Paper ID #43944Community College Support for Engineering Students: Reflective JournalingAnalysisDr. Cory Brozina, Youngstown State University Dr. Cory Brozina is an associate professor and the Director of First-Year Engineering at Youngstown State University. He completed his B.S. and M.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech, and his PhD is in Engineering Education, also from Virginia Tech. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024 Community college support for engineering students: Reflective journaling analysisIntroductionThis research
campustransitions. We recruited from dual credit (e.g., “Running Start”) programs, incoming transfer studentsfrom local two-year institutions, and pre-major STEM students. In the course, we includedtransformational experiences and personal artifacts as a way to enhance research identity and buildcommunity. The personal artifacts were used as a tool to allow students to share an aspect of themselveswith the research class.Student worksheets and reflective essays were collected to assess identity related tasks and reflections inthe course. Students completed a survey about the class experience, with 100% of students reportingagreement that the class had a positive sense of community and collaboration.IntroductionThe transition from a two year institution to
careers atcommunity colleges. These workshops respond to the need for professional development ofgraduate students pertaining to potential faculty career paths. The workshops also provideparticipating students with a career reflection from a community college faculty and a paneldiscussion regarding aspects of faculty responsibilities, student populations, and the overallenvironment at community colleges.At the end of the workshop, prospective students are asked to sign up for a follow-up experience.A select number of students who participated in the workshop are paired with faculty mentors forclassroom observation visits. The mentors provide support by scheduling meetings before andafter the observations along with adequate resources and
reflect regularly to guide their own improvement. While focusing on one area ata time – be it asking ‘better’ questions, building rapport, identifying signs of a fixed mindset, orany other aspect of tutoring – tutors are able to incrementally improve – and share their progresswith their Elevate cohort.Finally, Elevate trains Tutor Fellows to try to “work themselves out of a job.” This is whatdifferentiates them from many other tutors. Often, tutors will answer questions directly. Theywill explain things as magic… out of thin air. Elevate attempts to minimize the distribution of“magic beans” because each time they are gifted, the student becomes more dependent on thetutor – which is the opposite of what should be sought. In reality, the student
improved with effort (i.e., is not seen as inherent talent) and then wrote about how this type ofmindset can apply to their own life [12, 13]. For example, in Fink et al. [12], chemistryundergraduate students completed reflections describing how the growth mindset articles couldbe useful for their upcoming exams. Students’ responses were qualitatively coded to identifythemes, with results highlighting the strategies that students had developed as a result of theintervention [12]. This type of qualitative coding is important because it allows us to understandhow students incorporated the intervention’s message into their personal lives. However, there islimited research that explains the extent to which these responses are directly related
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023Demographics, Graduation, and RetentionThe demographics for the Engineering Academies have been consistently thesame or higher than the full university admitted engineering students. Mostspecifically the underserved population has consistently been higher. This isdirectly related to the recruiting outreach targeting the non-traditionalstudents and bringing the “start local – save money – graduate an engineer”message to the students that didn’t previously believe they had the chance tobe engineers.The chart below reflects the total demographic from 2015-2023 as an averagethroughout the first 8 years of the academies. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2024
meetings with mentors; extensiveprofessional development seminars; formal research training including daily reflection journals,poster presentations and technical writing with a faculty member. REU students completed twodeliverables: a research project and an open-ended Arduino engineering design project. Initially,students chose their research projects from a list of available opportunities. Once a match wassecured, students worked in their research labs daily with their graduate student and facultymentors.A list of students’ engineering research projects included:1. Accelerating Operations on Graph Neural Network2. Computational Design of Single Atom Catalysts for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction3. Information Theory to Pinpoint Causal Links
), an HSI in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. In year one, Cohort Apiloted the PD modules in Tier 1 which featured reflective exercises and small culturallyresponsive activities to try with their STEM students. In year two, Cohort A piloted the PDmodules in Tier 2 and peer-mentored Cohort B as they piloted optimizations introduced to Tier 1from Cohort A feedback. Three types of optimizations came from faculty feedback. The firstconsidered feedback regarding delivery and/or nature of the content that influenced a subsequentmodule. The second involved making changes to a particular module before it was delivered toanother faculty cohort. The third takes into account what worked and what didn’t to decidewhich content to bring into
, bridge programs, transfersupport, undergraduate research, industry and faculty mentors, and conference and writingworkshops. These each contribute to the S-STEM community college success as they navigatetheir career in the community college and their goals beyond. The breadth and depth of differentsupport reflects the unique needs of the campus where the S-STEM grant originated. Eachcampus or consortium of campuses creates their own program and therefore emphasizes differentapproaches to curricular and co-curricular supports.Lack of theory focussed program in implementation of S-STEM Program 2 Through the systematic literature review, we
attended the Bridge remotely, still found the experiencetransformational. In a case study interview conducted by Ruxton Consulting, one student attributedtheir success to the Bridge saying, “I really think I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be studyingengineering without the creation of the Bridge program.” (Ruxton Consulting Evaluation Reportpresented to the PI, 2022).Students also reflected on how their effort, within the structure of the Bridge, contributed to theirimproved self-efficacy in math. As one student shared, “It's not a test of your finances, or yourbrains. It's a test of how hard you can work, and I think that's a great factor to measure someoneby.” Another student acknowledged how much work was ultimately needed in order to be readyfor
at orientation and post surveys on the last day of the program. Thestudy was developed to understand student background, how the bridge program can impact theirgrowth, and the impact of the bridge program on their preparation for the academic year.Some significant findings from surveys: • There were no schools who had significantly different distributions of answers between pre and post. Growth Sector is working with SRI International to alter the tool for future studies. This could be in part due to the short nature of the Bridge program. Additionally, this could reflect the recruitment of many students who already are decided on a STEM field. • Overwhelmingly, students said their experience in the Summer Bridge
, instructors, staff, and administratorscan observe data directly from the students, allowing them to make more informed decisionsabout the programs, courses, and curricula they offer within their departments.Methods This paper describes the results of a mixed methods explanatory design-based researchand development project involving the implementation of project interventions in authenticcontexts for iterative, real-world data collection and analysis. The initial survey was a modified version of the original MAE [2]. Modificationsincluded changing verbiage to reflect the course in which the SPECTRA students were involved.The original survey was meant to be taken in core curriculum classes for each participant'sdegree program. The new
Decisions Module 3: Your Income and Module 8: Managing Module 13: Buying a Home Expenses Debt Module 4: Your Spending Module 9: Using Credit Module 14: Disasters – Financial and Savings Plan Cards Preparation and Recovery Module 5: Your Savings Module 10: Building Your Financial FutureDue to space constraints, this paper will review the contents of Modules 1, 3, 4, and 6 of the abovetable:Module 1: Your Money Values and Influences:This module emphasizes understanding personal values and how they impact financial decision-making. It encourages students to reflect on their attitudes towards money, spending habits, andlong-term
Number of Students Exciting Neutral BoringGraph 3 – Rating of the core components used by the DoSeum cohort. Somegames do not total 12 evaluations because students were instructed to answer N/A ifthey were absent for a particular game, and thus had not played with it.Following the success of this camp, The DoSeum continues to implement the corecomponents as supplemental activities in other camps across all disciplines for ages 8-11. The tic tac totem series are the most popular core-component supplementalactivities – which is also reflected in Graph 3.LCATS implementationThe LCATS Program [27], offered by the WEX Foundation, is a 3-year NASA-commissioned program that allows middle and high school
and thetransition process. This seems to be reflected in interview data from SPECTRA students. Theygreatly enjoy the research and CI classes they take and are enthusiastic about sharing theirprojects and experience. One student credited their experience with SPECTRA research towanting to pursue graduate school in the future. Example quotes from students highlighting SPECTRA Benefits and undergraduate research “it really has opened me up to the idea of graduate school. I came from a two-year technical college and I was like, go to Clemson and get my degree. Bachelor's, call it quits work, but I'm beginning to work and do this research has really got me thinking about maybe, I could do this. I could go to graduate school, seeing what it's like
much-needed environments to foster success.AcknowledgmentsThis material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under AwardNumber #REDACTED. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressedin this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NationalScience Foundation.References[1] X. Wang, “Upward Transfer in STEM Fields of Study: A New Conceptual Framework and Survey Instrument for Institutional Research,” New Dir. Institutional Res., vol. 2016, no. 170, pp. 49–60, Dec. 2016, doi: 10.1002/ir.20184.[2] Sansing-Helton, Coover, and Benton Jr, “Increasing STEM Transfer Readiness Among Underrepresented Minoritized Two-Year College Students
NationalScience Foundation research. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendationsexpressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of theOffice of Naval Research or the National Science Foundation.References[1] B. K. Townsend and K. Wilson, “A hand to hold for a little bit: Factors facilitating thesuccess of community college transfer students to a large research university,” Journal ofCollege Student Development, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 439-456, 2006. [Online]. Available:https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2006.0052.[2] D. D. Buie, “Beyond a deficit view: Understanding the experiences of first-generationstudents who participate in college access and success community-based organizations,” Ed.D.dissertation
completing freshman andsophomore level math, physics and engineering courses in order to complete their Bachelor’sdegree, with the majority of students transferring to the University of Washington (all 3campuses, which includes UWT). The pandemic has led to a decline in enrollment andpersistence of engineering degree seekers as the number of students facing financial pressures towork and support family increased. Additionally, mental health related issues, which are knownto disproportionately affect low-income students, spiked, further exacerbating the challenges thatthese students were facing. This reflects trends at the national level that show a decrease instudents’ financial security and well-being as indicated by employment status
, play a crucial role ineducating and training engineers in the southeastern region [50], [51]. The state's commitment toengineering education is reflected in the development of pre-college engineering curricula, theestablishment of specialized engineering facilities, and the implementation of programs aimed atbridging technical skills gaps between high school students and local employers [52]. Florida'suniversities, designated as R1 or R2 in Figure 1, exhibit varying degrees of research intensity.These universities typically have robust research programs across various engineering disciplines,such as materials science, power systems, and micro aerial vehicle aerodynamics [53], [54].2.5. Benchmarking Student Success for Institutional