2023 Collaborative Network for Computing and Engineering Diversity (CoNECD)
New Orleans , Louisiana
February 26, 2023
February 26, 2023
February 28, 2023
Diversity and CoNECD Paper Sessions
20
10.18260/1-2--44783
https://peer.asee.org/44783
127
Taylor Y. Johnson is a graduate student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering Education, where she serves as a graduate research assistant. Taylor earned her Bachelor's from The University of Texas at Austin in Biomedical Engineering. She was previously a member of the student support staff for the Virginia Tech Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity where she served as an instructor for the first-year professional development seminar and as coordinator for the summer bridge program. Her research interests include equity in engineering education, middle-years of engineering, and engineering student support.
Malini Josiam is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She is advised by Dr. Walter Lee.
Dr. Walter Lee is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Education and the director of research in the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED), both at Virginia Tech. His research broadly focuses on inclusion, diversity, and educational equity—mainly related to students from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups in engineering. Lee received his Ph.D. in engineering education from Virginia Tech, his M.S. in industrial & systems engineering from Virginia Tech, and his B.S. in industrial engineering from Clemson University.
The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech hosts a five-week program for incoming students each summer, also known as a summer bridge program (SBP). As part of the program, first-time-in-college students become acclimated with the university setting and community prior to the start of their academic career. Students take non-credit courses in subjects that are historically challenging and required for first-year students, such as calculus, chemistry, and engineering fundamentals. Throughout the program, students also participate in informational seminars presented by various offices on campus to understand the range of opportunities and resources available to them. In light of participation occurring prior to the official start of the semester, the purpose of this paper is to explore the role of this program in shaping the expectations that participating students have of the undergraduate engineering program. To address this purpose, we analyzed a) written student responses from a workshop activity, b) data from semi-structured interviews that occurred after the workshop, and 3) responses to an exit survey administered at the conclusion of the five-week program. Combined, these data sources shed light on expectations students developed by the end of the program. We found that students emerged from the SBP with varying degrees of expectations regarding the alignment between the SBP experience and a college semester in engineering. We also found that students’ experiences and observations led them to recognize that marginalization exists in engineering while they also viewed engineering as a level playing field. We uncovered that when asked how they would respond to challenging situations, students relied on what they learned about during the SBP. Finally, we conclude with questions based on a transition theory in student development for practitioners to consider when developing or implementing a SBP.
Johnson, T. Y., & Josiam, M., & Lee, W. C. (2023, February), “The only difference is now it counts:” Exploring the Role of a Summer Bridge Program in Shaping Student Expectations of Engineering Paper presented at 2023 Collaborative Network for Computing and Engineering Diversity (CoNECD), New Orleans , Louisiana. 10.18260/1-2--44783
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015