Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Developing Professional and Career Readiness

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abigail N. Lehto, Utah State University; Ning Fang, Utah State University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

soft-skills, such as time management andcommunicating directly with mentors. They also noticed strengths in students’ ability to askrelevant questions. Lastly, mentors were cognizant of students’ level of education whenmentoring and assigning tasks.Connecting learning topics to industry recommendations is expected in engineering education.The current study’s findings will help engineering educators understand what skills industrymentors look for in engineering interns and potential employees. Engineering educators can thenincorporate the training of these skills into their lessons.Introduction of research backgroundsIn the engineering industry, it is common for companies to hire student interns to help withvarious tasks. At the beginning of a

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED) Poster Session

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Hudnall McGehee, University of Arkansas; Bryce Williams, University of Arkansas; Alyssandra P Navarro, University of Arkansas; Mostafa Elsaadany, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

reported feeling prepared and confident in conducting these informational interviews (M =3.82).Qualitative Analysis Both user-focused and AI-assisted thematic analysis of open-response questions providedinitial insights into the effectiveness of the interviews. The most common themes identified bythe generative AI for the open-response question are as follows: networking, interviewscheduling, career awareness, and soft skills. These results aligned well with the user-focusedanalysis of frequency. The survey respondents reported the importance of networking andbuilding professional relationships, emphasizing the significance of soft-skill development,which consists of effective communication and confidence. However, one challenge

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Developing Professional and Career Readiness

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laurie A. Sutch, University of Michigan; Caitlin Hayward

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

courses the students take.In all implementations, students can earn a badge that can be shared as a LinkedIn credential thathighlights their mastery of specific competencies for public view. The visual design of thecredential is the same across the units, with custom text and graphics paired with the universitylogo.This work in progress paper will share the background and development of the tool as well asdiscuss the various implementations and future plans.IntroductionBuilding professional competencies – or “soft skills” – is a key aspect of the higher educationstudent experience, and students engage with these competencies both in and out of theclassroom. However, some students may not initially recognize the importance of thesenon-technical

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Assessment, Curriculum & Instructional Design

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lynne P Cooper PhD, Vanderbilt University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

competition based on the performance of their design. • The performance at recruitment for a club or fraternity can determine the financial viability of the organization • How well they perform their work during an internship or Co-Op today impacts the customers of that work and determines what new opportunities they’ll be offered.Other than through grades and the long-term goal of learning, engineering class assignments donot routinely provide the level of realness needed to make the same type of direct, immediateimpact. Nor can that be reasonably expected relative to the technical skills being developed. It ispossible, however, to incorporate activities with a high degree of realness when it comes topromoting the soft skills

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Models, Methods & Frameworks for Experiential Learning

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Justin C Willis, University of Maine, Advanced Structures and Composites Center.

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

: • Fixed - Common to all ASCC pathways • Shared - Created for another micro-credential pathway under development, included for credit in the Mechanical Testing pathway as well • Unique - Core to this topic Fixed requirements are those determined to be beneficial for student learning andemployability, regardless of research area or specialization students work in during their ASCCresearch. These include 21st century, safety and soft skills, in addition to work hour requirements.While the hours worked at the ASCC by the student will not all be spent working on microcredential content, they are used to demonstrated continued and cumulative research experience.If the student wishes to

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Identity, Motivation & Belonging in Experiential Learning

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adithya Jayakumar, The Ohio State University; Yuvraj Singh, The Ohio State University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

-classroom engineering project experiences through student organizations andcompetitions have been offered at universities across the world for many decades. Whileinstructor-led “traditional” teaching approach in engineering classrooms is essential fordeveloping analytical rigor among students, it may be insufficient for preparing them to solvecomplicated socio-technical problems that engineers often face in the real world [1]. As a result,project experience in college helps to develop systems-level thinking abilities that engineers needto solve open-ended problems [1]. Overall, this type of project experience has led to a higherself-perception of development of soft skills such as problem solving, creativity, critical thinking,integrity, teamwork

Conference Session

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED): Models, Methods & Frameworks for Experiential Learning

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Olga Pierrakos, Wake Forest University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)

accommodates diverse learning styles and helps develop soft skills crucialfor professional success (Haritha & Rao, 2024). Mathematical modeling of Kolb's cycle hasrevealed its robustness in accommodating students' varying learning abilities (Abdulwahed et al.,2008). Recent studies using ethnography have identified key themes in experiential learning forengineering students, including cooperative learning, consistency, relevance, simulation, andtransparency (Mehta & Mehta, 2023).Situated Learning Theory (SLT) supports experiential learning in higher education andengineering by emphasizing contextual, authentic environments for skill development (Castillo& Harris, 2024; Gómez et al., 2015). This approach enhances students' ability to