An Interdisciplinary Research Group’s Collaboration to Understand First-Year Engineering Retention
- Conference
- Location
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Tampa, Florida
- Publication Date
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June 15, 2019
- Start Date
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June 15, 2019
- End Date
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June 19, 2019
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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First-Year Programs
- Page Count
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17
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--32073
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/32073
- Download Count
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574
Paper Authors
Teresa Lee Tinnell
University of Louisville
orcid.org/0000-0002-2768-919X
Terri Tinnell is a Curriculum and Instruction PhD student and Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Louisville. Her research interests include interdisciplinary faculty development, STEM identity, retention of engineering students, the use of makerspaces in engineering education.
Campbell R. Bego
University of Louisville
orcid.org/0000-0002-8125-3178
Campbell Rightmyer Bego is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Cognitive Science at the University of Louisville. She researches STEM learning with a focus on math learning and spatial representations. Ms. Bego is also assisting the Engineering Fundamentals Department in the Speed School in performing student retention research. She is particularly interested in interventions and teaching methods that alleviate working memory constraints and increase both learning retention and student retention in engineering. Ms. Bego is also a registered professional mechanical engineer in New York State.
Patricia A. Ralston University of Louisville
Dr. Patricia A. S. Ralston is Professor and Chair of the Department of Engineering Fundamentals at the University of Louisville. She received her B.S., MEng, and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Louisville. Dr. Ralston teaches undergraduate engineering mathematics and is currently involved in educational research on the effective use of technology in engineering education, the incorporation of critical thinking in undergraduate engineering education, and retention of engineering students. She leads a research group whose goal is to foster active interdisciplinary research which investigates learning and motivation and whose findings will inform the development of evidence-based interventions to promote retention and student success in engineering. Her fields of technical expertise include process modeling, simulation, and process control.
Jeffrey Lloyd Hieb University of Louisville
Jeffrey L. Hieb is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Fundamentals at the University of Louisville. He graduated from Furman University in 1992 with degrees in Computer Science and Philosophy. After 10 years working in industry, he returned to school, completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science Engineering at the University of Louisville’s Speed School of Engineering in 2008. Since completing his degree, he has been teaching engineering mathematics courses and continuing his dissertation research in cyber security for industrial control systems. In his teaching, Dr. Hieb focuses on innovative and effective use of tablets, digital ink, and other technology and is currently investigating the use of the flipped classroom model and collaborative learning. His research in cyber security for industrial control systems is focused on high assurance field devices using microkernel architectures.
Abstract
This Evidence-based practice paper documents the collaboration, research, and future work of the interdisciplinary research team, the Guild for Engineering Education, Achievement, Retention and Success (GEARS) at the University of Louisville’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering. Over the last 9 years (2010-2018), GEARS has investigated factors that contribute to first-year retention as well as the effectiveness of various interventions in the first semester. GEARS follows an interdisciplinary Faculty Learning Community (FLC) structure; members meet monthly and review all ongoing projects, develop new projects, and gather interdisciplinary feedback. Due to the unique team and meeting structure, GEARS has produced many novel research projects. While the GEARS mission of improving engineering student retention and success has not changed over time, the collaboration and sharing of expertise has caused new research questions and ways of studying retention to emerge. This paper discusses the progress of our collaboration and highlights the insights of a variety of specialists, looking at first-year engineering retention.
Tinnell, T. L., & Bego, C. R., & Ralston, P. A., & Hieb, J. L. (2019, June), An Interdisciplinary Research Group’s Collaboration to Understand First-Year Engineering Retention Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32073
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