EXCEED: Excellence in Your Engineering Education Summer Transition Program

Stacy Holander Gleixner; Katherine Casey; Jared T. Tuberty; Sanela Latic; Patricia R Backer; Emily L. Allen

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: FPD 6: Transitions and Student Success, Part II
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs
Page Count: 21
Page Numbers: 23.564.1 - 23.564.21
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--19578
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/19578
Download Count: 457

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Stacy Holander Gleixner San Jose State University

visit author page

Dr. Stacy Gleixner is a Professor in Biomedical, Chemical and Materials Engineering. She is the director of San Jose State’s Microscale Process Engineering Center and Associate Chair of the Biomedical, Chemical and Materials Engineering Department. Dr. Gleixner has an active research program related to the fabrication and reliability solar cells, MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems), and microelectronics. She teaches a broad range of engineering classes in renewable energy, introductory materials science, electronic materials, kinetics, and microelectronics processing. She has been involved in a number of innovative curriculum development programs and educational research projects on improving student learning in engineering through the use of active learning and service learning. In 2010, she was awarded the College of Engineering Award for Excellence in Service. In 2007-2008, she was an SJSU Teacher Scholar. In 2002, she was awarded the College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching award.

visit author page

biography

Katherine Casey SJSU College of Engineering

visit author page

Katherine graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Experimental Psychology from SJSU. She now works in the College of Engineering as Engineering Pathways to Success Coordinator. She assists with the EXCEED Summer Program for incoming Engineering students, as well as supports the Bay Area Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Engineering network of high schools and middle schools in their efforts to better prepare youth for engineering and technical fields.

visit author page

biography

Jared T. Tuberty San Jose State University

visit author page

Jared Tuberty is Executive Director, Engineering Student Success Programs at San Jose State University. His portfolio includes oversight of the Engineering Student Success Center and a wide range of other programs to support undergraduate engineering students. He has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University, a M.A. in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University and is a doctoral candidate in Higher Education Administration at Bowling Green State University.

visit author page

author page

Sanela Latic

biography

Patricia R Backer San Jose State University

visit author page

Dr. Backer is Director of General Engineering at San Jose State University. Her research interests are in broadening the participation of women and URM students in engineering and assessment of engineering programs.

visit author page

biography

Emily L. Allen San Jose State University

visit author page

Dr. Emily Allen is Associate Dean of the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering at San Jose State University. Her portfolio includes undergraduate programs and accreditation, student success programs, personnel and infrastructure, and K-14 outreach. She has been on the faculty at SJSU since earning her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University in 1992.

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

EXCEED: Excellence in Your Engineering Education is a 10-day, residential summer transitionprogram that was designed to improve retention and graduation rates at our university. Theuniversity is a large, public institution in the West with a very diverse student population.However, the university has lower graduation and retention rates for certain student populationsin engineering including under represented groups and first generation college students. Thistransition program was designed to meet five outcomes: acculturate the students to the college ofengineering and the university, enhance math and writing preparation, build community amongstthe cohort of students, enhance study skills, and introduce engineering design principles and anexposure to the engineering field. These outcomes were chosen based on a literature review ofstudent success and through a series of focus groups with freshmen in our college. The focusgroup results, which will be presented in our paper, highlight a number of challenges freshmenface including things faculty may take for granted such as having the skills to engage in studygroups, manage their time, and approach faculty for help.To meet the outcomes of the program, a set of twenty learning objectives were created. Thenactivities were designed to meet these learning objectives. A map of the program design to theoverall outcomes and learning objectives will be presented. Workshops on writing and mathwere included to better prepare students for the level of work needed in their first year classes.Resources in the university were highlighted to students through a “campus resource hunt” andthrough workshops with key university staff on topics including counseling, health services, timemanagement, and career resources. Students were exposed to the engineering field throughindustry tours and guest lecturers.One key aspect of the program was that the incoming freshmen worked on a service learningproject. In the service learning project, students worked in small teams to build something for alocal non-profit agency. These included an after school center, a community garden, a womenand children’s shelter, and a food and clothing distribution center. The projects were designed tobe relatively small projects that could be accomplished in ten days with no engineering orconstruction experience, such as shelving. The primary goal of the project was to teach thestudents the engineering design process. The steps included brainstorming, narrowing downtheir design options, communicating their design idea to the stakeholder, incorporating feedbackinto their design, managing the project, and working together as a team. This learning could beaccomplished through a range of different project types. However, research has shown thatusing a community service project, known as service learning, has a number of benefitsincluding increased motivation towards using engineering to better society and increasedretention and graduation rates in engineering, particularly among women and under-representedgroups.The program utilized peer mentors who worked closely with the students, with each peer mentorassigned to a small group of incoming students. One key role the peer mentors performed wasteaching the incoming students strategies for student success including time management,working in groups, and study skills. The paper will describe the framework for the peer mentorprogram including how they were trained and assessed and the different roles they had in theprogram.The program was assessed using a survey compiled from several published surveys to assessengineering self-efficacy, cultural awareness, motivation to pursue their engineering education,and motivation to continue serving society. The survey was given at the start and end of theprogram. Detailed results will be presented, including differences in the impact of the programon women, underrepresented groups, and first generation college students. Also, students weresurveyed on their opinion of if the program accomplished these outcomes and objectives, both atthe end of the program and at the end of their first semester. Proposed modifications to theprogram will be presented based on analysis of the student feedback.

Citation
Format

Gleixner, S. H., & Casey, K., & Tuberty, J. T., & Latic, S., & Backer, P. R., & Allen, E. L. (2013, June), EXCEED: Excellence in Your Engineering Education Summer Transition Program Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19578

TY - CPAPER
AB - EXCEED: Excellence in Your Engineering Education is a 10-day, residential summer transitionprogram that was designed to improve retention and graduation rates at our university. Theuniversity is a large, public institution in the West with a very diverse student population.However, the university has lower graduation and retention rates for certain student populationsin engineering including under represented groups and first generation college students. Thistransition program was designed to meet five outcomes: acculturate the students to the college ofengineering and the university, enhance math and writing preparation, build community amongstthe cohort of students, enhance study skills, and introduce engineering design principles and anexposure to the engineering field. These outcomes were chosen based on a literature review ofstudent success and through a series of focus groups with freshmen in our college. The focusgroup results, which will be presented in our paper, highlight a number of challenges freshmenface including things faculty may take for granted such as having the skills to engage in studygroups, manage their time, and approach faculty for help.To meet the outcomes of the program, a set of twenty learning objectives were created. Thenactivities were designed to meet these learning objectives. A map of the program design to theoverall outcomes and learning objectives will be presented. Workshops on writing and mathwere included to better prepare students for the level of work needed in their first year classes.Resources in the university were highlighted to students through a “campus resource hunt” andthrough workshops with key university staff on topics including counseling, health services, timemanagement, and career resources. Students were exposed to the engineering field throughindustry tours and guest lecturers.One key aspect of the program was that the incoming freshmen worked on a service learningproject. In the service learning project, students worked in small teams to build something for alocal non-profit agency. These included an after school center, a community garden, a womenand children’s shelter, and a food and clothing distribution center. The projects were designed tobe relatively small projects that could be accomplished in ten days with no engineering orconstruction experience, such as shelving. The primary goal of the project was to teach thestudents the engineering design process. The steps included brainstorming, narrowing downtheir design options, communicating their design idea to the stakeholder, incorporating feedbackinto their design, managing the project, and working together as a team. This learning could beaccomplished through a range of different project types. However, research has shown thatusing a community service project, known as service learning, has a number of benefitsincluding increased motivation towards using engineering to better society and increasedretention and graduation rates in engineering, particularly among women and under-representedgroups.The program utilized peer mentors who worked closely with the students, with each peer mentorassigned to a small group of incoming students. One key role the peer mentors performed wasteaching the incoming students strategies for student success including time management,working in groups, and study skills. The paper will describe the framework for the peer mentorprogram including how they were trained and assessed and the different roles they had in theprogram.The program was assessed using a survey compiled from several published surveys to assessengineering self-efficacy, cultural awareness, motivation to pursue their engineering education,and motivation to continue serving society. The survey was given at the start and end of theprogram. Detailed results will be presented, including differences in the impact of the programon women, underrepresented groups, and first generation college students. Also, students weresurveyed on their opinion of if the program accomplished these outcomes and objectives, both atthe end of the program and at the end of their first semester. Proposed modifications to theprogram will be presented based on analysis of the student feedback.
AU - Stacy Holander Gleixner
AU - Katherine Casey
AU - Jared T. Tuberty
AU - Sanela Latic
AU - Patricia R Backer
AU - Emily L. Allen
CY - Atlanta, Georgia
DA - 2013/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - EXCEED: Excellence in Your Engineering Education Summer Transition Program
UR - https://peer.asee.org/19578
DO - 10.18260/1-2--19578
ER -