BRCC to LSU Engineering Pathway to Success - Assessment Measures

Tanya Karam-Zanders; Sarah Cooley Jones; Warren N. Waggenspack; Dina Acklin

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Conference: 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Seattle, Washington
Publication Date: June 14, 2015
Start Date: June 14, 2015
End Date: June 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-50180-1
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Two-year College Division: Authors Address Transfer Matters-Part I
Tagged Division: Two Year College Division
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 16
Page Numbers: 26.289.1 - 26.289.16
DOI: 10.18260/p.23628
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/23628
Download Count: 516

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Sarah Cooley Jones, Associate Director, Louisiana State University College of Engineering, Student Services and Diversity Initiatives, joined the Office on a fulltime basis in 2009, and she develops and manages scholarships, fellowships and professional development programs for undergraduate and graduate engineering students. These programs include scholarships, seminar series and activities that develop the student academically and professionally so that students can persist in engineering, complete a degree program and contribute as professional engineers.

Ms. Jones joined LSU in 1992 as a College of Engineering research associate in the area of environmental analyses and worked on numerous projects including utilization of industrial by-products, water quality analyses and wastewater treatment. She received her B.S. Chemistry (1980), from The University of Houston

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Warren N. Waggenspack Jr. Louisiana State University

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Abstract

XXCC to XXU Engineering Pathway to Success – Assessment MeasuresThe National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM funded scholarship program, EngineeringPathway to Success, is a joint effort of the College of Engineering at XXU and XX CommunityCollege, and it supports the engineering degree progression program with students earning aXXCC associate of science in engineering and completing a bachelor’s of science engineeringdegree at XXU. Over three years, the program has provided scholarships and academic/professional support to 24 students who demonstrate academic talent and financial need. Theprimary goals of the program are: to utilize scholarships to create and sustain a pathway forXXCC transfer students and to develop a successful model for transfer students from othercommunity colleges and 4-year institutions based on the project experiences and outcomes.An intensive questionnaire was developed to assess the program effectiveness, and it has severalcomponents including: demographic information, beliefs about self-efficacy in engineering,anticipated and experienced hurdles throughout the program, and scholarship programassessment. The questionnaire served as an assessment tool, and it provided information fordesigning future scholarship and supportive programs. This questionnaire was also designed as ameasure of comparison between traditional and non-traditional engineering students, whichwould also provide insight in the types of struggles students face and the support they need.Portions of this questionnaire were administered to a comparison group of XXCC students whowere interested in transferring to XXU. In the future, this questionnaire will be administered totraditional 4-year university students for comparison analyses.Demographic Information. Descriptive data regarding the personal and demographicinformation has been collected for the XXCC transfer and non-transfer students. The scholarswere 91% male, 36 % minority, 23% married and had average age of 27.7 years.Beliefs about Self-Efficacy in Engineering. Transfer students who experienced time in the 4-year university had lower self-efficacy ratings than those who had no or little time at the 4-yearuniversity level. This finding suggests that there is a difference in the difficulty of the programrequirements between XXCC and XXU, and that difference affects the students’ self-confidence.The findings from this component highlight the importance of increasing the academic support.Anticipated and Experienced Hurdles. The purpose of these questions was to improve thescholarship program to meet the needs of the students. The majority of the students indicated thatthey were expecting substantial financial hurdles, and the scholarship program met those needs.Many were also concerned about how to distribute time between their employment and theiracademics, however the funding from the scholarship allowed them to work less and focus moreon school. Other hurdles that were addressed through the program were related to a change in thesize of the campus and academic rigor.Scholarship Program Assessment. Overall, the Pathway Scholars found the program to be verybeneficial. The most helpful source of support reported was financial (60%), which in turnallowed the students to work less outside of school and focus more on academics andprofessional development. The students also found other aspects of the program most helpfulsuch as the caring, helpful staff and job and interview training. Largely, the students who havecompleted the program credit much of their success to the support provided by the PathwayScholarship Program.

Citation
Format

Karam-Zanders, T., & Acklin, D., & Jones, S. C., & Waggenspack, W. N. (2015, June), BRCC to LSU Engineering Pathway to Success - Assessment Measures Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.23628

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -     XXCC to XXU Engineering Pathway to Success – Assessment MeasuresThe National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM funded scholarship program, EngineeringPathway to Success, is a joint effort of the College of Engineering at XXU and XX CommunityCollege, and it supports the engineering degree progression program with students earning aXXCC associate of science in engineering and completing a bachelor’s of science engineeringdegree at XXU. Over three years, the program has provided scholarships and academic/professional support to 24 students who demonstrate academic talent and financial need. Theprimary goals of the program are: to utilize scholarships to create and sustain a pathway forXXCC transfer students and to develop a successful model for transfer students from othercommunity colleges and 4-year institutions based on the project experiences and outcomes.An intensive questionnaire was developed to assess the program effectiveness, and it has severalcomponents including: demographic information, beliefs about self-efficacy in engineering,anticipated and experienced hurdles throughout the program, and scholarship programassessment. The questionnaire served as an assessment tool, and it provided information fordesigning future scholarship and supportive programs. This questionnaire was also designed as ameasure of comparison between traditional and non-traditional engineering students, whichwould also provide insight in the types of struggles students face and the support they need.Portions of this questionnaire were administered to a comparison group of XXCC students whowere interested in transferring to XXU. In the future, this questionnaire will be administered totraditional 4-year university students for comparison analyses.Demographic Information. Descriptive data regarding the personal and demographicinformation has been collected for the XXCC transfer and non-transfer students. The scholarswere 91% male, 36 % minority, 23% married and had average age of 27.7 years.Beliefs about Self-Efficacy in Engineering. Transfer students who experienced time in the 4-year university had lower self-efficacy ratings than those who had no or little time at the 4-yearuniversity level. This finding suggests that there is a difference in the difficulty of the programrequirements between XXCC and XXU, and that difference affects the students’ self-confidence.The findings from this component highlight the importance of increasing the academic support.Anticipated and Experienced Hurdles. The purpose of these questions was to improve thescholarship program to meet the needs of the students. The majority of the students indicated thatthey were expecting substantial financial hurdles, and the scholarship program met those needs.Many were also concerned about how to distribute time between their employment and theiracademics, however the funding from the scholarship allowed them to work less and focus moreon school. Other hurdles that were addressed through the program were related to a change in thesize of the campus and academic rigor.Scholarship Program Assessment. Overall, the Pathway Scholars found the program to be verybeneficial. The most helpful source of support reported was financial (60%), which in turnallowed the students to work less outside of school and focus more on academics andprofessional development. The students also found other aspects of the program most helpfulsuch as the caring, helpful staff and job and interview training. Largely, the students who havecompleted the program credit much of their success to the support provided by the PathwayScholarship Program.
AU  - Tanya Karam-Zanders
AU  - Dina Acklin
AU  - Sarah Cooley Jones
AU  - Warren N. Waggenspack Jr.
CY  - Seattle, Washington
DA  - 2015/06/14
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - BRCC to LSU Engineering Pathway to Success - Assessment Measures
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/23628
DO  - 10.18260/p.23628
ER  -