Integrating an Introduction to Engineering Experience into an University Seminar Course

Retention statistics show that the most drastic decline in retention rates for engineering and engineering technology majors at Texas State University occur after the first and second years. To address this issue, the LBJ Institute of STEM Education and Research at Texas State is employing a multi-faceted approach to implement proven strategies for increasing student retention as a part of an NSF IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education) grant, Texas State STEM Rising Stars. One of these strategies is to introduce a new first-year introduction to engineering/engineering technology course that was designed to support student retention. A new course could not simply be added to the existing curriculum of the university’s engineering and engineering technology degrees, however, as state law capped the hours required for an undergraduate degree. Instead, the researchers customized an introduction to the university freshman seminar course for engineering and engineering technology majors. This course design adapted elements from successful first-year introductory classes in Engineering and Engineering Technology at other universities. Besides fostering a learning community between Engineering and Engineering Technology students, the objectives of the new course include: (1) introduction of design and problem solving through project-based learning and (2) familiarization with the careers paths and practices of Engineering and Engineering Technology through tours and talks by industry representatives and faculty and (3) providing a common experience that introduces university resources to support the development of the students and prepares them for academic success. The pilot section of Introduction to Engineering in University Seminar was offered in Fall 2015. As these seminar courses are offered in the fall semesters, the researchers will be able to analyze changes in engineering design self-efficacy over the semester and conduct focus groups with students to refine the course content prior to an expanded second round of experimental sections that will be put in place for Fall 2016. This paper presents this work in progress, including preliminary results and lessons learned from this integration of Introduction to Engineering with University Seminar. Introduction According to data provided by Texas State University’s Office of Institutional Research, average retention rates for Engineering and Engineering Technology students (for freshman cohorts entering Fall 2009-Fall 2011) were approximately 70% after one year, 55% after two years, and 49% after three years. The data show that the most drastic decline occurs after the first and second years. To address this issue, the LBJ Institute of STEM Education and Research at Texas State is employing a multi-faceted approach to implement proven strategies for increasing student retention as a part of an NSF IUSE grant, Texas State STEM Rising Stars. One of these strategies is to introduce a new first-year course, “Introduction to Engineering & Engineering Technology,” that was designed to support student retention through exploration of relevant academic and career issues, early contact with faculty as mentors, and development of a learning community with peers in the major. A special challenge for developing this new Introduction to Engineering course is that the state legislature implemented a law that limits the number of hours that can be required for a college degree. As a result, a new course cannot simply be added to the existing curriculum of the university’s engineering and engineering technology degrees. Instead, the researchers are customizing a University Seminar (US 1100) section, which is an introduction to the university freshman seminar course, specifically for engineering and engineering technology majors while exploring research questions related to the development of student design self-efficacy. This paper presents this work in progress including preliminary results from preand post-project engineering design self-efficacy measures of the initial cohort, lessons learned, and plans for future work. Background The Texas State STEM Rising Stars project is using a three-sided organizing framework, as shown in Figure 1, to guide the interventions and its associated research plan. This framework is based upon Swail’s geometric model for student retention, which includes cognitive, social, and institutional factors. The four strategies of Texas State STEM Rising Stars are shown in Figure 1 with arrows aligned to these factors. The Introduction to Engineering experience is part of the strategy “Provide Early Career Insight” aligned to the cognitive factors. Figure 1: Organizing Framework for Texas State STEM Rising Stars While the framework shown above is used for organizing clarity, the theoretical bases guiding this project are Tinto’s academic and social integration model and Astin’s involvement model. Some of the contextual factors considered include: faculty and peer relationships, family and community support, and academic sense of self. Ong et al. suggest these factors are of particular importance in influencing the retention, persistence, and achievement of historically underrepresented students in STEM fields. Tinto’s model paved the way for a sociological analysis of retention that has been popular for several decades and postulates that persistence occurs when students successfully integrate into the institution academically and socially. Integration, in turn, is influenced by pre-college characteristics and goals, interactions with peers and faculty, out-of-classroom socialization, and personal family dynamics and acculturation factors. Additionally, Tinto argues that the first year of college – indeed the first semester – is critical to students being incorporated into the college campus, as well as their eventual persistence through graduation. Retention programs, therefore, are most successful when they utilize informal faculty-student contact in order to integrate students into the academic and social life of the college. As such, the integration of an Introduction to Engineering course into the US 1100 program, which is required of students during their first semester of college, takes advantage of this critical time in students’ lives and promises to increase retention rates. Astin’s model, based on patterns of behavior exhibited by successful students, asserts that the keys to success and graduation are involvement and connection. Involvement refers to both formal academic or intellectual pursuits as well as co-curricular activities. Among the primary measures of academic involvement is time spent on academic studies and tasks, and the development of higher cognitive skills. Co-curricular involvement includes measures of participation in campus activities and membership in academic/honors associations and social clubs. Connection refers to bonding with peers, faculty, and staff as well as sharing the institution’s values. In addition to the positive effects on overall student performance and retention, early connections with faculty may have a particularly positive effect for Hispanic students. Besides fostering a learning community between Engineering and Engineering Technology students, the objectives of the new course include: (1) introduction of design and problem solving through project-based learning and (2) familiarization with the practices of Engineering and Engineering Technology through tours and talks by industry representatives and faculty. One of the key research questions explored in this study is based on the premise that providing early career insight into engineering and engineering technology design must involve a focus on student hands-on design exploration. Therefore, design was a particular course feature. The research question guiding the scholarly inquiry was: To what extent does early exposure to hands-on design impact students’ engineering design self-efficacy? Procedure The University Seminar Program is a student retention program of Texas State University, which has specific goals of helping students explore their career options, getting involved in campus life, developing life-long learning skills, and building a sense of community amongst the freshman class. In early Spring 2015, the authors worked with the University Seminar program to request and justify a restricted section of US 1100 for Engineering and Engineering Technology majors. Upon receiving approval for the section, the lead author worked with the chair of Engineering Technology to schedule the section in the Engineering & Engineering Technology building, in hopes of fostering a sense of community and belonging amongst these freshmen. The authors advertised this special section of US 1100 to incoming freshmen that were invited to attend special orientation sessions on STEM during Texas State’s New Student Orientation program. As well, all of the academic advisors for the College of Science and Engineering were notified of the special section to encourage eligible students to register. As this approach to implementing an Introduction to Engineering experience was customizing an established seminar program, the authors that served as instructors attended required training sessions for US 1100 instructors and were careful to cover the required content for the seminar course. The engineering design project included two class meetings in the university maker space, Bobcat Made, to introduce making and the resources available to them for the prototyping phase of their projects. Pre-surveys of engineering design self-efficacy were administered as part of the semester’s design project for the pilot semester, but they are recommended to be administered on the first day of the semester in the future. The post-surveys of engineering design self-efficacy were administered on the last class day. The instructors discussed lessons learned at the conclusion of