与度，探索项目对参与者的工程自我效能感、身份和对工程设计过程的理解的影响，并确定社区合作者的变化。总而言之，ECIIA将引领VR的发展，并通过建立社区合作者网络来扩大参与和促进该领域的真正包容，为变革奠定基础。该项目由美国国家科学基金会（NSF）的埃迪·伯尼斯·约翰逊（Eddie Bernice Johnson）资助，该计划旨在激励和加速协作基础设施建设，以推进和维持系统性变革，扩大STEM的大规模参与。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Engineering Community Inclusion of Individuals with Autism (ECIIA), an NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots project, will employ virtual reality (VR) technology to engage more high school students with autism in engineering. ECIIA builds off the NSF-funded Engineering for US All (e4usa) project, a high school program that expands student and teacher access to engineering. Inclusive practices are a critical element to ECIIA, and participants and all who engage in the project will be representative of the broad spectrum of autism and intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sex, and socioeconomic status. The project will engage Community Collaborators, including stakeholders such as e4usa high school educators and students, engineering education and VR researchers, and engineers in industry. ECIIA will also ensure that individuals with autism serving the role of Autism Advisor will inform all stages of the project and support Community Collaborators as they develop a collective commitment to the project and individualized commitment goals and objectives that will further sustain and scale ECIIA. ECIIA will focus on the following research questions: (1) Is virtual reality (VR) effective in increasing access to engineering education for individuals with autism?; (2) Does participation in the VR environment and accompanying support result in the development of engineering identity, engineering self-efficacy, engineering interest, and an understanding of the engineering design process?; (3) Does supporting individuals with autism in the VR environment as Community Collaborators result in increased understanding, and presumed competence and advocacy for individuals with autism to be included in engineering industry? What knowledge of autism is needed to be effective?; (4) Does the project lead Community Collaborators to increase collective and distributed leadership? Three hands-on activities from the e4usa curriculum will be developed within a VR environment to provide an authentic and immersive experience that is responsive to the unique needs of each participant with autism. Participants will engage in the engineering design process, which will support the development of engineering identity, self-efficacy, and interest. The Collective Impact (CI) Framework will be applied to engage diverse individuals that are committed to addressing complex issues and triggering change in engineering pathways for this historically excluded population. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected to evaluate participant engagement, explore the project’s impact on participants’ engineering self-efficacy, identity, and understanding of the engineering design process, and determine a change in Community Collaborators. In sum, ECIIA will lead to the development of VR that is disability-responsive and lay the groundwork for change by building a network of Community Collaborators to broaden participation and foster authentic inclusion in the field.This project is funded by NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative, which seeks to motivate and accelerate collaborative infrastructure building to advance and sustain systemic change to broaden participation in STEM at scale.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.