David Whitman

Cooperative education as a means to enhance self-efficacy among sophomores (with particular attention to women) in undergraduate engineering

Northeastern University and the University of Wyoming are investigating whether the participation of sophomores (with particular attention to women) in formal undergraduate engineering programs that provide work experiences while enrolled (e.g., cooperative education and internships) is related to enhanced self-efficacy. While self-esteem is a global concept and self-efficacy refers to confidence about a particular content area or set of tasks, general self-esteem tends to be related to an individuals feelings of self-efficacy. Research suggests that decreased self-esteem and self-efficacy of women in engineering majors are significant obstacles to persistence. Indeed, consistent findings reported through the assessing women in engineering project have reported that the persistence of women in engineering is highly related to efficacy. Thus, this study was designed to add to the body of literature on the retention of women in undergraduate engineering. The purpose of this study is to isolate those factors that contribute most to the development of three positive self- efficacy dimensions thought to be most relevant to the retention of sophomores (especially women) in undergraduate engineering: work, academic, and career It examines, in particular, if cooperative education alone enhances efficacy (while controlling for pre-existing conditions among students enrolling in a cooperative education school as well as controlling for alternative supports for students to assist them during their undergraduate experience). One of the schools participating in the study, Northeastern, requires cooperative (co-op) education whereas the University of Wyoming does not.

Dynamic dynamics: Projection software for engineering dynamics

In an attempt to close the gap between teaching and learning styles, the authors embarked on a project to develop in-class, MS-DOS computer enhancement material for lectures in engineering dynamics. The materials presented in this work provide the instructor with a means to improve the teaching environment by allowing visual demonstrations of the principles of dynamics that he or she is attempting to teach in any particular lecture. The authors present some specific information regarding the development of the animations, show the current list of animations that are available, and present one example in relative detail.<<ETX>>