Work in Progress: Exploring the Use of Faculty and Peer Mentoring as a Tool to Support Engineering Transfer Students’ Transition

Anna-Lena Dicke; David A. Copp; Deniz Nikkhah; Kameryn Denaro; Hye Rin Lee; Lorenzo Valdevit

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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: First-Year Programs Division (FYP) - WIPS 2: Advising & Mentoring
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs Division (FYP)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44465
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44465
Download Count: 158

Paper Authors

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Anna-Lena Dicke University of California, Irvine orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-455X

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Dr. Dicke is an Associate Project Scientist within the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. In her research, she aims to understand how students’ motivation and interest in the STEM fields can be fostered to secure their educational persistence and long-term career success. Trying to bridge the gap between theory and practice, she is currently involved in an NSF-funded project aimed at fostering the persistence and retention of low-income engineering transfer students.

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David A. Copp University of California, Irvine orcid.org/0000-0002-5206-5223

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David A. Copp received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Teaching at the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Prior to joining UCI, he was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories and an adjunct faculty member in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico. His broad research interests include engineering education, as well as control and optimization of nonlinear and hybrid systems with applications to power and energy systems, multi-agent systems, robotics, and biomedicine. He is a recipient of UCSB's Center for Control, Dynamical Systems, and Computation Best PhD Thesis award and a UCI Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship.

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Hye Rin Lee is a NSF postdoctoral fellow at the University of Delaware. She received her Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine with a concentration in Human Development in Context. Her research interests include motivation, psychological interventions, role models, academic engagement, and higher education.

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Lorenzo Valdevit

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Abstract

Work in Progress: Exploring the Use of Faculty and Peer Mentoring as a Tool to Support Engineering Transfer Students’ Transition

Motivation/Background This Work in Progress paper will investigate the mentoring experiences of transfer engineering students during their first year at a four-year university. One issue that has been commonly discussed is the transfer shock that transfer students experience right after their transition from their community college to a four-year university and its impact on their academic persistence and success (e.g., Lakin and Elliott, 2016; Smith et al, 2021). Amongst a number of other factors, one of the factors identified as a potential cause contributing to this transfer shock is the lack of personal relationships with faculty and a lack of social integration into their peer group (e.g., Monroe, 2006, Walker & Okpala, 2017). Transfer students’ perceptions of this lack of personal relationship has also been linked to less help seeking behavior shown by transfer students in some qualitative work (Elliott & Lakin, 2021). One of the tools identified as a potential remedy is the provision of quality interactions with faculty and peers through mentoring (Dhin & Zhang, 2020; Smith & Van Aken, 2020; Winterer et al., 2020). The current study focuses on low-income engineering transfer students from diverse backgrounds that received faculty and peer mentoring as part of a scholarship program to help them with the transition and to secure their retention and success in the engineering program. In this program, transfer students received two types of mentoring. Based on their chosen engineering major, they were matched with an individual faculty mentor to provide them with guidance. In addition, they were matched with a more advanced transfer student in their major to promote social integration. The aim of the current study is to explore students’ perceptions of the mentoring program in terms of its benefits and opportunities for improvement.

Methods/Assessment To assess the engineering transfer students’ mentoring experiences, two sources will be used. Students will receive a survey that assesses students’ experiences with their faculty and peer mentor (targeted n=50). The survey will include questions about the frequency and mode of interaction with their mentors, their perceptions of their mentors’ competencies including their cultural sensitivity using established scales (e.g., Mentoring Competency Assessment Scale; Fleming et al, 2013) and their feedback on their mentor relationships using open-ended questions. In addition, a subsample of students will be invited to participate in an in-depth interview to learn about their mentoring experiences as an engineering student throughout the scholarship program in more detail (targeted n=15). To this end, a detailed interview script has been developed that aims to assess students’ perceptions of their own identity as an aspiring engineer, their conceptions of mentoring and their perceptions of the benefits of having a faculty and peer mentor and the way their mentors support them. The interview script will be further adapted as needed throughout the data collection to address any areas of importance to transfer students.

Anticipated Results We anticipate learning about the way and modes that transfer students interact with their mentors and the perceived competencies of mentors to address transfer students’ needs using survey results. In addition, we will be able to identify behavior shown by mentors that is perceived as either supportive or unsupportive by transfer students. To this end, we will code for qualitative themes emerging (a) from open-ended answers given in the survey and (b) the interviews. We will also explore whether we can identify issues raised by students that could not be addressed effectively through mentoring. Findings will highlight the specific needs of low-income engineering transfer students from diverse backgrounds that can be met by participating in a mentoring program. In addition, findings will be used to improve the existing mentoring program as well as help in developing guidelines for establishing similar mentoring programs for low-income engineering transfer students from diverse backgrounds at other institutions to support student retention and success.

Citation
Format

Dicke, A., & Copp, D. A., & Nikkhah, D., & Denaro, K., & Lee, H. R., & Valdevit, L. (2023, June), Work in Progress: Exploring the Use of Faculty and Peer Mentoring as a Tool to Support Engineering Transfer Students’ Transition Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44465

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Work in Progress: Exploring the Use of Faculty and Peer Mentoring as a Tool to Support Engineering Transfer Students’ Transition

Motivation/Background
This Work in Progress paper will investigate the mentoring experiences of transfer engineering students during their first year at a four-year university. One issue that has been commonly discussed is the transfer shock that transfer students experience right after their transition from their community college to a four-year university and its impact on their academic persistence and success (e.g., Lakin and Elliott, 2016; Smith et al, 2021). Amongst a number of other factors, one of the factors identified as a potential cause contributing to this transfer shock is the lack of personal relationships with faculty and a lack of social integration into their peer group (e.g., Monroe, 2006, Walker &amp;amp; Okpala, 2017). Transfer students’ perceptions of this lack of personal relationship has also been linked to less help seeking behavior shown by transfer students in some qualitative work (Elliott &amp;amp; Lakin, 2021). One of the tools identified as a potential remedy is the provision of quality interactions with faculty and peers through mentoring (Dhin &amp;amp; Zhang, 2020; Smith &amp;amp; Van Aken, 2020; Winterer et al., 2020). The current study focuses on low-income engineering transfer students from diverse backgrounds that received faculty and peer mentoring as part of a scholarship program to help them with the transition and to secure their retention and success in the engineering program. In this program, transfer students received two types of mentoring. Based on their chosen engineering major, they were matched with an individual faculty mentor to provide them with guidance. In addition, they were matched with a more advanced transfer student in their major to promote social integration. The aim of the current study is to explore students’ perceptions of the mentoring program in terms of its benefits and opportunities for improvement.

Methods/Assessment
To assess the engineering transfer students’ mentoring experiences, two sources will be used. Students will receive a survey that assesses students’ experiences with their faculty and peer mentor (targeted n=50). The survey will include questions about the frequency and mode of interaction with their mentors, their perceptions of their mentors’ competencies including their cultural sensitivity using established scales (e.g., Mentoring Competency Assessment Scale; Fleming et al, 2013) and their feedback on their mentor relationships using open-ended questions. In addition, a subsample of students will be invited to participate in an in-depth interview to learn about their mentoring experiences as an engineering student throughout the scholarship program in more detail (targeted n=15). To this end, a detailed interview script has been developed that aims to assess students’ perceptions of their own identity as an aspiring engineer, their conceptions of mentoring and their perceptions of the benefits of having a faculty and peer mentor and the way their mentors support them. The interview script will be further adapted as needed throughout the data collection to address any areas of importance to transfer students.

Anticipated Results
We anticipate learning about the way and modes that transfer students interact with their mentors and the perceived competencies of mentors to address transfer students’ needs using survey results. In addition, we will be able to identify behavior shown by mentors that is perceived as either supportive or unsupportive by transfer students. To this end, we will code for qualitative themes emerging (a) from open-ended answers given in the survey and (b) the interviews. We will also explore whether we can identify issues raised by students that could not be addressed effectively through mentoring. Findings will highlight the specific needs of low-income engineering transfer students from diverse backgrounds that can be met by participating in a mentoring program. In addition, findings will be used to improve the existing mentoring program as well as help in developing guidelines for establishing similar mentoring programs for low-income engineering transfer students from diverse backgrounds at other institutions to support student retention and success.

AU  - Anna-Lena Dicke
AU  - David A. Copp
AU  - Deniz Nikkhah
AU  - Kameryn Denaro
AU  - Hye Rin Lee
AU  - Lorenzo Valdevit
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Work in Progress: Exploring the Use of Faculty and Peer Mentoring as a Tool to Support Engineering Transfer Students’ Transition
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44465
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44465
ER  -