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Work in Progress: Design of Mastery-Based-Learning Course Structure to Assess Student Anxiety and Belonging

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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

Teaching Tools: Communication (NEE)

Tagged Division

New Engineering Educators Division (NEE)

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--44205

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/44205

Download Count

133

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Paper Authors

biography

Meghan Williams Elizabethtown College

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I am a senior at Elizabethtown College pursuing a Secondary Physics Education degree with a minor in Mathematics and am currently student teaching. I am the treasurer for the Elizabethtown College Circle K, a volunteer organization, and am also a representative for Honors Council. After graduation, I plan to spend two months working as a volunteer in Australia.

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biography

Elizabeth Dolin Dalton

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Assistant Professor of Psychology, Elizabethtown College

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biography

Mark Brinton Elizabethtown College Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7673-2203

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Dr. Mark Brinton currently teaches electrical and biomedical engineering courses at Elizabethtown College. Prior to joining Elizabethtown College, he studied advanced prosthetic limbs at the University of Utah (postdoc, Biomedical Engineering), taught Electrical Engineering at the Salt Lake Community College (adjunct faculty), and studied electro-neural stimulation for organ control at Stanford University (PhD, Electrical Engineering).

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Abstract

Anxiety and lack of belonging are two major obstacles college students face. These obstacles are more likely to impact students in demanding degree programs, like engineering, and predominantly underrepresented students. Assessments using mastery-based-learning (MBL) could lower students’ anxiety levels and increase their sense of belonging in the classroom. In MBL course structure, instructors identify key skills and students have several attempts to demonstrate mastery of these skill. Students are not required to attempt the next skill until they are proficient in the previous. To demonstrate the impacts of MBL, the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire will be given to students at several points during the semester to gage their level of anxiety and belonging. These surveys were distributed during the Fall 2022 to students taking a traditional analysis of electric circuits course, and will also be administered in subsequent semesters after the course has transitioned to MBL. In preparation for this study, we identified the key skills for mastery, developed a new grading structure, and created a schedule for the course.

Williams, M., & Dalton, E. D., & Brinton, M. (2023, June), Work in Progress: Design of Mastery-Based-Learning Course Structure to Assess Student Anxiety and Belonging Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44205

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