Minneapolis, MN
August 23, 2022
June 26, 2022
June 29, 2022
5
10.18260/1-2--42081
https://peer.asee.org/42081
157
Dr. Cory Brozina is the Associate Chair for the Rayen School of Engineering at Youngstown State University.
Youngstown State University is a mostly commuter student campus, where a majority of students live at home, have part-time or full-time employment, and must balance other responsibilities outside their academics. Youngstown State University’s most significant opportunity for improvement is situated in the area of student integration. Because most students are commuters and are not always on-campus, it is essential to ensure they adequately integrate into campus culture and build a student-learning community of peers. Therefore, the focus of this project is on engineering commuter student integration, and more specifically academic, social, professional, and university integration.
The overarching research question for this S-STEM funded project is: How can a four-year institution help increase the integration and success of engineering commuter students? We adopt an embedded case study approach, which seeks understanding of a larger phenomenon by focusing on specific examples. The phenomenon of interest is how a four-year institution can develop mechanisms to increase the success of commuter students in engineering. We focus on two areas of interest to answer our overarching question: (1) the experience of being a commuter student in an engineering curriculum and (2) the integration of commuters within a cohort community. Our project and research are framed using the Model of Co-Curricular Support which highlights four areas of integration: Academic, Social, Professional, University. To understand how the MCCS pertains to engineering commuter students we answer two research questions: (1) How do undergraduate engineering students who commute experience academic and social integration and (2) How do cohort-based student learning communities influence integration for engineering commuter students?
We present results of a survey, the engineering student integration instrument, showcasing the differences between residential and commuter students in engineering.
Brozina, C. (2022, August), Developing and encouraging engineering professionals within a commuter student population: Understanding commuter student integration Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--42081
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