Is Modeling of Freshman Engineering Success Different from Modeling of Non‐Engineering Success?

The engineering community has recognized the need for a higher retention rate in freshman engineering. If we are to increase the freshman retention rate, we need to better understand the characteristics of academic success for engineering students. One approach is to compare academic performance of engineering students to that of non‐engineering students. This study explores the differences in predicting academic success (defined as the first year GPA) for freshman engineering students compared to three non‐engineering student sectors (Pre‐Med, STEM, and non‐STEM disciplines) within a university. Academic success is predicted with pre‐college variables from the UCLA/CIRP survey using factor analysis and regression analysis. Except for the factor related to the high school GPA and rank, the predictors for each student sector were discipline specific. Predictors unique to the engineering sector included the factors related to quantitative skills (ACT Math and Science test scores and placement test scores) and confidence in quantitative skills.     

Engineering Freshman Enrollments: Critical and Non-critical Factors

Freshman enrollment and bachelors degree data over the last three decades for all undergraduates as well as engineering students are analyzed and compared to variations in the numbers of high school graduates. Engineering enrollment data trends are shown to differ significantly from those of undergraduates as a whole and to exhibit little correlation with trends in high school graduation data. Freshman engineering enrollments show a very strong correlation with factors which might indicate to high school students the magnitude of their personal economic gain such as on-campus industrial interviewing intensity, annual growth in starting salaries and starting salary levels relative to average salaries of all undergraduates. No correlation between engineering freshman enrollments and national economic conditions as measured by the Gross Domestic Product or unemployment was found. Implications of the correlation between freshman enrollments and perceived personal economic reward are considered in terms of strategies for recruiting freshmen, student performance in engineering curricula and trends for the future.     

Selecting a Model for Freshman Engineering Design

This paper describes a process undertaken at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to select a model for teaching freshman engineering design. The project identified and characterized methods in use for teaching freshman design, and selected method(s) appropriate for UAF with general recommendations for implementation. Background research included a needs and information survey of freshmen and senior engineers, and research on methods currently used to teach design at ABET accredited colleges and universities. Eight methods for teaching design to freshman engineering students were identified. A Weighted Factor Scoring Model was used to determine which methods of teaching design were most applicable to UAF. A reverse engineering model was selected and proposed for the new freshman engineering design course. The methodology, results, and other considerations are discussed.     

From the Students' Point of View: Experiences in a Freshman Engineering Design Course

We evaluated the pilot semester of a freshman introduction to engineering course in order to provide an understanding of the students' experience in the course and identify aspects of this experience that could lead to improved student retention in engineering. The course concentrates on having students work in teams to identify customer needs, find solutions, and design and build a final product. We used qualitative research methods for data collection and analysis that included interviewing students using a set of open-ended questions, thus allowing them to introduce issues and describe their experiences. Our analysis indicated that students experienced engineering in a supportive, team-oriented environment that provided a context for making informed career decisions. The students' experiences indicate that courses such as this one can help students face the challenges they encounter in beginning their engineering education.     

A Freshman Engineering Design Course

At the University of Maryland at College Park, a new freshman engineering design course introduces design through a project approach. This approach has three phases: design, manufacturing and assembly. First, students learn basic engineering concepts by designing a simple product. Next, they manufacture and/or procure the product's components. Finally, they assemble the components and test the finished product. Since drawings for this product are part of the project, students must also learn entry-level computer graphics. Reaction to teaching design so early in the engineering curriculum has been extremely favorable. Students are highly motivated by the design approach and, as a result, learn engineering fundamentals, develop critical thinking skills, learn to cooperate as team members and gain practical hands-on experience.     

Characteristics of Freshman Engineering Students: Models for Determining Student Attrition in Engineering

Nationwide, less than half the freshman who start in engineering graduate in engineering, and at least half of this attrition occurs during the freshman year. Clearly, the freshman year is critical for both academic success and retention of engineering students. Such success depends not only on the knowledge and skills learned during this first year, but also on the attitudes individual students bring with them to college. Hence, if these attitudes can be measured before beginning college, we can develop more targeted programs for reducing attrition and improving academic success. Further, by measuring changes in student attitude over the course of the freshman year, we can develop better methods to evaluate engineering education programs. To learn more about these attitudes and how they impact upon retention, we undertook a three-year research effort. First we identified attitudes incoming students have about the field of engineering, their perceptions about the upcoming educational experience, and their confidence in their ability to succeed in engineering. These attitudes were then related to performance and retention in the freshman engineering program. To accomplish this, a closedform survey was developed, tested and administered to the 1993–94 and 1994–95 freshman engineering classes. This study demonstrated that student attitudes can provide an effective means for evaluating aspects of our freshman engineering program, particularly those relating to issues of attrition. Specifically, students who left the freshman engineering program in “good academic standing” had significantly different attitudes about engineering and themselves than those possessed by other comparison groups: students who stayed in engineering and students who left engineering in “poor academic standing.” We developed regression models to predict attrition and performance in our freshman engineering program using quantified measures of student attitudes. Implementation of the models has allowed freshman advisors to better inform students of opportunities that engineering offers, to devise better programs of study that take advantage of students' varied interests, and to set retention goals that are more realistic.     

Who Will Come: Predicting Freshman Registration Based on Decision Tree

The registration rate of freshmen has been a great concern at many colleges and universities, particularly private institutions. Traditionally, there are two inquiry methods: telephone and tuition-payment-status. Unfortunately, the former is not only time-consuming but also suffers from the fact that many students tend to keep their choices secret. On the other hand, the latter is not always feasible because only few students are willing to pay their university tuition fees in advance. It is often believed that it is impossible to predict incoming freshmen’s choice of university due to the large amount of subjectivity. However, if we look at the two major considerations a potential freshman contemplates in making a choice, such as the geographical location of the university in relation to his/her home town, and testimonies about of that college life experience by previous graduates, we believe it is possible to predict future enrollment decisions. This paper is the first to find a way to solve the problem of predicting the choice of university a freshman will attend. Our contributions include the following: 1. we present a dataset on freshman registration; 2. we propose a decision-tree-based approach for freshman registration prediction. Study results show that freshman registration is predictable.     

Web‐Based Readiness Assessment Quizzes

Student readiness to fully participate in designed educational activities is often impeded by a lack of individual preparation through assigned readings or study. However, student preparation is rarely treated as an integral part of course design. Consequently, web‐based readiness assessment quizzes were developed for three courses in biological/biosystems engineering, at the freshman and junior levels. The overall goal was to improve student preparatory reading by assessing lower‐level knowledge just prior to the class period when that knowledge is needed for higher‐level learning activities. In this way, a web‐based educational tool was utilized as an integral, rather than just supplemental, part of the course design. The quizzes were designed to simultaneously ensure/assess student preparation and guide the students toward the highest priority topics within a given unit. The quizzes were graded automatically with the results reported electronically to the instructor. Student likelihood to read assigned materials was significantly improved (P < 0.0001), based on ratings from students in three different courses over four years of using these quizzes.     

The Engage Program: Implementing and Assessing a New First Year Experience at the University of Tennessee

The Engage initiative at the University of Tennessee addresses the needs of entering engineering students through a new first year curriculum. The program integrates the engineering subject matter of the freshman year, teaches problem solving and design by application, and seeks to address the increased retention and graduation of engineering students. Noteworthy curriculum features of the Engage program include a hands‐on laboratory where students do physical homework to practice the concepts introduced in lectures, placing all freshman engineering students in a year‐long team design curriculum, and a team training course where engineering upperclassmen are trained in team facilitation techniques and placed as facilitators with the freshman design teams. The Engage program was piloted during the 1997–98 academic year with 60 students. In 1998–99, the program was scaled up to 150 students, and fully implemented with the entire freshman class of 465 students during the 1999–2000 academic year. Engage students have shown a significant increase in academic performance compared to students following a more traditional curriculum. Graduation statistics show the positive long‐term results of this effort.     

An Intervention to Address Gender Issues in a Course on Design,Engineering, and Technology for Science Educators

A course on design, engineering, and technology based on Bandura's theory of self‐efficacy was taught to nine science education graduate students who were also practicing teachers. The interpretive analysis method was used to code and analyze qualitative data from focus groups, weekly reflections on classes and readings, and pre‐, post‐, and delayed‐post course questions. The improvement in tinkering and technical self‐efficacies for five males was limited because of initially higher self‐efficacies while that for four females was moderate to high, especially when working in same‐sex teams in a non‐competitive environment. All students also increased their understanding of the societal relevance of engineering and their ability to transfer engineering concepts to pre‐college classrooms. Implementing the principles employed in this intervention in pre‐college science and university engineering classrooms could help recruit students into engineering as well as help retain both male and female undergraduate engineering students.     

Integrating Design Education,Research and Practice at Carnegie Mellon: A Multi-disciplinary Course in Wearable Computers

The Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC) at Carnegie Mellon University has created a two-semester design course that integrates research and education through industrially-sponsored design projects. Over the six semesters that the course has been taught, teams of undergraduate and graduate students have designed and fabricated five new generations of wearable computers. These computers have been delivered to industrial and government customers for use. The Wearable Computer Design course at the EDRC is cross-disciplinary and inter-departmental, drawing students from four colleges in nine disciplines including five engineering departments (chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and engineering and public policy), architecture, computer science, industrial administration and industrial design. Students in this course learn about design theory and practice, participate in research, and successfully deliver products to sponsors. The students are exposed to the design cycle from concept, to multi-disciplinary design tradeoffs, to manufacturing, and finally to customer satisfaction and user feedback. This class also serves as a testbed for learning about the needs of a multi-disciplinary design team, for anticipating the needs of geographically-distributed design teams, for reflecting on the interplay between product design and design process, and for evaluating the design tools and design methodologies that have been developed at the EDRC.     

A Comparison of Group Processes,Performance, and Satisfaction in Face‐to‐Face Versus Computer‐Mediated Engineering Student Design Teams

Industry often requires engineers to work in teams. Therefore, many university engineering courses require students to work in groups to complete a design project. Due to the increasingly global nature of engineering, opportunities for students to navigate the issues of distance, time, culture, language, and multiple perspectives associated with virtual teams are becoming particularly desirable. To understand students' experience with virtual teams in a graduate course on principles of lean manufacturing, a group of researchers at a midwestern university compared the project performance, selected group processes, and satisfaction of students randomly assigned to face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication design teams. Students in both the face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication design teams performed equally well on the final project, and reported similar patterns in group processes with a few exceptions. Students in face‐to‐face design teams were more satisfied with the group experience than those in the computer‐mediated communication design teams; however, all reported an overall positive experience.     

Assessment of the Impact of Freshman Engineering Courses*

This study evaluates whether Purdue University's freshman engineering courses supply entering students with the necessary foundation to persist in engineering because of the skills they acquire in these courses. To measure this, we evaluate longitudinal data on retention and graduation rates of students that start in the standard first semester courses, start in the off-sequence semester, or participate in our tutorial program. The study is based on historical data for the 28-year period from 1966 through 1993.     

Retention 101: Where Robots Go … Students Follow

At Indiana University—Purdue University Fort Wayne we have developed ETCS 101—Introduction to Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science, a freshman success course for students in the School of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science. The main objective of this course is to increase retention. The course aims to provide students with sufficient computer and personal development skills and to help them develop the right mental attitude conducive for academic success. Features of the course include projects of software and hardware nature, extensive use of the Internet and Web software tools, and a team‐teaching format. As the main project of this course, small teams of students design, build, program, and test an autonomous mobile robot using LEGO® parts, sensors, and the Robotic Command eXplorer (RCX) controller. This is a multidisciplinary, project‐driven learning process that encourages students to develop problem solving and teamwork skills and fosters their creativity and logic.     

Teaching Invention and Design: Multi-Disciplinary Learning Modules

This paper outlines an approach to teaching invention and design that combines engineering, social sciences and humanities. We created an experimental course with a collaborative learning environment in which students from a wide range of majors worked in teams on modules, each of which lasted for several weeks and included strong written and oral components. Standard university curricula tend to compartmentalize engineering, humanities and social sciences. But real world engineering decisions defy such compartmentalization, as students discover when they take this course. Four active learning modules from the course are described in this paper: a hands-on project based on the invention of the telephone, a computer simulator to teach driving, an energy-efficient house and a medical decision support system based on a client's needs. A thorough evaluation of the course and modules is included, as are suggestions for future improvements.     

Student Participation,Faculty Involvement,and Costs in the NGV Challenge — A Large-Scale Automotive Design Project

Large-scale automotive design projects offer an outstanding opportunity for students to obtain practical experience in engineering design. This paper reports a survey of faculty advisors for student teams participating in the Natural Gas Vehicle Challenge. About fifteen students were typically involved in the project at each university participating in the competition. Five or six were typically “key” to the project. Usually faculty advisors had a research interest in automotive engineering or alternate fuels, and they often incorporated the project into a design course. Although the funding level for such a design project varied substantially, the typical funding level was about $25,000, most of which came from local sponsors. Faculty advisors often commented on the educational value of the project and their satisfaction in working closely with students.     

团队学习、团队有效性及其影响因素研究

在探讨团队学习的影响因素中,以往研究对团队结构变量的关注较多,但对团队认知变量关注较少。该研究以现场实验的方法,将来自浙江大学某学院选修市场调查与分析课程的84名学生以自愿的方式组成3—5人的共22个项目学习团队,并对其学习过程进行了研究。结果发现,团队信任与团队学习策略对团队学习行为具有显著正效应,团队信任与团队学习策略对团队有效性具有显著正效应,团队学习行为在团队信任与团队学习策略对团队有效性的影响中具有中介作用。     

Student Learning and Gender

Using a qualitative research design and an anthropological theory of learning, I studied a sophomore design class to investigate how teams of women and men student engineers acquired and shared scientific and technical knowledge while developing solutions to real-world problems for government and industry clients. The course provided a forum where women and men students not only learned technical information critical to their project, but also learned how to function as engineers on a team. The design class improved some women students' experiences, but these opportunities did not exist for all women in the class or in all settings on the campus. In spite of its notable successes, some facets of the organization of the course, its implementation by the faculty, and students' beliefs that their work was “basically useless” detracted from collaborative aims. These findings suggest classroom practices to create and maintain an environment where all students can participate and learn.     

ESA Parabolic Flights,Drop Tower and Centrifuge Opportunities for University Students

“Fly Your Thesis!—An Astronaut Experience” is an educational programme launched by the ESA Education Office that aims to offer to European students the unique opportunity to design, build, and eventually fly, a scientific experiment as part of their Master or Ph.D. thesis. Selected teams accompany their experiments onboard the Zero-G aircraft for a series of three flights, each consisting of 30 parabolas, with each parabola providing about 20 s of microgravity. ESA Education Office financially supports the flights and part of the hardware development, as well as travel and accommodation for participants. For the first edition of this programme, four student teams were selected to participate in the 51st ESA Microgravity Research Campaign in November 2009. The 2010 edition of the programme was launched in April 2009 and the final selection was announced in January 2010. In parallel, ESA Education Office is setting up two new hands-on activities to provide European university students with access to drop tower (up to 9.3 s of microgravity) and centrifuge (from 1 to 20 times Earth’s gravity) facilities. Through ELGRA, the selected student teams are working in close contact with renowned European scientists working in gravity-related research. This paper will introduce the three new educational programmes and present the selected experiments, as well as give information to students interested in the future editions.     

A Product and Process Engineering Laboratory for Freshmen

Abstract In a new Product and Process Engineering Laboratory, teams of two or three freshman engineering students explore six engineered products or processes by playing the successive roles of user, assembler, and engineering analyst. This format provides a hands-on, collaborative learning environment to improve students' manipulative, problem-solving, and creative thinking skills. The lab also endows freshmen with a desired, early identity as engineers. Student responses to the first two offerings of the laboratory have been positive.