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Engagement in Practice: The Development of Skills and Competencies through Community Outreach Activities

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Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

July 12, 2024

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 9: Student Growth & Professionalization

Tagged Division

First-Year Programs Division (FYP)

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/47265

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Paper Authors

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Rodrigo Cutri Maua Institute of Techonology Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8143-8685

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Cutri holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Maua Institute of Technology (2001), MSc (2004) and Ph.D. (2007) in Electrical Engineering - University of São Paulo. He is currently Titular Professor of Maua Institute of Technology, Professor of the

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biography

Hector Alexandre Chaves Gil Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia

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Physical Chemistry PhD by Universidade of São Paulo - USP, MSc degree and undergraduate in Chemistry by the same university. Experienced in vibrational spectroscopy, infrared and Raman, molecular complexes, high energy radiation and its efects under polymers

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biography

Cristiane Maria Barra Da Matta

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Master's degree in Food Engineering at the Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia and PhD in Psychology at the Universidade Metodista de São Paulo (2019). Assistant professor and coordinator of the Student Support Program (since 2007) at Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia. It investigates themes of School and Educational Psychology: academic experiences, self-efficacy, school performance and dropout in higher education.

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Octavio Mattasoglio Neto Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-7812-8491

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Undergraduate in Physics (1983), Master in Science (1989) and Phd in Education (1998) all of them from Universidade de São Paulo. Professor of Physics at Mauá Institute of Technology, since 1994 and President of Teacher's Academy at the same Institution.

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Abstract

In this Complete Evidence-based Practice, with the aim of expanding students' worldview and developing skills and competencies for the job market, this complete paper presents the implementation of an annual mentoring program at Maua Institute of Technology for first-year students (Engineering, Business Administration, Design, Information Systems, and Computer Science) consisting of approximately 400 students. In this program, students worked in teams, under the guidance of a mentor professor, for 10 months. They utilized project management methodologies, Design Thinking, empathy mapping, persona development, and other tools to define, propose, develop, and present solutions to community-related problems. All proposed projects were required to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), be low-cost and replicable, and have an external entity or community association as a partner. Throughout the months, students had the opportunity to develop their proposals, implement them, and at the end of the academic year, present the results in an open presentation to the entire academic community. Aside from detailing the mentoring program's development, this paper presents both the qualitative and quantitative feedback from students regarding the program and their self-development through a Likert-type questionnaire administered at the end of the semester. It also presents the qualitative feedback from faculty members regarding the technical and behavioral aspects acquired by the students. The obtained data demonstrate that the development of applied projects that combine learning with real community problems fosters greater engagement and expands the incoming student's worldview, allowing them to perceive themselves as capable of being transformative agents in their communities.

Cutri, R., & Gil, H. A. C., & Matta, C. M. B. D., & Mattasoglio Neto, O. (2024, June), Engagement in Practice: The Development of Skills and Competencies through Community Outreach Activities Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47265

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