Catherine T. Amelink

A comparison of educational factors promoting or discouraging the intent to remain in engineering by gender

This study seeks to examine key extrinsic and intrinsic factors that encourage or discourage persistence in attaining an engineering degree and pursuing an engineering-related career among both male and female undergraduates. Quantitative and qualitative findings from nine participating undergraduate degree programmes reveal that career expectations formulated through educational experiences as undergraduates play a key role in motivating students. Among females, faculty interaction in the classroom, such as feedback received and the degree to which the faculty treat them with respect, is an important encouraging factor. For both males and females, discouraging elements of the undergraduate experience include the amount of time for coursework, competition in engineering classes and grades. The findings have several practical implications that faculty and administrators can employ in shaping the undergraduate experience to encourage short- and long-term interest in engineering among both male and female students.

Student learning behaviors promoted with instructional technology

This study examines the use of collaborative instructional technology among engineering undergraduates at a Research I university and discusses the relationship of student use to desired educational outcomes. Specifically, trends in student use of the Tablet PC and related features over a four year period will be discussed. Frequency of student use of the collaborative features within engineering courses and the subsequent relationship to gains in desired learning outcomes will be reviewed. Discussion focuses on how the results are being used to form initiatives to encourage student and faculty use. Administrators and faculty at other institutions that are involved in initiatives related to instructional technology or those interested in pedagogical approaches that use technology to encourage collaboration between peers as well as between instructors and students can use the results from this study to help inform projects at their own colleges and universities.

Examining the Self-Efficacy of Community College STEM Majors: Factors Related to Four-Year Degree Attainment

Despite the awareness of the importance of self-efficacy, this concept has been studied in a limited sense among community college students (Collins & Bissell, 2004), but it has been shown to be significantly related to career decisions among enrollees (Kelly & Hatcher, 2013). The literature does not address what types of experiences can improve or enhance self-efficacy among college students as it relates to research and among community college students specifically. This study addresses the gap in the literature by examining what experiences can improve the self-efficacy of community college students as it relates to research and whether this has an impact on their long-term career plans to pursue a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career.

Promoting Interactions with Technology Review of a College-Wide Tablet PC Program

In this paper, we describe findings from an empirical review of a college-wide Tablet PC program at Virginia tech five years after the program’s inception. Data were collected through a student survey (n=1090) and focus groups with students (n=21) and semi-structured interviews with faculty members (n=4) were conducted. The findings suggested that the use of Tablet PCs with collaborative software promoted various types of faculty-student (e.g. real-time feedback, active engagement) and student-student interactions (e.g., online collaboration for co-located teams, virtual meetings). Additionally, students who use Tablet PCs in more courses showed higher level of engagement in classroom interactions. Recommendations for incorporating Tablet PCs into classrooms based on the findings are discussed.

Our First Online Offering of Introduction to Thermal-Fluid Engineering

In this paper the researchers reflect on the use of various communication technologies from the first online offering of our introductory thermodynamics course. The asynchronous (i.e., forums) and synchronous communication technologies such as Centra™ were employed for instruction and explication of useful feedback and self-explanation to promote students’ collaboration. The instructors outline the types of questions used in these guided activities that challenged students to search for multiple ways to demonstrate their conceptual understanding of very fundamental physical notions. The discussion in this paper outlines ways to improve forum questions, instructor’ feedback, and the frequency of the feedback to improve students’ metacognitive strategies in learning and the application of the course material. The observational data are also examined to note if there were any differences in forum contributions online versus students’ contributions in a face-to-face class. This paper provides a platform for research about learning and evaluation of instruction in abstract engineering courses in an online environment. The study is significant and of interest to faculty and administrators who have taught courses in traditional classrooms and who are now considering online teaching to increase access to engineering education.© 2011 ASME

Individual and environmental factors that significantly impact short- and long-term interest in engineering

This paper provides data and recommendations for best practices grounded in the argument that a set of individual qualities and elements of the educational setting that have been identified in the research literature as playing a significant role in promoting womens retention in engineering majors and interest in engineering as a career, have similarly significant effects on mens interests. Data from questionnaires completed by students in eight colleges or schools of engineering (N=1629) and from interviews conducted during nine campus visits demonstrated the importance of one individual quality-motivation-and one environmental quality — perceptions of support from family and friends-on both the short- and long-term interest in engineering of male and female undergraduate engineering majors. The perception that faculty members and peers cared about them and respected their ability to succeed in engineering was significant in predicting both mens and womens intent to remain in an engineering major. These finding underscore the importance of interactions that communicate the conviction that students have the ability and commitment to succeed in engineering.

Online Course Design Informed by Students’ Epistemic Beliefs: A Case Study of a Thermodynamics Course

Online offerings of abstract engineering courses such as thermodynamics provide a medium to present course material using pedagogy that employs problem-based learning (PBL). This shift requires a student-centered approach to course design and delivery that addresses several key elements in the educational setting, including students’ self-efficacy as it relates to problem-solving and students’ epistemic beliefs as they relate to interacting with peers, instructors, and instruction. This paper reports results from a mixed-method study that collected data useful in design of an online course focused on teaching problem solving skills among students. The data were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods used to determine how students approach problem solving, the role of instructor in facilitating problem solving, and the role of peers and students’ use of technology as it relates to accomplishing course work related to problem solving. Results reveal that students are confident in their problem-solving skills but rely primarily on the instructor to show them how to solve problems. Analysis and discussion focus on how to change the manner in which the content of the course is designed and presented to improve students’ self-efficacy in problem solving and students’ epistemic beliefs through active engagement with materials and collaboration with peers and instructor.Copyright

Exploring differences in perceived innovative thinking skills between first year and upperclassmen engineers

This paper addresses the question of how undergraduate engineering students view the concept of innovation and their own innovative abilities. The study took a mixed methods approach that included both a survey and focus groups to explore this question. The survey revealed significant differences in how fourth year and first year students rated their innovative thinking skills, where the fourth year students believed themselves to be more innovative. To understand why these differences exist, the research team conducted separate focus groups with upperclassmen and first year students. The two age groups defined innovation similarly, but the first year students associated innovative thinking more closely with engineering design. The upperclassmen mostly viewed their innovative thinking skills through their experiences in extracurricular activities. These differences suggest a need to incorporate innovative thinking more intentionally into engineering classrooms.

Developing innovative thinking among engineering undergraduates: Examining the role of slate enabled technology

This paper reports the planned implementation for a NSF sponsored study that is being undertaken to examine whether effective use of instructional technology, specifically slate enabled technology, has an impact on the innovative thinking skills among engineering undergraduates enrolled in large lecture classes. The methodology used in this study a quasi-experimental mixed method approach utilizing a control and treatment group. Findings from the planned study can be used to improve innovative thinking skills through effective pedagogical approaches which may include employment of various forms of slate enabled instructional technology.

Work in progress — The process of evaluating the impact of an international experience on students' global engineering skills

This paper describes the pedagogy, including the related international experience, being employed in the College of Engineering at a Research I university that is designed to develop competencies associated with a global engineer. In addition, the assessment methodology that has been developed to determine the extent to which students are developing the skills needed for engineering in a global context and their perceptions of a global engineer as a result of this comprehensive experience is discussed.