Conference Session

First-year Programs Poster Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder; Beverly Louie, University of Colorado, Boulder; Jordan Michelle Hornback, University of Colorado at Boulder

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

First-Year Engineering Projects CoursesFirst-Year Engineering Projects Courses (FYEP) courses have been found to produce significantretention gains. [1] Investigation is on-going into the reasons driving theses retention gains.Possible reasons include the development of self-efficacy, involvement in learning communities,the bolstering of professional identity, project-based learning and the unique set of skillspossessed by the teacher of the FYEP course. The present study investigates the last of thesereasons, the impact of the FYEP teacher on the course experiences that lead to retention.At a flagship western state university, the retention in engineering of seventeen cohorts ofstudents is found to be significantly greater for those who have

Conference Session

First-year Programs Poster Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Reap, Virginia Tech; Holly M. Matusovich, Virginia Tech; Rachel A. Louis, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

opportunity to complete thechallenges and others were not. In all cases, participation in challenges was voluntary. Weimplemented a pre/post survey design using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire(MSLQ), a reliable and valid survey instrument designed to assess motivation in college courses.The MSLQ contains sub-scales for a variety of motivation constructs including goal orientations,task values, and self-efficacy. Though posttest response rates proved too low to yieldstatistically significant comparisons, quantitizing responses from open-ended qualitative datayielded meaningful results. In particular, our study shows the importance of providingchallenges that are of an appropriate difficulty level for the students based on their

Conference Session

FPD VI: Presenting "All the Best" of the First-year Programs Division

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lorelle A. Meadows, University of Michigan; Robin Fowler, University of Michigan; Elizabeth S. Hildinger, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

provide a general overview of student perceptions, the questions on theevaluation fail to address some interesting aspects of student motivation and choice. To addressthis shortcoming, a survey instrument was created and implemented in paper form at the end ofthe Winter 2011 semester in 9 of 11 sections of the course offered that semester, with usableresponses from 420 students (of 499 students enrolled in these sections). Responses wereanonymous and participation was encouraged, but voluntary. The collected data was analyzed inaggregate to determine how students were selecting their section of Engineering 100 and toassess their perceptions of the impact of the specific course they had just completed on theirsense of self-efficacy as an engineer

Conference Session

FPD V: Increasing Engagement and Motivation of First-year Students

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katherine S. Zerda, University of Houston; Diana G. de la Rosa-Pohl, University of Houston; Stuart A. Long, University of Houston; Fritz J. Claydon, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

.” “The MacGyver projects were fun and effective ways to introduce basic concepts of engineering.” “The projects taught me a lot about teamwork.” “Working in groups because it teaches communication and group skills” Page 25.749.7Figure 2. Persistence of FTIC Engineering students from the AY 2007 cohort enrolled inProject-based First-Year engineering courses compared to peers enrolled in non-PBL lectureformat introductory courses.Additional surveys indicate that PBL students perceive that they have gained both in technicalcompetencies and in self-efficacy through their experiences in class. They express that they aremore

Conference Session

FPD IV: Innovative Curriculum Elements of Successful First-year Courses

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian M. Argrow, University of Colorado, Boulder; Beverly Louie, University of Colorado, Boulder; Daniel W. Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder; Nathan E. Canney, University of Colorado, Boulder; Suzana Brown, University of Colorado, Boulder; Adam J. Blanford, University of Colorado, Boulder; Corrina Ladakis Gibson, University of Colorado, Boulder; Eric Donnelly Kenney

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

least to you, and why?”; “Recall Majors EssayAssignments #1 and #2, will the chats that you had with classmates impact your decision foryour major choice? How?”; “Have you made a major choice? Why or why not?”By Week 6 most first-year students have received grades for the first set of calculus, physics, andchemistry exams. For some students, their first exam scores in these basic science and mathcourses are their first taste of the reality of college-level academic expectations, and it is wellknown that this is when many students choose to leave the College, who might otherwise besuccessful given the time to develop strategies for academic success and self-efficacy.5,6Recognizing this critical juncture in the students’ first year, the plenary

Conference Session

FPD IX: Research on First-year Programs Part III

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Federica Robinson-Bryant, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

of contemporary issues.Quoting one student, “[Blogging] can be very useful in engineering courses and other collegelevel courses, given the right direction. Blogging should not so much be an assignment as anopportunity to pose questions, discuss challenging concepts or topics, or merely expressing one'sopinions.” An ability to balance this notion should prove beneficial to future attempts to applyblogging to engineering courses.7. References1. Cisco. (2011) The Cisco Connected World Technology Report.2. Papastergiou, M. Gerodimos, V. & Antoniou, P. Multimedia blogging in physical education: Effects on student knowledge and ICT self-efficacy. Computers & Education, 57 (2011) 1998–2010.3. Saeed, N., Yang, Y., & Sinnappan, S

Conference Session

FPD VII: Research on First-year Programs Part II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janet Callahan, Boise State University; Doug Bullock, Boise State University; Seung Youn Chyung, Boise State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

toapply this “reasonableness” judgment? At some point, I developed this expertise. Howcan we teach this to freshmen?Observation #9, Self-Efficacy Matters: I am confident in my mathematical abilitiesnow and it makes a difference in my classroom mentality. Knowing you can actuallyperform, given enough time is a great feeling. As instructors, the things that we can do tobuild up the self-efficacy of our students in terms of their ability to apply what they’vebeen learning, are important. Here’s an example of how my professor enables masteryexperiences, which help shape self-efficacy7. He has 100% of his old exams – and theirsolutions – on his website, with statistics of student performance on each question. Thisallows students to practice problems

Conference Session

FPD III: Innovation in Design in the First Year

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ann Saterbak, Rice University; Mark Embree, Rice University; Maria Oden, Rice University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

with many common tools andbecome more familiar with the OEDK and its resources. During the prototyping phase of ENGI120, the fabrication mentors offer office hours in the OEDK to help the design teams constructand test their prototypes.Assessment of ENGI 120 ProgramStudent SurveysAssessment was conducted at the end of the semester. In the survey, student perception onimprovements in skills, including engineering design, problem-solving, technical writing, andteamwork was probed. Student’s self-efficacy toward engineering and their decision-makingregarding an engineering major were also probed. The authors recognize that these data are self-reported, and may not reflect actual improvement in skills.The students’ perceptions of how they are

Conference Session

FPD IV: Innovative Curriculum Elements of Successful First-year Courses

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John C. Moosbrugger, Clarkson University; Jan DeWaters, Clarkson University; Melissa Carole Richards, Clarkson University; Elisabeth A. Chapman, Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

instruments include (references 9-10); as well as the APPLES (Academic Pathways of People LearningEngineering Survey), created by the CAEE (Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education) project andavailable online at http://caee-aps.stanford.edu/phpESP/admin/manage.php; and the LAESE (Longitudinal Page 25.34.8Assessment of Engineering Self-Efficacy) survey versions 3.0 (copyright 2006) and 3.1 (copyright 2007), which areproducts of AWE (Assessing Women and Men in Engineering), available online at www.aweonline.org.Student responses to each item were entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for analysis.Likert-type responses were