2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This Work in Progress paper reviews the different First Year Engineering program models and looks at incorporating those pedagogical techniques into an Introduction to Engineering Technology course. The goal is to better prepare students for college and increase freshman success. Success will be described by freshman retention rates, student feedback, increased upper-level course and course learning outcome comprehension.

In Fall 2022, the course included three of the six offered technology disciplines. The course was being taught by assigning readings, in class activities, homework, and a project assigned halfway through the semester. The set up of the course led to two distinct eight weeks courses combined into one. The first part attempted to address the heterogeneity of math capabilities which ranged from remedial math to calculus II. While the second part attempted to teach engineering technology fundamentals and Microsoft competency. The observation was that students in higher level math courses became disinterested while lower-level math students struggled to grasp concepts. While freshman success activities have been incorporated, they were insufficient as many students struggled with completing assignments. Majority of students were competent in using Microsoft products, but struggled accessing resources outside of class. Finally, students were eager to start projects and solve engineering problems but lacked understanding on how to apply fundamentals to do so.

In the future, First Year Engineering program models and pedagogies will be applied. In the first iteration, a flipped classroom approach will be taken. Project-based learning will also be applied by breaking the course into three to five modules. Each week fundamentals will be presented in a prerecorded lecture. Problems and experiments will be assigned to further develop engineering tools in class. This will give the students the next set of tools they need to solve the project for that given module. The first weeks of the semester will serve as an onboarding to college with freshman success workshops and career development activities continually being incorporated.

The hypothesis is that this will take the course from a refresher to a true Introduction to Engineering Technology. It is anticipated that a higher-level math student will stay engaged through the projects and the application of teams will enable them to help assist lower-level math students in learning fundamental concepts. Breaking the modules down into weekly parts will systematically teach students how to apply concepts to solve complex problems. It is hoped that incorporating student feedback into the freshman success and career development activities will create a sense of ownership in their Engineering Technology community and education.

First Year Engineering models and pedagogical techniques will be evaluated and modified to Engineering Technology students leading to the next iteration of the course. With continued course iterations, the application of First Year Engineering models and pedagogical techniques to a First Year Engineering Technology program will be evaluated. The next evolution of the course will then be to incorporate all technology majors transforming the one semester refresher course into a two semester First Year Engineering Technology Program.