Engineering to Help Communities or Students’ Development? An ethnographic case study of an engineering-to-help student organization

Abstract

-This article offers a critical ethnographic analysis of the organization MinesWithout Borders (MWB), a student group at Colorado School of Mines. It evaluates the impact the group's institutional culture has on its effectiveness as a student-led engineering-to-help organization. Through ethnographic and participatory research methods, we sought to understand members' motivations for joining the organization, their prior knowledge of engineering-to-help, their assessment of the organization, and how well MWB balances service learning for their members and impact on the communities they seek to serve. A participatory photo essay was used to illustrate the perspective of the community members in Nicaragua, and vice versa. The researchers found that members are primarily motivated by a desire to help disadvantaged populations, have little background knowledge on principles of engineering-to-help, see the organization as socially exclusive, and that MWB places a greater emphasis on student experience than community impact. The participative photo essay suggests that MWB members and community members have different perceptions of what constitutes collaboration. This evaluation advances current research on engineering-to-help organizations with the growth of humanitarian engineering programs throughout the world. The results of this study have been used within the organization to enhance its potential effectiveness to benefit students and community members alike.

Community engagement in engineering education: A systematic literature review

“…While logistics constraints can be minimized, situational communication issues due to cultural and language barriers are sometimes not easy to tackle. In our reviews, 37 articles reported this issue, most of which involved international projects (e.g., Abrahamse et al, 2015;LaPorte et al, 2017). In community engagement programs, communication problems are often reported between the project team and the community partner; even minor communication issues can have a big effect.…”

The World of “Engineering for Good”: Towards A Mapping of Research, Teaching, and Practice of Engineers Doing Good

“…Post-development literature claims that these humanitarians could be doing more harm than good through neocolonialism power relations [29,30]. In addition, others ask whether these efforts are intended to benefit students as much, if not more, than the intended community-benefactors [31]. In response to some of these concerns, some engineering for good initiatives, like Ingenieros sin Fronteras-Colombia, have made a concerted effort to stay domestic and interact with communities with whom they have deep knowledge, understand the language and culture, and developed trusting relationships.…”

Engagement in Practice: Some Do’s and Don’ts in Partnership Development for a Successful Humanitarian Engineering Project.

“…Advocates of these projects laud the experience and engineering growth gained by participating engineering students [1]. But these programs face criticism when student experience is placed above project effectiveness and community impact [2]. The literature is full of examples of humanitarian engineering and sustainable development projects that did not work because cultural aspects, social considerations and local knowledge were not considered [3], [4].…”