Conference Session

Undergraduate Student Issues II

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ann Sharon Lourens, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Port Elizabeth South Africa

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

well asacademic development to prepare WELA members for work and life. In 2013, in partnership with SCCDC colleagues, the university will embark on a longitudinalstudy to measure the self-efficacy of women engineering students before and after the WELAinterventions at the university. It is also envisaged that an international university will beinvolved in the study as from 2014. The longitudinal study will provide a clear indication of thesuccess of the WELA programme in influencing feelings of self-efficacy in women engineeringstudents who have taken part in it. To determine the success of the WELA LDP, several roleplayers will be asked to complete questionnaires, including the WELA LDP participants andtheir mentors.The results of the

Conference Session

Undergraduate Student Issues: Culture

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lorelle A Meadows, University of Michigan; Denise Sekaquaptewa, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

learning and understanding isoptimized by taking an active role in collaborative or cooperative learning settings. However,the presence of gender bias on teams has been shown to diminish the effectiveness of activeparticipation38, resulting in fewer opportunities to develop self-confidence and a sense of self-efficacy in the field. Self-efficacy is defined by social science researchers as an individual’sjudgment of his or her own abilities to accomplish a specific task or objective39. Research in theSTEM fields suggests that students with high self-efficacy show greater cognitive engagement inrelated tasks40, and set more challenging goals with stronger commitment. In addition, researchreveals that men achieve higher levels of self-efficacy in

Conference Session

Institutional Transformations

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jenna P. Carpenter, Louisiana Tech University; D. Patrick O'Neal, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

reviews of social science research,lunchtime seminars focused on gender issues, a faculty mentoring program, an allies programfor male faculty, and a worklife policy effort. Some aspects of the program have beenexpanded to address issues of women undergraduate and graduate students through seminarsfor graduate students, training for freshman faculty, and workshops for undergraduatestudents. Program assessment to-date suggests that women faculty have made some gains inwork self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Their perceptions of the quality of interactions withcolleagues have also shown improvement. Survey data suggests that more than half of thewomen faculty report increased professional self-confidence as a result of the program.Women faculty

Conference Session

Undergraduate Student Issues: Culture

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marie C Paretti, Virginia Tech; Courtney S Smith-Orr, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

experiences. In a 2001study, Besterfield-Sacre et al. found incoming male students rated themselves higher in terms of Page 23.924.2basic knowledge, problem-solving, and engineering abilities6, and a 2003 study by Bell et al.found that stereotype threat had negative consequences on test performance for womenengineering students7. Wolfe and Powell also found significant biases against feminine speechpatterns in design teams8. But in a 2005 study, Marra and Bogue report differences in self-efficacy between male and female engineering students only for math, where women reportedhigher scores9, confirming findings of other studies associated with self

Conference Session

Undergraduate Student Issues II

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristen B. Coletti, Northeastern University; Melinda Covert, Northeastern University; Paul A. DiMilla, Northeastern University; Lauren Gianino, Northeastern University; Rachelle Reisberg, Northeastern University; Emily Wisniewski, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

statement to their peers of their academic failures.4 Students who are notconfident in their ability to perform well in a course are more likely to seek help than their moreconfident peers.7 A 2004 study done at Texas A&M University demonstrated that students whowere more engaged in supplemental instruction had significantly lower self-efficacy, butachieved higher final course grades.7The personality of the tutor is also an important factor students consider when seeking extrahelp.5 Students feel that traits associated with a good tutor are empathy, patience, sensitivity,diplomacy, friendliness, intuitiveness, supportiveness, responsiveness, and care.8 If students feelthat tutors are arrogant or not empathetic to their concerns, they are