From the Students' Point of View: Experiences in a Freshman Engineering Design Course

Abstract

We evaluated the pilot semester of a freshman introduction to engineering course in order to provide an understanding of the students' experience in the course and identify aspects of this experience that could lead to improved student retention in engineering. The course concentrates on having students work in teams to identify customer needs, find solutions, and design and build a final product. We used qualitative research methods for data collection and analysis that included interviewing students using a set of open-ended questions, thus allowing them to introduce issues and describe their experiences. Our analysis indicated that students experienced engineering in a supportive, team-oriented environment that provided a context for making informed career decisions. The students' experiences indicate that courses such as this one can help students face the challenges they encounter in beginning their engineering education. I. INTRODUCTIONIndicators of student success in engineering have been limited largely to quantitative factors such as retention data and trends in engineering degree production. These figures, though crucial, are effects and do not by themselves carry any information about the causes that produced them. In particular, the figures do not reveal the internal processes or characteristics of courses that may lead to student success or failure in engineering. We feel that in order to obtain useable information about the internal processes and characteristics of courses, extensive work with students must be carried out.In this article we present the results of an evaluation of the fall 1994 pilot offering of a freshman introduction to engineering course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The course, Engineering Professional Development (EPD) 160, concentrates on having students work in teams to identify the needs of a real customer, find solutions, and design and build a final product. We document the students' experiences and how they interpret the course. Our study is student-centered, focusing on their descriptions and perceptions of the course. A. The Retention IssueMany reports have addressed the high attrition rate of students who enter college as engineering majors, pointing out that less than half of these students persist in their engineering curriculum until graduation. Since engineering attracts relatively few recruits from other fields, it is heavily dependent on retaining the students who begin in engineering.What factors explain this high attrition rate? A common assumption is that students who leave engineering lack the ability, preparation, or capacity for hard work. However, Semour and Hewitt found that students who switch out of engineering are similar to those who persist, with no significant differences in high school preparation, performance scores or effort expended.1,2 They propose that both groups experience the same set of problems, including what the students perceive as poor teaching, unapproachable faculty, and a fast-paced, "weed out" curriculum. Student ...

The Evolution of the Freshman Engineering Experience to Increase Active Learning, Retention, and Diversity—Work in Progress

“…[9][10][11] Other research has shown that hands-on projects with context may contribute to deeper learning, particularly with women. [12] However our initial analysis of course-specific retention data does not clearly support this.…”

“…Currently, in our largest course (~1000 students per year out of 1200-1300 total engineering freshman), Introduction to Engineering and Design (Intro 160), students participate in lectures covering design topics that span multiple disciplines of engineering. In the laboratory section of this course, they work in teams of [8][9][10][11][12] to solve a real-world, client-based engineering design problem proposed mostly by individuals in the local community and industries. The other introduction to engineering courses (Intro 101 and 102) are much smaller (~100 students collectively), and do not have hands-on labs with client-based projects.…”

Bringing Technology to the First-year Design Experience Through the Use of Electronic Design Notebooks

“…The benefits include neatness, organization, quality and quantity of entries, and availability of the content to instructors, clients, and teammates. 2 LabArchives ELN was chosen due to the very successful implementation of the classroom version in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) Design Courses, and the fact that our university began a campus-wide contract with LabArchives to provide this technology to research labs and other courses. LabArchives was well-studied and compared with numerous other ELNs and deemed the best option currently available that provided both a research and classroom edition.…”

“…This introductory freshman engineering course has been offered since 1994, and is highly valued by faculty and students. 2 In the laboratory section, they work in teams of 8-12 with a $200 budget (funded by our College of Engineering) to solve a real-world, client-based engineering design problem proposed mostly by individuals in the local community. Our regular clients often encourage others in the community to apply to our program.…”

Don't Look at Your Shoes! Getting Engineers and Scientists to Engage with Audiences

“…Academic training shows similar patterns, with "shy" or reticent students showing more difficulties in the classroom 8 . While the seminar students are engineers and scientists rather than physicians, similar principles hold true and similar remedies can be adapted and should be applicable 9,10 .…”