Beem, H., & Ampomah, C. O. A., & Takyi, J. P. K., & Adomdza, G. (2023, June),          A preliminary exploration of the relevance of self-efficacy, self-determination, and agency in describing the first-year African engineering students’ experience  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42268

\bibitem{asee_peer_42268}
  Beem, H., \& Ampomah, C. O. A., \& Takyi, J. P. K., \& Adomdza, G. (2023, June), \emph{         A preliminary exploration of the relevance of self-efficacy, self-determination, and agency in describing the first-year African engineering students’ experience}
  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland.
  10.18260/1-2--42268

Heather Beem, Charity Obaa Afi Ampomah, Jeremiah Paul Konadu Takyi, and Gordon Adomdza.  "         A preliminary exploration of the relevance of self-efficacy, self-determination, and agency in describing the first-year African engineering students’ experience".  2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2023.  https://strategy.asee.org/42268 Internet.  02 May, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_42268}
  Heather Beem, Charity Obaa Afi Ampomah, Jeremiah Paul Konadu Takyi, and Gordon Adomdza.
  "         A preliminary exploration of the relevance of self-efficacy, self-determination, and agency in describing the first-year African engineering students’ experience".
  \emph{2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2023.
  https://strategy.asee.org/42268 Internet.  02 May, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_42268
author = "Heather Beem, Charity Obaa Afi Ampomah, Jeremiah Paul Konadu Takyi, and Gordon Adomdza"
title = "         A preliminary exploration of the relevance of self-efficacy, self-determination, and agency in describing the first-year African engineering students’ experience"
booktitle = "2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2023"
month = "June"
address = "Baltimore , Maryland"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://strategy.asee.org/42268}
number = {10.18260/1-2--42268}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - African engineering students' academic prospects may be limited by stereotype threat and rote memorization (Beem, 2022). Project-based learning can present as causality to increasing these students' self-efficacy (Beem, 2021). Students are likely experiencing multiple significant changes in the first year of their university learning journey, perhaps beyond self-efficacy. For example, they may be nurturing the skill of thoughtful and planned decision-making and leveraging their interest and passion in driving them to academic success.

This research paper explores the relevance of various frameworks in describing the transformations that the African first-year engineering student uncovers, especially as they go through hands-on, design-build experiences. These frameworks and constructs include but are not limited to self-determination, agency, self-authorship, validation theory, and capacity to aspire. 

The incoming batch of first-year students at XX University in Ghana (N=135) was administered a pre-course survey. The survey gathered students' information on their past design-build experience and assessed their self-efficacy, self-determination, and agency levels through Likert Scale responses. First, a single-factor ANOVA, t-Test, and Hedge's test analyses were used to compare the frameworks and ascertain which was dominant. Secondly, the same analysis was done after disaggregating the results, based on students' past design-build experiences.

A single-factor ANOVA on the three frameworks gave a p-value of 6.7879E-05, representing significant differences. A further comparison between frameworks showed that students rated themselves significantly higher on the self-determination metrics than self-efficacy and agency. Self-determination was substantially higher than self-efficacy, and with a medium-effect size (p=4.8371E-05, g=0.5). Self-determination was also significantly higher than agency, and with a medium-effect size (p=1.7155E-04, g=0.5). Conversely, no statistically significant difference between agency and self-efficacy was found. Further analysis indicates significant differences (p=1.9566E-04) between students' responses to having and not having past design-build experience. 

These results suggest that self-determination may be the most relevant framework, of the three in question, in describing the initial attitude and mindset adopted by first-year students starting their coursework at XX University. The second analysis indicates there is a likelihood that students rely on their past design-build experience to be self-confident, self-determined, and agentic. However, these preliminary results may be limited by how questions were framed to measure students' sense of agency and self-determination. The results indicate that aside technical skills students gain through project-based learning, certain traits such as self-determination and agency are nurtured. 

AU  - Heather Beem
AU  - Charity Obaa Afi Ampomah
AU  - Jeremiah Paul Konadu Takyi
AU  - Gordon Adomdza
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  -          A preliminary exploration of the relevance of self-efficacy, self-determination, and agency in describing the first-year African engineering students’ experience
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/42268
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--42268
ER  -