Conference Session

Knowing Our Students, Part 2

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mica Hutchison, Purdue University; Deborah Follman, Purdue University; George Bodner, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. Page 12.1396.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 The Changing Tides: How Engineering Environments Play a Role in Self-Efficacy Belief ModificationAbstractSelf-efficacy beliefs are the beliefs people hold about their abilities to complete the tasks thatthey deem necessary to achieve success. Efficacy beliefs influence the choices people make, theeffort they put forth, and the degree to which they persist in the face of obstacles. Attempts tounderstand how students shape their efficacy for learning are therefore invaluable to educators.Previously, we used qualitative measures to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of first-yearengineering students. That study revealed that early engineering students

Conference Session

Cognitive and Motivational Issues in Student Performance II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

P.K. Imbrie, Purdue University; Joe Jien-Jou Lin; Tayo Oladunni, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Kenneth Reid

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

into not only the predictive nature of these characteristics, but the predictivepossibilities of their interaction in attrition within engineering.Data collection and Instrumentation The sample in this study included 1,523 incoming first-year engineering students (292females, 1,231 males) at a large Midwestern university during the 2004-2005 academic year.Ethnicity was as follows: 2.05% African American, 0.51% American Native, 10.18%Asian/Pacific Islander, 2.64% Hispanic, 82.43% Caucasian, 2.20% Other. The students’ non-cognitive measures were collected across eight scales (completed priorto the freshman year): Leadership (20 items), Deep vs. Surface Learning (20 items),Teamwork (10 items), Self-efficacy (10 items), Motivation (25 items

Conference Session

Assessment and Evaluation in Engineering Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jenefer Husman, Arizona State University; Christa Lynch, Arizona State University; Jonathan Hilpert, Arizona State University; mary ann Duggan, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

new interest inunderstanding what attracts students to careers in science and engineering and what teachingstrategies can maintain interest in those careers. Validating and testing accurate measures ofstudents’ FTP can ultimately lead to meaningful contributions in this area of study. Futureresearch will reveal how well FTP predicts important outcome variables such as academicpersistence and study strategies among engineering students as well as how other well-established psychological constructs such as self-efficacy and work engagement interact withFTP. In the end, larger and more comprehensive models of motivation can be constructedthat will provide insight not only into the structure of FTP as a motivational construct, butalso into

Conference Session

Knowing our Students, Part 1

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dale Baker, Arizona State University; Stephen Krause, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

of future engineers at universities and willhave a significant impact on female engineering students.When developing an instrument to measure self-efficacy, it is also important to understand theperspectives of practitioners. Bandura1 states that the first step in creating items for a self-efficacy instrument is to draw on expert knowledge about what a person must be able to do inorder to be successful in a given pursuit. This can be done through a variety of means such asopen-ended surveys, interviews or questionnaires. The work being presented here utilized anopen-ended survey and discussions with engineers.Tinkering and Technical Self-efficacyTinkering self-efficacy refers to one's experience, competence, and comfort with manualactivities

Conference Session

Assessment and Evaluation in Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rose Marra, University of Missouri; Barbara Bogue, Pennsylvania State University; Demei Shen, University of Missouri; Kelly Rodgers, University of Missouri

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

, thestudents who participated in these studies arguably experienced different high schoolenvironments and curricula, different ratios of women to men in science and mathematics pre-college courses, and different social norms and expectations than students – both male andfemale – do today. And some more recent research reports different findings: Mau,13 in a six-year study that followed eight graders who professed intent to pursue science and engineeringcareers, found that the only reliable predictors for persistence across race/ethnicity and genderwere academic preparation and math-self efficacy. All point to a continuing need for current datacollection using a reliable and valid predominantly quantitative instrument. The AWE StudentsLeaving

Conference Session

Assessment and Evaluation in Engineering Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erol Ozan, East Carolina University; Mohammad Tabrizi, East Carolina University; Karl Wuensch, East Carolina University; Shahnaz Aziz, East Carolina University; Masao Kishore, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

dimensions, different researchers focused on different aspects of online learning.For example, some researchers have studied the effectiveness of online learning byfocusing on its implications on performance in work place. Lima et al. studied thedeterminants of effective online training to reveal how these variables affect learningperformance and transfer performance, two important elements of training effectivenessin the workplace. Their study shows that effective online education (OE) systems needease of interaction, computer self-efficacy, and efficient communication in the virtualperspective as well as institutional factors such as support of seniors and continuouslearning culture1.The question of how to assess the effectiveness of online