GIFTS: Quick Assessment of Course Topics' Impact in First-Year Engineering Seminars

Lee Kemp Rynearson

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Conference: FYEE 2025 Conference
Location: University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland
Publication Date: July 27, 2025
Start Date: July 27, 2025
End Date: July 29, 2025
Conference Session: GIFTS I
Tagged Topic: FYEE 2025
Page Count: 5
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--55267
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55267
Download Count: 5

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Lee Kemp Rynearson Campbell University

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Lee Rynearson an Associate Professor of Engineering at Campbell University. He received a B.S. and M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2008 and earned his PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University in 2016.

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Abstract

GIFTS: Quick Assessment of Course Topics' Impact in First-Year Engineering Seminars

This GIFTS paper discusses a survey-based method to rapidly gain insight into the impact of different course modules or topics on students, which is especially useful for courses with many distinct topics to cover.

It is not uncommon for first-year engineering classes or seminars to cover a variety of topics in a limited amount of time, which could include student success material, technical content, introductions to various engineering majors or concentrations, especially in programs where majors or concentrations are selected after a common first-year. The first-year seminar at [University Name] covers 16 distinct topics across three main themes in a one-semester, one-credit, 1.5 contact hour / week course.

With so many different topics presented, sometimes by parties who are not the course instructors, it is not always obvious which topics should be prioritized for improvement in future course offerings, or which topics might be considered for replacement. In the case of [University Name]’s first-year seminar offering, feedback from students from late-semester reflections indicated that all 16 topics were meaningful and important to at least some students, increasing the difficulty of this task.

Therefore, a Qualtrics survey was developed where students ranked, in order of impact on them personally, each of the course topics presented. The survey was administered in-class on the final day of the course and took about five minutes of class time.

Using the methods discussed in [citation of author’s earlier paper that used this method to examine a different question] the results can be scaled against each other to show the relative overall impact on students of the various topics. The data also shows if some topics, while having a limited impact on some students, had very high impact on a subset of students – which may be desirable in serving diverse student bodies.

Data has been collected by this method for two course offerings with different students and the results are strikingly similar across the course offerings in rating topic impact, providing an initial indication that this method is gathering meaningful data. These results will be provided and discussed in the full GIFTS paper. These results make it easy to see the relative priority of making improvements in specific course topic areas. This evidence can also be useful in requesting changes or improvements in presentations made by non-course-instructors.

While a survey rating class topics for impact on students is not novel, this quick implementation and the methods of interpreting it, illustrative data from a first-year environment across two years of collection, and practical suggestions for use in a first-year engineering environment are anticipated to be of interest to the FYEE GIFTS audience.

Citation
Format

Rynearson, L. K. (2025, July), GIFTS: Quick Assessment of Course Topics' Impact in First-Year Engineering Seminars Paper presented at FYEE 2025 Conference, University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--55267

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - GIFTS: Quick Assessment of Course Topics&#39; Impact in First-Year Engineering Seminars

This GIFTS paper discusses a survey-based method to rapidly gain insight into the impact of different course modules or topics on students, which is especially useful for courses with many distinct topics to cover.

It is not uncommon for first-year engineering classes or seminars to cover a variety of topics in a limited amount of time, which could include student success material, technical content, introductions to various engineering majors or concentrations, especially in programs where majors or concentrations are selected after a common first-year. The first-year seminar at [University Name] covers 16 distinct topics across three main themes in a one-semester, one-credit, 1.5 contact hour / week course. 

With so many different topics presented, sometimes by parties who are not the course instructors, it is not always obvious which topics should be prioritized for improvement in future course offerings, or which topics might be considered for replacement. In the case of [University Name]’s first-year seminar offering, feedback from students from late-semester reflections indicated that all 16 topics were meaningful and important to at least some students, increasing the difficulty of this task.

Therefore, a Qualtrics survey was developed where students ranked, in order of impact on them personally, each of the course topics presented. The survey was administered in-class on the final day of the course and took about five minutes of class time.

Using the methods discussed in [citation of author’s earlier paper that used this method to examine a different question] the results can be scaled against each other to show the relative overall impact on students of the various topics. The data also shows if some topics, while having a limited impact on some students, had very high impact on a subset of students – which may be desirable in serving diverse student bodies.

Data has been collected by this method for two course offerings with different students and the results are strikingly similar across the course offerings in rating topic impact, providing an initial indication that this method is gathering meaningful data. These results will be provided and discussed in the full GIFTS paper. These results make it easy to see the relative priority of making improvements in specific course topic areas. This evidence can also be useful in requesting changes or improvements in presentations made by non-course-instructors.

While a survey rating class topics for impact on students is not novel, this quick implementation and the methods of interpreting it, illustrative data from a first-year environment across two years of collection, and practical suggestions for use in a first-year engineering environment are anticipated to be of interest to the FYEE GIFTS audience.

AU  - Lee Kemp Rynearson
CY  - University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland
DA  - 2025/07/27
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - GIFTS: Quick Assessment of Course Topics' Impact in First-Year Engineering Seminars
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/55267
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--55267
ER  -

GIFTS: Quick Assessment of Course Topics' Impact in First-Year Engineering Seminars

Paper Authors

Lee Kemp Rynearson Campbell University

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