This longitudinal study is an investigation of the impact on student retention of a First-Year Engineering Projects (FYEP) course at a large public research university. Student retention was measured at the third, fif...
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The service-learning educational method actively engages students in community service as an integral component of coursework, fostering both civic responsibility and leadership. Research has shown that the use of ser...
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The service-learning educational method actively engages students in community service as an integral component of coursework, fostering both civic responsibility and leadership. Research has shown that the use of service-learning pedagogy has significant positive effects on students' academic performance (GPA, writing skills, critical thinking skills) and development of civic values (commitment to continued civic participation).1Service-learning courses are emerging in engineering colleges as a mechanism to provide engineering students with meaningful community-based learning experiences through which they develop the values and skills of citizenship and leadership, while maturing their own communications skills and strengthening their commitment to the engineering profession.
For several years, first-year engineering students at Colorado University (USA) have experienced the joys and frustrations of engineering in a college-wide introductory design-build test course. The course introduces ...
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For several years, first-year engineering students at Colorado University (USA) have experienced the joys and frustrations of engineering in a college-wide introductory design-build test course. The course introduces students to engineering through hands-on, open-ended team design projects. The course is intended to serve the needs of entry-level first-year students, who are of similar age and maturity. With support from an NCIIA grant, a new course targeted at advanced and transfer students, and with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, was piloted. This paper discusses various elements of both courses as they apply to the process of invention and innovation, describes some design projects, and summarizes the lessons learned.
The University of Colorado Boulder Engineering GoldShirt program was created and launched in 2009, with the aim of providing an alternative pathway to and through university engineering programs. Using an Inclusive Ex...
In spring 2008 the college of Engineering and appliedscience at the University of Colorado Boulder established an inclusive excellence program with a focus on increasing the academic performance and retention through...
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In spring 2008 the college of Engineering and appliedscience at the University of Colorado Boulder established an inclusive excellence program with a focus on increasing the academic performance and retention through graduation of students who are underrepresented in engineering - including women, minorities, low-income and first-generation college students. The Broadening Opportunity through Leadership and Diversity Center (BOLD) Center hosts the Student Success Center (SSC), a drop-in tutoring initiative that is available for all engineering students, with an eye towards building inclusion. Launched in fall 2008, the SSC's primary goals are to foster student learning, maximize academic performance in math and science foundation courses and ultimately curtail the loss of students during the first, second and third years of engineering study. This paper presents the motivations behind hosting a college-wide tutoring center through the diversity-serving program in the college, the role of the SSC in improving the retention and success of first- and second year engineering students and a comparison of SSC users with the first- and second-year engineering non-user student population. Our primary research focus is to assess the factors associated with the use of facilitated informal learning environments, such as the SSC, that can impact student self-efficacy, identity and retention. Research includes probing the reasons behind the increased success we observe in SSC users, the impact of tutoring practices on student retention (especially those underrepresented in engineering), and examining the interest and academic performance of firstand second-year men and women who both persisted in or left engineering. This paper focuses on the results for 220 unique students who used the SSC more than 1050 times during the 2009-2010 academic year, with most seeking support for Calculus I-III, Chemistry and Physics. Staffed by two tutors at all times, the SSC provided approximate
At our nation's universities, too few rural, low-income, underrepresented minority and firstgeneration students pursue engineering degrees, and most well-prepared women show little interest. Because inadequate pre...
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At our nation's universities, too few rural, low-income, underrepresented minority and firstgeneration students pursue engineering degrees, and most well-prepared women show little interest. Because inadequate pre-college academic preparation is a known critical barrier to university-level engineering admission, one pathway for engineering colleges to increase their undergraduate student population diversity is to commit to boosting the performance of under-prepared high school graduates admitted under transitional status. The Engineering GoldShirt program at the University of Colorado at Boulder, supported by National science Foundation funding, provides a performance-enhancing year for under-prepared students directly admitted to the engineering college. The highly-structured approach closely monitors student performance against seven goals. One goal is to increase student interest in, and knowledge of, an engineering career - supported by creating a strong community among GoldShirt students and the larger college population. Another goal is to ensure that students are prepared to academically perform in a traditional engineering program after their transitional GoldShirt year. By achieving all program goals, we seek to create a national model for significantly boosting recruitment, retention and graduation of under-prepared students in engineering. The Engineering GoldShirt program enrolled its first cohort of 16 highly-motivated yet under-prepared students in fall 2009. In the pilot group, 11 represent the first-generation in their families to attend college, 13 are underrepresented minority students, and seven are female. This paper describes the college of Engineering and appliedscience's unique approach to expanding opportunity for students from historically underrepresented groups to succeed in engineering, and shares the lessons learned thus far about recruitment, admissions, curriculum development, course placement, and student support services - all stra
The TeachEngineering digital library provides teacher-tested, standards-based engineering content for K-12 teachers to use in science and math classrooms. Since its release in 2005, TeachEngineering has experienced si...
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In the fall of 2009, a college of engineering and appliedscience at a public, Rocky Mountain region university embarked on a new inclusive excellence initiative called Broadening Opportunity through Leadership & ...
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In the fall of 2009, a college of engineering and appliedscience at a public, Rocky Mountain region university embarked on a new inclusive excellence initiative called Broadening Opportunity through Leadership & Diversity (BOLD). The BOLD Center is a new K-16 organizational structure to increase the performance, representation and retention through graduation of students who are underrepresented in engineering, including women, students of color, low income and first generation college attendees. A BOLD Center focus of concern is the declining retention rate of women that has dipped below that of men recently in our college. A survey consisting of 41 questions was distributed to all undergraduate engineering women in the college that incorporates scales from the Assessing Women in Engineering (AWE) assessment and from the Academic Pathways of People learning Engineering Survey (APPLES). Five research questions were posed in the survey design: • Do women express a loss of interest during their program? • Is there a chilly climate for women in the college? • Do women?s self-efficacy levels change during the program? • Do academic performance levels play a role in women?s retention in engineering? • Do women have an adequate support structure in the college? The survey generated 116 responses from 2 solicitations, with women students represented from every major across all four undergraduate years. An unintended outcome was that the sample largely consists of women with high grade point averages. Thus, this paper offers insight on top performing women?s self-efficacy and their views on the college climate, the benefits from various support systems - advising, mentoring, social and financial - and the existing programming and initiatives that can play a role in their achievements. The results indicate that women students are interested and efficacious with respect to obtaining an engineering degree, and that the college climate is, on average, warm and accepting. Howev
Motivated by a desire to excite K-12 students about the joys of engineering and spark their interest in pre-engineering subjects, the integratedteaching and learning (ITL) program at the University of Colorado at Bou...
Motivated by a desire to excite K-12 students about the joys of engineering and spark their interest in pre-engineering subjects, the integratedteaching and learning (ITL) program at the University of Colorado at Boulder has developed a pre-engineering outreach program targeted at K-12 teachers and students. To supplement anecdotal success indicators, ITL developed several assessment tools to measure the impact of these programs. Assessment strategies consist of three key components: 1) assessment of workshop participant feedback (teachers and students), 2) assessment of long-term outcomes (teachers), and 3) assessment tools developed for the teachers' classroom use (i.e., embedded assessment). This paper reviews the process used to develop the assessment plans and tools. Examples of the tools used to assess participant feedback and preliminary outcomes are provided. Additionally, the process used to develop embedded assessment tools is described, including development of performance criteria and assessment tools that are linked to the learning goals, objectives, and K-12 State educational standards.
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