Rottmann, C., & Sacks, R., & Klassen, M., & Reeve, D. (2016, June), Sports, arts and concrete canoes: Engineers learning to lead outside the formal curriculum  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.25858

\bibitem{asee_peer_25858}
  Rottmann, C., \& Sacks, R., \& Klassen, M., \& Reeve, D. (2016, June), \emph{Sports, arts and concrete canoes: Engineers learning to lead outside the formal curriculum}
  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  10.18260/p.25858

Cindy Rottmann, Robin Sacks, Mike Klassen, and Doug Reeve.  "Sports, arts and concrete canoes: Engineers learning to lead outside the formal curriculum".  2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2016.  https://peer.asee.org/25858 Internet.  12 Jan, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_25858}
  Cindy Rottmann, Robin Sacks, Mike Klassen, and Doug Reeve.
  "Sports, arts and concrete canoes: Engineers learning to lead outside the formal curriculum".
  \emph{2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2016.
  https://peer.asee.org/25858 Internet.  12 Jan, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_25858
author = "Cindy Rottmann, Robin Sacks, Mike Klassen, and Doug Reeve"
title = "Sports, arts and concrete canoes: Engineers learning to lead outside the formal curriculum"
booktitle = "2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2016"
month = "June"
address = "New Orleans, Louisiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/25858}
number = {10.18260/p.25858}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - 
Sports, arts and concrete canoes: Engineers learning to lead outside the formal curriculum

Context/Objective: 
Students sometimes think formal schooling is too impractical for the “real world.” While there may be some truth to this assertion, much student experience takes place beyond classroom walls. For example, the 2014 National Survey of Student Engagement suggests that undergraduate engineering students at our university spend 15 hours a week engaging in co-curricular activities, working for pay, serving their communities and caring for dependents. Non-classroom activities such as these have been found to contribute to cognitive and affective growth [1-3], ethical development [4], improved critical thinking [5] and a sense of increased belonging, safety and self-esteem[6]. Our primary objective is to examine how non-classroom activities shape the leadership development of undergraduate engineering students.
Relevance to engineering leadership:
Our project examines how non-classroom experiences catalyze the leadership development of engineering students. 
Methodology:
The findings for this paper were drawn from a survey of undergraduate engineering students at a large, research-intensive Canadian university.  We collected 1247 surveys from students in 22 undergraduate engineering courses diversified by program and year, and used descriptive statistics, paired samples t-tests and Chi-square tests of independence to analyze 1203 of them (96% completion rate). We plan to supplement our analysis of survey data with follow-up focus groups.  
Results:
Early results suggest that engineering students are engaged in one to eight different types of non-classroom activities; on average, student participated in two. The most frequently identified of these activities were paid work, design competitions and athletics. Student activity preferences differ by year, sex, ethno-cultural identity and program (all significant at the p<.05 level). Work, design competitions and professional development activities were most effective at helping students build their engineering skills while leadership programing, work and student government were most effective at helping them develop their leadership skills. Students who participated in high intensity activities (>20h/week) reported a greater gain in both leadership and engineering skill development than peers involved in lower-intensity activities. 
Recommendations & Implications:
Our data suggests that co-curricular and extra-curricular activities catalyze engineering students’ leadership development. As leadership educators, we are in an excellent position to help them build on these experiences through “reflective observation,” “conceptualization” and “active experimentation” [7]. One example of our institute acting on this recommendation is a “club leaders roundtable” where students in formal leadership positions reflect on their experiences and engage in collective knowledge construction on engineering leadership.
References
1.	Feldman, A.F. and J.L. Matjasko, The role of school-based extracurricular activities in adolescent development: A comprehensive review and future directions. Review of Educational Research, 2005. 75(2): p. 159-210.
2.	Huang, Y.-R. and S.-M. Chang, Academic and cocurricular involvement: Their relationship and the best combination for student growth. Journal of College Student Development, 2004. 45(4): p. 391-406.
3.	Wilson, D., et al., The link between cocurricular activities and academic engagement in engineering education. Journal of Engineering Education, 2014. 103(4): p. 625-651.
4.	Finelli, C.J., et al., An assessment of engineering students' curricular and co-curricular experiences and their ethical development. Journal of Engineering Education, 2012. 101(3): p. 469-494.
5.	Gellin, A., The effect of undergraduate student involvement on critical thinking: A meta-analysis of the literature 1991-2000. Journal of College Student Development, 2003. 44(6): p. 746-762.
6.	Allendoerfer, C., et al., Strategic pathways for success: The influence of outside community on academic engagement. Journal of Engineering Education, 2012. 101(3): p. 512-538.
7.	Kolb, D.A., Experiential Learning: Experiences as the Source of Learning and Development. 1984, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.


AU  - Cindy Rottmann
AU  - Robin Sacks
AU  - Mike Klassen
AU  - Doug Reeve
CY  - New Orleans, Louisiana
DA  - 2016/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Sports, arts and concrete canoes: Engineers learning to lead outside the formal curriculum
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/25858
DO  - 10.18260/p.25858
ER  -