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Retention of Undergraduate Engineering Students: Extending
Research Into Practice
Susan Staffin Metz, Co-PIStevens Institute of Technology
PI: Suzanne G. Brainard, Ph.D.Research Director: Elizabeth LitzlerResearch Assistant: Stephanie Jaros
ASEE Conference June 2010 Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Final Report to PACE Schools Statistically significant findings General trends Interview results Each survey question responses disaggregated
by gender & by race/ethnicity. Aggregated comparison data from three
schools for anonymized benchmarking. Research based recommendations
Categories of Recommendations
Increase and Improve Faculty-Student Interaction
Improve/Enhance Curriculum
Strengthen Student Engagement Engineering study Knowledge of engineering careers
Faculty Student Interaction Results
19% students participate in mentoring programs
17% of women were unfairly singled out in class because of their gender
22% of women heard faculty express gender stereotypes
17% of women are never or rarely comfortable asking questions in class
Faculty-Student Recommendations
Increase and Improve Faculty Student InteractionDevelop mentoring programs (17)Educate about stereotypes (11)Encourage students to ask for help
(11)Facilitate increased student
engagement (10)
Curriculum Results
Interviewees were enthusiastic about hands-on, real life problem solving activities
27% of students can think of other majors they would like better than engineering
38% of students usually or all the time felt overwhelmed by the amount of homework
Curriculum Recommendations
Improve /Enhance CurriculumIntegrate relevant applications (14)Provide greater flexibility in curriculum (5)
Student Engagement Results
59% of students feel like they usually or all the time are part of an engineering community
56% of females, 28% of males; 48% URM, 39% non-URM are involved in student professional societies
43% of women involved with WIE, 34% of under-represented minorities involved with MEP
Interviewees had high praise for the value of engineering-related work experiences
Student Engagement Recommendations
Strengthen student engagement in engineering study and knowledge of engineering careers
Encourage participation in professional societies and clubs (9)
Facilitate communities for women and URMs(5)
Increase opportunities for internships, co-ops, REU’s (5)
Next Steps
Work with schools and follow up on progress toward implementing PACE recommendations
.
Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
What is ENGAGE?• NSF GSE Extension Service Project
Modeled after the Cooperative Extension Services of Land Grant Universities
Extending a successful product or strategy to a community who will benefit from the strategy
• Identify research based strategies that improve retention of engineering undergraduates, take it off the shelf and put it into action.
• 30 engineering schools in five years
www.EngageEngineering.org 12
Creating a Culture for Scholarly and Systematic Innovation in Engineering Education (ASEE 2009)
• The most effective way to improve persistence is to improve the quality of the engineering learning experience.
• A primary culprit in the attrition of students from engineering is students’ perception of a learning environment that is often unmotivating and unwelcoming. The environment created by faculty affects students’ performance and persistence.
www.EngageEngineering.org 13
2010 ENGAGE Schools
• Kettering University• Purdue University• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology• Stevens Institute of Technology• The University of Texas at Austin• The Ohio State University• University of Louisville• University of Maryland• University of South Carolina• Virginia Tech
NOTE: Schools in RED participate in PACE and ENGAGE
www.EngageEngineering.org 14
What is the goal of ENGAGE?
• The overarching goal of ENGAGE is to increase the capacity of engineering schools to retain undergraduate students by facilitating the implementation of three research-based strategies to improve student day-to-day classroom and educational experience.
• Focus: Improve retention of 1st and 2nd year engineering students, particularly women.
www.EngageEngineering.org 15
How are ENGAGE teams supported?
• Strategy Implementation Workshop
• Mini-grants ($12,000)
• Technical Assistance (ENGAGE staff & consultants)
• www.EngageEngineering.org
• Evaluation
www.EngageEngineering.org 16
What strategies is ENGAGE extending?
• Improve Spatial Visualization Skills (among 1st year students with weak skills)
• Integrate Everyday Examples (in 1st and 2nd year engineering courses)
• Improve and increase level of Faculty-Student Interaction (among 1st & 2nd year engineering students)
www.EngageEngineering.org 17
PACE Supports and Informs ENGAGE Research-Based Strategies
Recommendations
Increase and improve faculty-student interaction•Develop formal faculty-student mentoring programs (17 schools)
•Encourage students to ask for help – faculty approachability (11)••Facilitate increased student engagement (through student-faculty interaction),particularly in the first two years (10) Improve /Enhance Curriculum •Integrate everyday examples/relevant applications in the curriculum (14)