Examining the Motivations and Experiences of Transfer Students Participating in an Undergraduate Research Course

Shannon Conner; Lisa Benson; D. Matthew Boyer

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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: Transfer issues between 2-year colleges and 4-year Engineering and Engineering Technology programs 3
Tagged Division: Two-Year College Division (TYCD)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47380

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Lisa Benson is a Professor of Engineering and Science Education at Clemson University, and the past editor of the Journal of Engineering Education. Her research focuses on the interactions between student motivation and their learning experiences. Her projects include studies of student perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards becoming engineers and scientists, and their development of problem-solving skills, self-regulated learning practices, and epistemic beliefs. Other projects in the Benson group involve students’ navigational capital, and researchers’ schema development through the peer review process. Dr. Benson is an American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Fellow, and a member of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), American Educational Research Association (AERA) and Tau Beta Pi. She earned a B.S. in Bioengineering (1978) from the University of Vermont, and M.S. (1986) and Ph.D. (2002) in Bioengineering from Clemson University.

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D. Matthew Boyer Clemson University orcid.org/0000-0002-4191-260X

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Dr. Boyer is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering & Science Education in the College of Engineering, Computing, and Applied Sciences at Clemson University. His work focuses on how technology supports knowledge building and transfer in a range of learning environments.

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Abstract

In this paper, we use both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine transfer student’s in a scholarship program to better understand their university experiences and what drives them to succeed. The Student Pathways in Engineering and Computing for Transfers (SPECTRA) program is an NSF S-STEM (Award#1834081) that aims to aid students in their transfer from two-year college programs into Clemson University's College of Engineering and Computing and Applied Science (CECAS). In this study, we implemented a modified version of the Motivation and Attitudes in Engineering (MAE) survey to a cohort of students in the SPECTRA program (n=16). The MAE survey was developed and validated by Clemson researchers in 2017 and has been taken by the students within CECAS every year since Spring 2021. The purpose of the survey is to better understand what motivates students to pursue engineering, assess their identities as engineers, gauge their sense of belonging within their communities, as well as several other functions which will not be explored in this paper. At the time of this study, participating SPECTRA scholars were midway through a one credit course in which they were expected to work as teams on various undergraduate research projects. These projects were facilitated under the supervision of a graduate student instructor, who was employed through the SPECTRA program, and a CO-PI of the program. The course is mandatory for first year SPECTRA students and the intent of the course is to support the construction of student cohorts, expose scholars to research, and to develop their skills as engineers. Results show that the students feel a high sense of belonging in their SPECTRA course and are motivated by several career outcome expectations, the highest of which was having job security and opportunity. Following the analysis of survey results, we analyzed interviews with SPECTRA students where they discussed their experience in their research course. Interview data suggests the students find several values in the course including working with graduate students and learning to develop professional skills. As the MAE survey was also conducted with students throughout all of CECAS (n=1174), we are able to compare the results of SPECTRA students with data from across the entire college. Preliminary results show some statistically significant differences between SPECTRA students and all of CECAS in subcategories within student sense of belonging and future-oriented motivation. The qualitative data from interviews was used to further explore these findings.

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Conner, S., & Benson, L., & Boyer, D. M. (2024, June), Examining the Motivations and Experiences of Transfer Students Participating in an Undergraduate Research Course Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47380

TY - CPAPER
AB - In this paper, we use both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine transfer student’s in a scholarship program to better understand their university experiences and what drives them to succeed. The Student Pathways in Engineering and Computing for Transfers (SPECTRA) program is an NSF S-STEM (Award#1834081) that aims to aid students in their transfer from two-year college programs into Clemson University&#39;s College of Engineering and Computing and Applied Science (CECAS). In this study, we implemented a modified version of the Motivation and Attitudes in Engineering (MAE) survey to a cohort of students in the SPECTRA program (n=16). The MAE survey was developed and validated by Clemson researchers in 2017 and has been taken by the students within CECAS every year since Spring 2021. The purpose of the survey is to better understand what motivates students to pursue engineering, assess their identities as engineers, gauge their sense of belonging within their communities, as well as several other functions which will not be explored in this paper. At the time of this study, participating SPECTRA scholars were midway through a one credit course in which they were expected to work as teams on various undergraduate research projects. These projects were facilitated under the supervision of a graduate student instructor, who was employed through the SPECTRA program, and a CO-PI of the program. The course is mandatory for first year SPECTRA students and the intent of the course is to support the construction of student cohorts, expose scholars to research, and to develop their skills as engineers. Results show that the students feel a high sense of belonging in their SPECTRA course and are motivated by several career outcome expectations, the highest of which was having job security and opportunity. Following the analysis of survey results, we analyzed interviews with SPECTRA students where they discussed their experience in their research course. Interview data suggests the students find several values in the course including working with graduate students and learning to develop professional skills. As the MAE survey was also conducted with students throughout all of CECAS (n=1174), we are able to compare the results of SPECTRA students with data from across the entire college. Preliminary results show some statistically significant differences between SPECTRA students and all of CECAS in subcategories within student sense of belonging and future-oriented motivation. The qualitative data from interviews was used to further explore these findings.
AU - Shannon Conner
AU - Lisa Benson
AU - D. Matthew Boyer
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Examining the Motivations and Experiences of Transfer Students Participating in an Undergraduate Research Course
UR - https://peer.asee.org/47380
ER -