Building the Engineering Identity of the Lower-Division Engineer: A Formal Model for Informal Peer-to-Peer Mentorship and Student Leadership through Undergraduate Student-Led Experiential Learning
- Conference
- Location
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Portland, Oregon
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2024
- Start Date
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June 23, 2024
- End Date
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July 12, 2024
- Conference Session
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Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) - Student-Centered Approaches in Design Education
- Tagged Division
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Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED)
- Tagged Topic
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Diversity
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/48430
Paper Authors
Tela Favaloro University of California, Santa Cruz
Tela Favaloro is an associate teaching professor for the Baskin School of Engineering at UCSC where she works to establish holistic interdisciplinary programming centered in experiential learning. Her Ph.D is in Electrical Engineering with emphasis in the design and fabrication of laboratory apparatus and techniques for electro-thermal characterization as well as the design of learner-centered experiential curriculum. She is currently working to develop an inclusion-centered first-year design program in hands on design and problem-based learning to better support students as they enter the engineering fields.
Abstract
In this academic practice proceeding, we present a model for a series of approachable, skills-based courses aimed at supporting constructive engineering identity work among learners in their first year – by being largely designed and taught by upper-division undergraduate students. The students propose the learning outcomes for these First Year Design courses to target skills - both technical and professional - that they identify as valuable when navigating theory-based coursework and practice-focused extracurricular activities. Student-teachers build their course from a high-structure template centered in active and experiential pedagogy, where learners are initially “set up” with content knowledge and skills practice before being “let go” to navigate the entire engineering design cycle on a team project. Through this peer-to-peer active learning model, we not only provide real-world context for what it means to be an engineer to our lower-division nascent engineers, we also cement the engineering identity of our upper-division student-teachers by celebrating their skill as experts. Thus far, course assessments look promising: learners achieve complex team project artifacts; they value working and learning as a more diverse cohort across disciplines; they are better able to relate to engineering tracks with many joining engineering clubs; and they see themselves in the student-teachers. Many learners go on to propose and teach a First Year Design course themselves. Though this program is not without its challenges, these preliminary results suggest we are training the next generation of student-leaders, one that is more diverse and fluent in what it means to be an engineer.
Favaloro, T. (2024, June), Building the Engineering Identity of the Lower-Division Engineer: A Formal Model for Informal Peer-to-Peer Mentorship and Student Leadership through Undergraduate Student-Led Experiential Learning Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48430
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