GIFTS: Passports to Engage Students in Engineering

Abigail Clark; Stephany Coffman-Wolph; Lauren H. Logan

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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 GIFTS: Great Ideas For Teaching Students
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs Division (FYP)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47502

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Paper Authors

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Abigail Clark Ohio Northern University orcid.org/0000-0002-2214-2160

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Abigail Clark is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio Northern University. She holds a PhD in Engineering Education from The Ohio State University. She also holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State and Ohio Northern University. Prior to her time at OSU, she worked at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. Her research interests include pre-college engineering education, informal engineering education, and identity development.

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Stephany Coffman-Wolph Ohio Northern University

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Dr. Stephany Coffman-Wolph is an Assistant Professor at Ohio Northern University in the Department of Electrical, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science (ECCS). Previously, she worked at The University of Texas at Austin and West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech). She is actively involved in community outreach with a goal of increasing the number of women in STEM and creating effective methods for introducing young children to CS concepts and topics. Dr. Coffman-Wolph’s research interests include: Artificial Intelligence, Fuzzy Logic, Software Engineering, STEM Education, and Diversity and Inclusion within STEM.

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Lauren H. Logan Ohio Northern University orcid.org/0000-0003-2780-5872

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Lauren H. Logan is an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Ohio Northern University. Her research focuses on quantifying the impacts of thermal pollution from thermoelectric-power-plant water use on aquatic ecosystems. She earned

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Abstract

This GIFTS paper describes an effort to engage first-year engineering students in various aspects of the engineering college through a gamified approach.

In the last 20 years, many engineering programs have started a first-year engineering program, designed to provide a foundational experience to their incoming students. Though these programs vary widely in content, timing, and duration, these programs have been shown to help with retention, community and identity development, and a forum to gain important foundational skills for engineering. Additionally, these programs offer opportunities to introduce students to the university, college, and major in which they are now enrolled, as well as student success efforts. In addition to these activities inside the classroom, a great deal of benefit has been shown from student engagement in extra- and co-curricular activities, including a greater sense of belonging and increased academic achievement. However, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, many first-year students do not engage in these valuable activities, for a range of reasons including lack of information, feeling overwhelmed, and intimidation.

In effort to encourage students to take part in extra-curricular activities, one engineering college within a small, rural private University has historically required students enrolled in engineering orientation to attend two professional society meetings during the course of the class and report their attendance at these meetings to their faculty. However, this approach resulted in high faculty work load, student disengagement, and other issues. Additionally, while students typically attended their required professional society meetings, they were not engaged in other activities that are known to be high-impact, such as visiting faculty office hours and interacting with teaching assistants (TAs). In effort to address these, a gamified approach was developed and implemented during fall semester 2023.

This approach took the form of a booklet, called a passport, which contained pages for activities that students were required to complete over the course of the semester. These activities, which included attending professional society meetings, and visiting faculty offices, were identified through research regarding high-impact student practices and alignment with course outcomes. Once students completed these activities, they received a stamp from the faculty member or student leader.

At the end of fall semester 2023, the passports will be assessed using survey data, qualitative reports from faculty and students, and other insights gained. These responses will be used to make recommendations for improvements in future iterations of the passport, as well as recommendations for others as they transfer this into their own context.

Citation
Format

Clark, A., & Coffman-Wolph, S., & Logan, L. H. (2024, June), GIFTS: Passports to Engage Students in Engineering Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47502

TY - CPAPER
AB - This GIFTS paper describes an effort to engage first-year engineering students in various aspects of the engineering college through a gamified approach.

In the last 20 years, many engineering programs have started a first-year engineering program, designed to provide a foundational experience to their incoming students. Though these programs vary widely in content, timing, and duration, these programs have been shown to help with retention, community and identity development, and a forum to gain important foundational skills for engineering. Additionally, these programs offer opportunities to introduce students to the university, college, and major in which they are now enrolled, as well as student success efforts. In addition to these activities inside the classroom, a great deal of benefit has been shown from student engagement in extra- and co-curricular activities, including a greater sense of belonging and increased academic achievement. However, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, many first-year students do not engage in these valuable activities, for a range of reasons including lack of information, feeling overwhelmed, and intimidation.

In effort to encourage students to take part in extra-curricular activities, one engineering college within a small, rural private University has historically required students enrolled in engineering orientation to attend two professional society meetings during the course of the class and report their attendance at these meetings to their faculty. However, this approach resulted in high faculty work load, student disengagement, and other issues. Additionally, while students typically attended their required professional society meetings, they were not engaged in other activities that are known to be high-impact, such as visiting faculty office hours and interacting with teaching assistants (TAs). In effort to address these, a gamified approach was developed and implemented during fall semester 2023.

This approach took the form of a booklet, called a passport, which contained pages for activities that students were required to complete over the course of the semester. These activities, which included attending professional society meetings, and visiting faculty offices, were identified through research regarding high-impact student practices and alignment with course outcomes. Once students completed these activities, they received a stamp from the faculty member or student leader.

At the end of fall semester 2023, the passports will be assessed using survey data, qualitative reports from faculty and students, and other insights gained. These responses will be used to make recommendations for improvements in future iterations of the passport, as well as recommendations for others as they transfer this into their own context.

AU - Abigail Clark
AU - Stephany Coffman-Wolph
AU - Lauren H. Logan
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - GIFTS: Passports to Engage Students in Engineering
UR - https://peer.asee.org/47502
ER -