Conference Session

FPD IX: Research on First-Year Programs and Students, Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rachelle Reisberg, Northeastern University; Joseph A. Raelin, Northeastern University; Margaret B. Bailey, Rochester Institute of Technology; Jerry Carl Hamann, University of Wyoming; David L. Whitman, University of Wyoming; Leslie K. Pendleton, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

allengineering students have some form of work experience, though not necessarily provided bytheir colleges. Contextual support was measured as the support provided to students in their firstyear through a number of mechanisms, in particular, financial aid, mentors, advisors, family,friends, teachers, profession, campus life, and living-learning communities.This paper first presents the background, conceptual framework, and methodology of the study.Next, we describe the results to date regarding the effect of contextual support, in conjunctionwith descriptive measures of respondent demographics, on self-efficacy. We then conclude byreviewing significant findings of the study thus far and describe future plans of this ongoingstudy of pathways to

Conference Session

FPD V: Gender and Engineering Education: A Panel Discussion and Workshop

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yevgeniya V. Zastavker, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Debbie Chachra, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Caitrin Lynch, Olin College of Engineering; Alisha L. Sarang-Sieminski, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Lynn Andrea Stein, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs, Women in Engineering

faculty in 2003. Her current research interests are twofold: as well as her research in biological materials (cur- rently focused on bioderived plastics synthesized by bees), she also researches the engineering student experience, including persistence and migration, differences by gender, and the role of self-efficacy in project-based learning. In 2010, she received an NSF CAREER Award in support of her research on engineering education.Caitrin Lynch, Olin College of Engineering Caitrin Lynch is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. Her research concerns gender, work, aging, and globalization, with a focus the United States and Sri Lanka. She is the author of the book

Conference Session

FPD IX: Research on First-Year Programs and Students, Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jae Hoon Lim, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Patricia A. Tolley, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Kimberly Warren, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Peter Thomas Tkacik, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

institutions are committed to the intellectual and social growth of students; that is, theyare committed to their education and not just retention.Community BuildingThe ability to successfully adjust to the emotional, cognitive, and social challenges of living onone‟s own for the first time, develop new friends and support networks, examine personal valuesand beliefs, explore various career options, and choose/succeed in a major is dependent on robustself-efficacy.24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34 Self-efficacy is the belief in one‟s ability to organize andexecute courses of action to achieve specific outcomes.24 The rigor of the engineering curriculumaffects self-efficacy appraisals and students‟ choices about persisting in the major, particularlyfor

Conference Session

FPD 3: Research on First-year Programs and Students, Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Holly M. Matusovich, Virginia Tech; Brett D. Jones, Virginia Tech; Marie C. Paretti, Virginia Tech; Jacob Preston Moore, Virginia Tech; Deirdre-Annaliese Nicole Hunter, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

learning, theyhave the ability to make choices and are able to manage their interaction with the learningenvironment. Empowered students generally exhibit higher levels of motivation.The usefulness component specifies that students are more motivated when they understand howcourse activities relate to their short- or long-term goals. With respect to the success componentof the model, students must believe that they can succeed if they have the required knowledgeand skills and put forth the appropriate effort. Furthermore, students are more motivated whenthey feel challenged by a task that is not too easy or too hard. Self-perceptions of competence arecentral to many motivation theories, such as self-concept theory,22 self-efficacy theory,23, 24

Conference Session

FPD XI: Assessing First-Year Programs, Experiences, and Communities

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marie C. Paretti, Virginia Tech; Kelly J. Cross, Virginia Tech University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

or problem-solving tasks) and retention measures. It is also important to note that this category includesassessment related to retention after the first year and to motivation (measured either throughsomewhat generic ‘student satisfaction’ surveys or through established motivation frameworkssuch as expectancy-value or self-efficacy).Assessment related to design and problem-solving practices also took a variety of forms, and inmany instances was linked to retention issues as well as to professional skills such as teamwork.Researchers included assessment related to design process knowledge, confidence in design-related tasks, and project outcomes.Beyond these two core issue, researchers reported localized assessment efforts around a numberof

Conference Session

FPD IX: Research on First-Year Programs and Students, Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Casey Canfield, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Brittany Strachota, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Yevgeniya V. Zastavker, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

performance.In just this short exercise, where the student primarily experiences organizational and proceduralautonomy, she expresses the sense of increased attainment value and potentially higherexpectancy.10,15 While high levels of structure is expected from the lecture portion of thecurriculum, the labs allow students to engage in some SDL activities. To emphasize the range ofstudent perspectives, it is important to note that this student reports that she had learned morethrough an SDL approach while the previous student indicates he had learned less despite ahigher level autonomy Clearly, students have varying comfort levels with the unstructured natureof SDL experiences and may misjudge their resulting competency and expectancy (e.g., self-efficacy

Conference Session

FPD IV: Improving Student Success: Mentoring, Intervening, and Supplementing

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig J. Scott, Morgan State University; Yacob Astatke, Morgan State University; Jumoke 'Kemi Ladeji-Osias, Morgan State University; Carl White, Morgan State University; Myra W. Curtis, Morgan State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

improve the pedagogy and student experiences in lower divisionundergraduate engineering programs, through collaborations among engineering, education,psychology, language arts, and mathematics faculty. This is accomplished by: developing facultywho possess and incorporate the most effective pedagogical techniques in the classroom, using indepth psychological strategies that consider self efficacy, integrating technology, whereappropriate, leveraging differentiated instruction and formative assessment and using acoordinated and integrated strategy. This paper reveals our findings on reducing the time it takesto prepare our students for Calculus I, henceforth improving retention statistics, throughpromoting teaching and learning through

Conference Session

FPD XI: Assessing First-Year Programs, Experiences, and Communities

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bart M. Johnson, Itasca Community College; Ronald R. Ulseth, Itasca Community College; Gordy Savela, Itasca Community College; Mason A. Hansen, Itasca Community College; Julie Kennedy, P.E., Itasca Community College

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

., Padilla, M., Zhang, G., Ohland, M., Anderson, T., Graduation Rates, Grade-Point Average, and Changes of Major of Female and Minority Students. Proceedings from 35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference October 19-22, 2005, Indianapolis, IN Session T3D IEEE# 0-7803-9077-6/0510. Wilson, K. L., Boldizar, J. P. (1990). Gender segregation in higher education: Effects of aspirations, mathematics achievement, and income. Sociology of Education, 63, 62–74.11. NAE (National Academy of Engineering). 2005. Enhancing the Community College Pathway to Engineering Careers. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.12. Chemers, M.M., Li-tze, H., and Garcia, B.F., “Academic Self-Efficacy and First-year College Student

Conference Session

FPD IV: Improving Student Success: Mentoring, Intervening, and Supplementing

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dianne Raubenheimer, North Carolina State University; Jerome P. Lavelle, North Carolina State University; Monica Terrell Leach, North Carolina State University; Steven L. White, North Carolina State University ; Philip Albert Moses, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

students were initiallyconcerned about being seen as weak students in class and felt it was important to demonstratecompetence to others. However, these two goals were significantly lower by the end of thesemester, indicating that they decided that it was not so important if people thought they wereweak students. They may also have become more willing ask for help.For the spring 2010 students, significantly higher ratings were seen for the Academic Efficiencyand the Mastery Goal Orientation constructs. This suggests that these students gainedconfidence in their ability to master difficult work, to study more effectively and in theiracademic self-efficacy

Conference Session

FPD II: Increasing Engagement and Motivation of First-Year Students

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Holly M. Matusovich, Virginia Tech; Walter Curtis Lee, Virginia Tech ; John Andrew Janeski, Virginia Tech; Katherine E. Winters, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

of these needs lead to greater psychological well-being. Asshown in Figure 1, we hypothesize that classroom instructors and environment factors contributeto students’ fulfillment of autonomy, competence and relatedness needs, which in turn contributeto greater motivation as measured through self-reported course engagement.Figure 1: Proposed relationship between classroom environment, SDT constructs and students’engagement in lecture and workshop activitiesResearch on Student Autonomy, Competence, and RelatednessAlthough much of the work exploring self-determination among students is quantitative andfocuses on primary and secondary school students, such research has shown promising tiesbetween need fulfillment and indicators of course

Conference Session

FPD 3: Research on First-year Programs and Students, Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Odis Hayden Griffin Jr. P.E., East Carolina University; Sandie J. Griffin

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs