2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

If a group of engineering deans were asked whether students at their institutions were successful and why, what information might they immediately or subconsciously use to measure or gauge the engineering students’ success? If only academic performance outcomes like GPA, individual course grades, or graduation rate race to their minds, then their rationale aligns with the majority of researchers. My research seeks to shift the mindset that frames engineering student success mainly within the boundaries of academic performance measures. Measuring students’ self-determination and motivation levels by gauging perceived autonomy, competence, social integration and relatedness within their programs, and aspirations after graduation, one can more accurately judge whether engineering students are achieving holistic student success. By utilizing surveys and exit interviews for freshmen Summer Bridge Program (SBP) participants, interviewing continuing and past SBP participants, and surveying engineering seniors, this research will gather more in-depth information on students’ experiences.

Preliminary results from SBP freshmen interviews indicate that key program components affecting students’ success, motivations, and aspirations include community building, structured studying, field trips and real-world experience, residential life, and mentorship. Preliminary findings for continuing SBP students, whose classifications range from sophomore to senior, include emphases on being Black in engineering, program structure, program leadership and connections, and relatedness in SBP being non-transferable to undergraduate departments. The ongoing analyses of this qualitative data, coupled with the collection of quantitative data from engineering seniors, will offer valuable insight into ways to approach persistent issues in engineering education.

In turn, one can better understand how the structures of engineering summer and undergraduate programs either contribute to or detract from student success and motivation. This information can be used in practice for enhancing programmatic planning and design as well as potentially developing novel program components that contribute to students becoming more self-determined, motivated engineers. It is my hope that one day in the near future, engineering education faculty, administrators, and leaders will cultivate and measure success based on a more comprehensive assessment of lived experiences and better recognize how their decisions regarding programmatic structures impact students’ success and motivation.