Take responsibility to understand engineering (TRUE): A qualitative investigation of student’s engineering self-efficacy as a result of participation in a multi-stakeholder program

Dhinesh Balaji Radhakrishnan; Wilfrido A. Moreno; Jennifer Deboer; Chris S. Ferekides

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Work in Progress Papers in ECE
Tagged Division: Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE)
Page Count: 20
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44396
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44396
Download Count: 213

Paper Authors

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Dhinesh Balaji Radhakrishnan Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) orcid.org/0000-0001-6959-196X

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Wilfrido A. Moreno P.E. University of South Florida

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Wilfrido Moreno received his BSEE, M.S.E.E & Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Florida (USF), Tampa – Florida in 1983, 1985 and 1993 respectively. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of South Florida, Tampa – Florida. Dr. Moreno is a founding member of the former Center for Microelectronics Research, (CMR- 1988), which is currently the Nanotechnology Research & Education Center, (NREC) at USF. His research interests are oriented toward the use of System of Systems Complex Engineering methodologies applied to system design, development, integration and validation by providing hardware/software solutions to industrial applications in areas such as Digital Signal Processing, Communications, Energy, Mechatronics (Robotics & Control), Nano/Micro-electronics, Medical Engineering and Multimedia solutions applied to engineering education. Since 1994, Dr. Moreno has been facilitating students and faculty mobility throughout the Latin American region; over 120 faculty members from Latin America have earned their Doctoral degrees from USF. He serves as the R&D Initiative Director for the Ibero-American Science & Technology Education Consortium (ISTEC) responsible for fostering Teaching/Learning & Research collaborations throughout the Ibero-american region among ISTEC’s members. Dr. Moreno has supervised over sixty master students and twenty doctoral students. Dr. Moreno has over 120 technical publications.

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Jennifer Deboer Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)

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Jennifer DeBoer is currently Assistant Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her research focuses on international education systems, individual and social development, technology use and STEM learning, and educational environments for

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Chris S. Ferekides University of South Florida

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Abstract

The recent Boyer 2030 commission report on undergraduate education at U.S. research universities emphasized "World Readiness," referring to "a vision of undergraduate education that includes and goes beyond the essential goal of near-term workforce readiness to empower students for citizenship, life, and work throughout their lifetimes" [1, p.22]. In order to optimize student learning and success towards "world readiness," we must empower students to become agents of change in their own spaces, including being able to effectively self-regulate their own learning and take responsibility to understand and apply engineering. In 2015, the Electrical Engineering Department at a large, south-eastern R1 university in the U.S. initiated the TRUE (Take Responsibility to Understand Engineering) initiative as part of a department cultural transformation program.

The TRUE initiative was one of multiple elements in the transformation, and within the initiative, the implementation of TRUE projects was a key programmatic activity. TRUE projects bring together students, faculty, industry, and community to engage in real-world problem-solving during the 4-year undergraduate program. Students take responsibility to self-regulate, learn, and apply engineering to real-world problems. While similar models of real-world engagement (e.g., EPICS) exist, they are either limited to a specific category of stakeholders, such as industry or community, or a particular program, such as capstone design. The TRUE projects allow learners across the four-year engineering curriculum to participate, while also holistically building the skills required for the projects via specialized courses, outreach programs, and mentorship.

Implementation of the TRUE initiative over the past seven years provides an opportunity to qualitatively understand the development of students' engineering self-efficacy as a result of their participation. Self-efficacy measures students' beliefs in their ability to achieve tasks [2]. In this study, it serves as a construct to understand TRUE project's utility in preparing "world-ready" engineers, since students who believe in their own capabilities also tend to engage in their work for their own mastery and find their work valuable and interesting [3]. Therefore we ask: What are the students’ perceived engineering self-efficacy as a result of participating in Take Responsibility to Understand Engineering (TRUE) projects?

We conduct semi-structured interviews with students, faculty, industry, and community representatives to gather data on their experiences in TRUE projects. Using thematic analysis, we apply inductive coding to identify themes that answer the research question. Results from this study provide insights into the efficacy of department-level reform initiatives in addressing the demand to prepare engineers who are ready to grapple with complex global problems and effectively seek nuanced understandings in 2030 and beyond.

Citation
Format

Radhakrishnan, D. B., & Moreno, W. A., & Deboer, J., & Ferekides, C. S. (2023, June), Take responsibility to understand engineering (TRUE): A qualitative investigation of student’s engineering self-efficacy as a result of participation in a multi-stakeholder program Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44396

TY - CPAPER
AB - The recent Boyer 2030 commission report on undergraduate education at U.S. research universities emphasized &quot;World Readiness,&quot; referring to &quot;a vision of undergraduate education that includes and goes beyond the essential goal of near-term workforce readiness to empower students for citizenship, life, and work throughout their lifetimes&quot; [1, p.22]. In order to optimize student learning and success towards &quot;world readiness,&quot; we must empower students to become agents of change in their own spaces, including being able to effectively self-regulate their own learning and take responsibility to understand and apply engineering. In 2015, the Electrical Engineering Department at a large, south-eastern R1 university in the U.S. initiated the TRUE (Take Responsibility to Understand Engineering) initiative as part of a department cultural transformation program.

The TRUE initiative was one of multiple elements in the transformation, and within the initiative, the implementation of TRUE projects was a key programmatic activity. TRUE projects bring together students, faculty, industry, and community to engage in real-world problem-solving during the 4-year undergraduate program. Students take responsibility to self-regulate, learn, and apply engineering to real-world problems. While similar models of real-world engagement (e.g., EPICS) exist, they are either limited to a specific category of stakeholders, such as industry or community, or a particular program, such as capstone design. The TRUE projects allow learners across the four-year engineering curriculum to participate, while also holistically building the skills required for the projects via specialized courses, outreach programs, and mentorship.

Implementation of the TRUE initiative over the past seven years provides an opportunity to qualitatively understand the development of students&#39; engineering self-efficacy as a result of their participation. Self-efficacy measures students&#39; beliefs in their ability to achieve tasks [2]. In this study, it serves as a construct to understand TRUE project&#39;s utility in preparing &quot;world-ready&quot; engineers, since students who believe in their own capabilities also tend to engage in their work for their own mastery and find their work valuable and interesting [3]. Therefore we ask: What are the students’ perceived engineering self-efficacy as a result of participating in Take Responsibility to Understand Engineering (TRUE) projects?

We conduct semi-structured interviews with students, faculty, industry, and community representatives to gather data on their experiences in TRUE projects. Using thematic analysis, we apply inductive coding to identify themes that answer the research question. Results from this study provide insights into the efficacy of department-level reform initiatives in addressing the demand to prepare engineers who are ready to grapple with complex global problems and effectively seek nuanced understandings in 2030 and beyond.
AU - Dhinesh Balaji Radhakrishnan
AU - Wilfrido A. Moreno P.E.
AU - Jennifer Deboer
AU - Chris S. Ferekides
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Take responsibility to understand engineering (TRUE): A qualitative investigation of student’s engineering self-efficacy as a result of participation in a multi-stakeholder program
UR - https://peer.asee.org/44396
DO - 10.18260/1-2--44396
ER -