BOARD # 463: Transitioning from a Project-Based Learning to a Work-Integrated Learning Program: Insights from Year 2

Sophia Vicente; Hannah Root; Annick J Dewald; Sara A. Atwood; Rebecca Holcombe; Brenda Read-Daily

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session II
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 6
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--55845
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55845
Download Count: 2

Paper Authors

biography

Sophia Vicente Elizabethtown College orcid.org/0000-0002-1670-0664

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Sophia Vicente (she/her) is currently a Postdoctoral Associate with Elizabethtown College and the Greenway Center for Equity and Sustainability. She has over 6 years of experience studying, teaching, and working alongside engineering students and faculty. Sophia is a former Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and with this background, she is passionate about connecting research, practice, and policy. She holds a PhD in Engineering Education and MEng in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech as well as a BS in Industrial Engineering from Penn State.

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Dr. Sara A. Atwood is the Dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science and Professor of Engineering at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She holds a BA and MS in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College, and PhD in Mecha

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Rebecca Holcombe

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Brenda Read-Daily Elizabethtown College orcid.org/0000-0002-8137-7912

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Dr. Brenda Read-Daily is a Professor of Engineering at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Bradley University, and a MS and PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

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Abstract

This poster paper details the goals, execution, and intended outcomes and deliverables for Year 2 of the project: “Greenway Institute of Elizabethtown College Center for Sustainability and Equity in Engineering.” This project has been funded by the Division of Engineering Education and Centers (Award #2219807) and was initiated due to calls to integrated hands-on learning, sustainability, and equity into the undergraduate engineering curriculum. In Year 1, the Greenway Center for Equity and Sustainability (GCES) ran a pilot semester focused on project-based mastery-assessed learning (Atwood et al., 2024). In Year 2, GCES is pivoting to a work-integrated learning model where students will spend 20-40 hours at a worksite with integrated engineering coursework. Initial data and outcomes have been collected for both the project-based learning and the work-integrated learning pilot semesters, in Year 1 and 2 respectively.

Specifically, this poster paper will focus on two studies to explore each pilot semester. Project 1 will explore the outcomes from the project-based learning pilot and compare the experiences with students who remained at the main campus location. Project 2 will focus on exploring the pivot to a work-integrated learning model for the Spring 2025 pilot. Our preliminary findings demonstrate that students valued the project-based learning and mastery-assessment approach. We also found that the opportunity to “earn while you learn” is attractive to students in signing up for the work-integrated pilot of the program and increased recruitment yield from Year 1 to Year 2. Furthermore, in addition to the pay, students valued the opportunity to engage in an engineering role that aligned with their coursework and career exploration. The initial findings and results for this work will support future iterations of the GCES and have implications for engineering education research and practice. While project-based learning and cooperative education programs have both been implemented and studied across engineering disciplines and programs, true work-integrated learning is less common in undergraduate engineering education in the United States. Based on this work, we recommend engineering education continue to move past traditional models of instruction and work, to consider innovative approaches such as work-integrated learning.

Citation
Format

Vicente, S., & Root, H., & Dewald, A. J., & Atwood, S. A., & Holcombe, R., & Read-Daily, B. (2025, June), BOARD # 463: Transitioning from a Project-Based Learning to a Work-Integrated Learning Program: Insights from Year 2 Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . 10.18260/1-2--55845

TY - CPAPER
AB - This poster paper details the goals, execution, and intended outcomes and deliverables for Year 2 of the project: “Greenway Institute of Elizabethtown College Center for Sustainability and Equity in Engineering.” This project has been funded by the Division of Engineering Education and Centers (Award #2219807) and was initiated due to calls to integrated hands-on learning, sustainability, and equity into the undergraduate engineering curriculum. In Year 1, the Greenway Center for Equity and Sustainability (GCES) ran a pilot semester focused on project-based mastery-assessed learning (Atwood et al., 2024). In Year 2, GCES is pivoting to a work-integrated learning model where students will spend 20-40 hours at a worksite with integrated engineering coursework. Initial data and outcomes have been collected for both the project-based learning and the work-integrated learning pilot semesters, in Year 1 and 2 respectively.

Specifically, this poster paper will focus on two studies to explore each pilot semester. Project 1 will explore the outcomes from the project-based learning pilot and compare the experiences with students who remained at the main campus location. Project 2 will focus on exploring the pivot to a work-integrated learning model for the Spring 2025 pilot. Our preliminary findings demonstrate that students valued the project-based learning and mastery-assessment approach. We also found that the opportunity to “earn while you learn” is attractive to students in signing up for the work-integrated pilot of the program and increased recruitment yield from Year 1 to Year 2. Furthermore, in addition to the pay, students valued the opportunity to engage in an engineering role that aligned with their coursework and career exploration. The initial findings and results for this work will support future iterations of the GCES and have implications for engineering education research and practice. While project-based learning and cooperative education programs have both been implemented and studied across engineering disciplines and programs, true work-integrated learning is less common in undergraduate engineering education in the United States. Based on this work, we recommend engineering education continue to move past traditional models of instruction and work, to consider innovative approaches such as work-integrated learning.
AU - Sophia Vicente
AU - Hannah Root
AU - Annick J Dewald
AU - Sara A. Atwood
AU - Rebecca Holcombe
AU - Brenda Read-Daily
CY - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DA - 2025/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - BOARD # 463: Transitioning from a Project-Based Learning to a Work-Integrated Learning Program: Insights from Year 2
UR - https://peer.asee.org/55845
DO - 10.18260/1-2--55845
ER -