How Certainty in Selecting an Engineering Major Is Influenced by First-Year Course Offerings

Abstract

The following evidence based practice study investigates the role of different first-year course tracks on student retention and major certainty throughout the first year. First-Year programs play an important role in student exploration and decision making processes. As many studies have shown, helping students make an informed decision can reduce time to graduation and increase student retention in engineering disciplines [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Therefore, it's of great interest for universities to determine how to best help students understand engineering disciplines and careers, but this is completed in many different ways. Schools may include instruction on the engineering design process, engineering projects, computer programming, major discernment, and many other topics [7]. This paper will explore how the University of Notre Dame has changed the first-year curriculum to allow students to customize their first-year experience and how those choices play a role in retention and certainty through the first-year.This study was completed at the University of Notre Dame, a medium sized, private, Midwestern, residential university and compares students enrolled in first-year engineering curriculum in Fall 2020 with students from Fall 2019. In the original form ( 2019), all students took the same 6-hour course sequence. In that sequence, students took a 3-credit course focused on engineering design projects and engineering major discernment in the fall. Their second 3credit course, taken in the spring, focused on computer programming. In the new form of the course, all students took a 1-credit course in engineering major discernment in the fall semester and were given a choice for their second engineering course. Students who were more sure of engineering as their major choice enrolled in a 3-credit computer programming course in the fall semester and will take a project based course in the spring semester. The remaining students enrolled in a 2-credit engineering design projects course in the fall and will take a 3-credit computer programming course in the spring.Because all students received identical major discernment instruction, this study explores the differences in student attitudes based on their enrollment in a project based course or a computer programming course. For both tracks, students were asked their major and certainty in that major (1) at the start of the fall semester and (2) at the end of the semester. Results will focus on student certainty as it relates to their intended major and the first-year course track they completed. Student retention to the spring semester will also be compared between the 2019 cohort and each of the Fall 2020 student tracks.