2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work-in-progress research paper describes the progress of a study exploring students’ out-of-class, co-curricular participation and professional learning at one engineering college. Within engineering education, engagement in co-curricular activities has been implicated as critical for the development of professional engineering graduates. However, navigating the many co-curricular opportunities students have to engage with can be difficult or overwhelming, and relatively few comprehensive tools exist to help students with this process. Furthermore, many of the tools developed have overlooked incorporating multiple engagement factors as decision making tools for students, and the reasoning students use to make choices about engaging in these co-curricular activities is much less explored. In this study, we explore questions about what students report engaging in, what outcomes they link to their engagement, and what factors they consider when choosing co-curricular activities for participation.

We are currently recruiting undergraduate engineering students to participate in a survey that collects data on their engagement with co-curricular activities, their perceived professional learning from engagement, and reasons for engaging in these activities (along with possible barriers to engagement). Survey items have been adapted from previously established survey instruments that explore affective engagement in co-curricular activities, categorize co-curricular engagement, and describe professional outcomes of engagement. Our goal is to recruit approximately 10% of the college of engineering population (120-200 students) to participate in the survey.

We anticipate using findings from the survey to develop an initial version of an engagement guide for students interested in participating in co-curricular activities. To improve the usability of the guide, we will employ stakeholder interviews with students to explore how they might use the tool and get feedback on ways to improve it.

We would like to use the work-in-progress nature of this paper and presentation to gain feedback from the community on ways to structure the stakeholder interviews and improve the use of the guide once shared with the broader undergraduate engineering student population at the study institution. The long-term goal of this work is to establish a context-conscious approach to understanding student engagement that other institutions can use to create resources that can guide student co-curricular engagement specific to their students’ unique needs.