2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This Work in Progress paper will describe the impacts of a first-year seminar course on measures of retention among first year undergraduate students in engineering and mathematical sciences programs. The study will integrate student self-assessment, student flow, and retention over three consecutive cohort years to understand the holistic impacts of the course on student success and degree progress.
Motivation. The primary motivation for this work is to understand the effectiveness of a common required course on first year retention and the factors influencing student success in the first year of college. Factors of interest include students’ personal definitions of success, sense of preparedness, and sense of belonging, as well as the influence of the course activities on key learning outcomes and student decision making in engineering and mathematical sciences programs.
Background. The one-credit course described in this paper was developed as a required, common learning experience for all first-time-first year (FTFY) students majoring in engineering (Civil, Environmental, Biomedical, Electrical, Mechanical, Engineering, and Engineering Management) and mathematical sciences (Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics). The purpose of the course is to provide students the opportunity to practice key skills common to their disciplines as provided through course learning outcomes related to design thinking, technical communication, teamwork, academic/professional planning, and metacognitive strategies. The course centers on campus-based projects, which students work on in interdisciplinary teams to develop a proposed solution for a campus partner. Additionally, students learn about various community and extracurricular opportunities and are paired with an undergraduate peer mentor to support them in their first semester of college.
Methods/Assessment. The influence of the first-year seminar on student outcomes was evaluated through a series of student self-assessments and analysis of institutional student flow and retention data for cohorts in three consecutive years of study (fall 20-22; 292-358 students). Student self-assessments were administered in surveys at the beginning and end of the semester to identify changes in attitude after the first semester of college. Qualitative questions were evaluated for themes related to students’ personal definitions of success, personal goals, sense of preparedness, and academic decision making. Additionally, students were asked to rate their familiarity with the course learning outcomes in the first and final weeks of the semester. Student flow and retention data was evaluated for the study period (AY20-21 through AY22-23) as well as the year preceding implementation of the course (AY19-20).
Results. Preliminary analysis of ratings-based assessments for Fall 2021 indicate a significant (p<0.05), positive impact of the course on student sense of preparedness (+15%) and familiarity with academic programs (+32%), extracurricular opportunities (+57%), and career readiness strategies (+62%). Additionally, student familiarity increased with respect to an understanding of the design thinking process (+69%), effective teamwork strategies (+18%), technical communication in the discipline (+27%), and academic integrity policies (+6%). Analysis of qualitative self-assessment data is expected to provide insights to the factors influencing students’ sense of success, preparedness, and academic decision-making. The number of students remaining at the institution and in their original college after the first year of study has increased since the course was implemented in fall 2020. Students remaining at the institution after the first year increased by 5% (15-18 students) from fall 2019 (prior to course implementation) to fall 2020 and 2021. Student flow between majors indicates that the number of students remaining in their original college increased from 22% (78 students) for the fall 2019 cohort to 27% (94 students) for the fall 2021 cohort. The percentage of students remaining in their original program ranged from 52% to 62% over the study period. Analysis of one-year outcomes for the fall 2022 cohort and 3rd and 4th year retention rates for all cohorts is still in progress.