Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 9: Focus on Student Learning, Lifelong Learning, and the Whole Student

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julianne D. Vernon, University of Michigan; Lorelle A Meadows, Michigan Technological University; Stacie Edington, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

discussion leaders; and 4) assessed learning outcomes associated with self-authorship for students enrolled in the course as compared to students outside the course.In the following sections, we describe the results of a pilot study to assess learning outcomesassociated with integrative learning, self-authorship and confidence in choosing a major.2.0 Course TransformationThe overall goal of this course transformation is to increase students’ level of self-authorshipthrough exposure to a safe and welcoming learning environment in which to discuss topics suchas their identities, values and goals, and the broad educational opportunities available at our theUniversity of Michigan. Prior to this transformation, the course was delivered as a 2-day per

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 11: Curricular and Program Innovations

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marisa Exter, Purdue University; Iryna Ashby, Purdue University; Mark Shaurette, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

experiences, new types of pressures may impact both students and their families. Toidentify some of the pressures that should be anticipated when introducing a new program, thisexploratory case study focused on the hopes, concerns, and fears of the first cohort of studentsenrolled in the first semester of a pilot program at the Purdue Polytechnic Institute – a new multi-disciplinary, hands-on, competency-based program. Since students do not act in isolation,additional considerations are given to expectations and concerns of their parents, and facultyresponse to those concerns. Students and parents were surveyed, and in-depth interviews wereconducted with both students and faculty. Qualitative and quantitative analyses found that whilethe majority of

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 10: Paying Attention to Retention

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William John Palm IV P.E., Roger Williams University; Charles R Thomas, Roger Williams University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

-engineering fields. Research on Engineering LLCshas focused primarily on student engagement. Two studies to examine performance and retentionfound that LLCs had little effect on first-semester grades but increased first-year retention inengineering by 2 to 12%. Unfortunately, one of these studies did not control for differences inincoming student characteristics, and another used a comparison group that differed little fromthe LLC group, possibly causing them to understate the LLC’s true effects. To improve ourunderstanding, this paper examines performance and retention in the inaugural EngineeringLLCs at a small, private non-profit, regional university in the northeastern United States.Results indicate that 82% of the Engineering LLC participants

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 16: That Important Decision - Which Engineering Major?

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

M. Jean Mohammadi-Aragh, Mississippi State University; James Warnock, Mississippi State University; Amy Barton, Mississippi State University; Rani Warsi Sullivan, Mississippi State University; Bill B Elmore, Mississippi State University; Jane Nicholson Moorhead, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

gathering and informed decision-makingduring the first year. Our hybrid model is targeted at students who meet all the standardadmission requirements for engineering, but do not know which degree program they want topursue. In the remainder of this paper, we describe two primary challenges for transitioning tothe hybrid model (Sections 3 and 4), the resultant introduction to engineering course that wasdeveloped and piloted in Fall 2014 (Section 5 and 6), our future trajectory for our hybrid model(Section 7).2. Institutional ContextMississippi State University is a rural, research-focused, public, land-grant institution with anenrollment of 16,500 undergraduate students and 3,700 graduate students. The college ofengineering (CoE) is the third