Revisions and Analysis of Transfer Pathway in First-Year Engineering

Jennifer Lovely; Matthew Sleep

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 6: Admissions, Transfer Pathways, and Major Selection
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41320
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41320
Download Count: 216

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Paper Authors

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Jennifer Lovely University of Kentucky

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BS UK, MS UK, PhD KSU

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Matthew Sleep University of Kentucky

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Matthew Sleep is an Associate Professor Educator at the University of Cincinnati. Previously he has held roles as Associate Professor at Oregon Tech and Lecturer at the University of Kentucky. Matthew currently instructs geotechnical engineering courses as well as capstone design.

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Abstract

Students enrolled at the University of Kentucky with a desire to study engineering are enrolled in their major of choice as pre-major students. After the completion of the first year of courses, including the first-year engineering curriculum, students are then officially enrolled in their major starting their sophomore year. The first-year engineering curriculum includes three separate courses, Introduction to Engineering I (EGR 101), Fundamentals of Engineering Computing (EGR102), and Introduction to Engineering II (EGR 103) which are 1, 2 and 2 credits respectively. For students with zero or limited transfer credits, the 3-course sequence is completed in Fall and Spring semesters with EGR 101 and 102 taken concurrently.

The first-year engineering course sequence was started in Fall of 2016. Initially, transfer students were enrolled in a course called Engineering Exploration for Transfer Students (EGR 112). This course served as a prerequisite for EGR 103 thus preserving the two-semester sequence of courses for first-year engineering students. EGR 102 could be replaced by a previously taken equivalent course such as an introduction to computer science. Two fundamental issues arose when transfer students were enrolled in EGR 112. First, students, through course surveys and advisor feedback, found the content unsuitable for their needs. EGR 112 focused on similar content to that of EGR 101 with a broad overview of engineering majors available. Secondly, preserving the two-course sequence across two semesters prevented transfer students from gaining upper level status and entering their preferred major courses. Previous research indicated that the number of students in this transfer course, EGR 112, had higher withdrawal or GPA values less than 2.0 after the first semester than prior to creation of the course.

In the Fall of 2017, a new course was developed, Introduction to the Practice of Engineering for Transfer Students (EGR 215 a 3-credit course) that replaced both EGR 101 and 103 for transfer students. At this time, EGR 112 was removed from the curriculum. The course was designed such that students could finish ‘first-year’ engineering courses in one semester as opposed to two, and content was updated to emphasize less exploration of engineering majors, and more on career and student success.

This paper focuses on describing the changes, updates and revisions to EGR 215 from EGR 112 based on the feedback from students along with GPA and retention data. A detailed comparison is provided including what information was removed from the curriculum to support transfer student success. Finally, GPA data and retention data are provided to comment on transfer student success. Initial data from the updated content shows that more transfer students were retained with the combined content in EGR 215.

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Format

Lovely, J., & Sleep, M. (2022, August), Revisions and Analysis of Transfer Pathway in First-Year Engineering Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41320

TY - CPAPER
AB - Students enrolled at the University of Kentucky with a desire to study engineering are enrolled in their major of choice as pre-major students. After the completion of the first year of courses, including the first-year engineering curriculum, students are then officially enrolled in their major starting their sophomore year. The first-year engineering curriculum includes three separate courses, Introduction to Engineering I (EGR 101), Fundamentals of Engineering Computing (EGR102), and Introduction to Engineering II (EGR 103) which are 1, 2 and 2 credits respectively. For students with zero or limited transfer credits, the 3-course sequence is completed in Fall and Spring semesters with EGR 101 and 102 taken concurrently.

The first-year engineering course sequence was started in Fall of 2016. Initially, transfer students were enrolled in a course called Engineering Exploration for Transfer Students (EGR 112). This course served as a prerequisite for EGR 103 thus preserving the two-semester sequence of courses for first-year engineering students. EGR 102 could be replaced by a previously taken equivalent course such as an introduction to computer science. Two fundamental issues arose when transfer students were enrolled in EGR 112. First, students, through course surveys and advisor feedback, found the content unsuitable for their needs. EGR 112 focused on similar content to that of EGR 101 with a broad overview of engineering majors available. Secondly, preserving the two-course sequence across two semesters prevented transfer students from gaining upper level status and entering their preferred major courses. Previous research indicated that the number of students in this transfer course, EGR 112, had higher withdrawal or GPA values less than 2.0 after the first semester than prior to creation of the course.

In the Fall of 2017, a new course was developed, Introduction to the Practice of Engineering for Transfer Students (EGR 215 a 3-credit course) that replaced both EGR 101 and 103 for transfer students. At this time, EGR 112 was removed from the curriculum. The course was designed such that students could finish ‘first-year’ engineering courses in one semester as opposed to two, and content was updated to emphasize less exploration of engineering majors, and more on career and student success.

This paper focuses on describing the changes, updates and revisions to EGR 215 from EGR 112 based on the feedback from students along with GPA and retention data. A detailed comparison is provided including what information was removed from the curriculum to support transfer student success. Finally, GPA data and retention data are provided to comment on transfer student success. Initial data from the updated content shows that more transfer students were retained with the combined content in EGR 215.
AU - Jennifer Lovely
AU - Matthew Sleep
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Revisions and Analysis of Transfer Pathway in First-Year Engineering
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41320
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41320
ER -