2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work-in-progress paper describes a modest effort to enhance a first-year engineering course by gathering information about students’ pre-existing knowledge about engineering. The first-year engineering experience at X University is in the process of expanding from a pilot program to a one-semester required course for all engineering majors. As such, the faculty leading the program are still learning about the range of backgrounds, skills, and attitudes typical of first-year students at this institution. The activity described here serves two broad sets of intentions:
1) to collect baseline information for introducing students to engineering and building their confidence
2) to help instructors know enough about their students’ backgrounds and attitudes to be able to tailor that introduction if there are significant variations from cohort to cohort.

Speaking to the first motivation, new engineering students are often unsure about what an engineering career entails and are usually unaware of the breadth of engineering opportunities available. By asking students for their questions about engineering and answering those questions, students learn more about engineering and see that some of their peers have similar questions. They also benefit from seeing answers to questions that were posed by their classmates. Additionally, some first-year students may believe that they possess no relevant skills. In realizing that they have already started developing important skills, such as problem solving and communication, they may become more confident in deciding to pursue engineering and start developing a sense of belonging in the engineering community. This activity provides the opportunity to directly address the array of strengths already present in the classroom, laying the foundation for productive teamwork experiences.

Regarding the second motivation, it is likely that the students who elected to take the pilot course may not be representative of the institution’s first-year engineering population. If this is the case, adjustments may be required as the program grows to full scale. Another potential source of variation in background and approach may come from the term (fall or spring) in which students take the course. In addition to knowing about the variations in professional and study skills development described above, being informed of differences in technical background (e.g., coding, design, circuitry) can allow the instructors to adjust elements of the course to achieve a suitable balance of challenge and support for the students.

To collect this information, a three-question anonymous survey was administered to students on the first day of class. The questions are:
1) What are your learning goals for this course?
2) What questions do you have about engineering?
3) What skills are you bringing with you that you think will help you be successful in this course?

A summary of the most common responses to each of the questions is shared with the students as soon as practical after the survey is taken, to help students both be aware of the breadth of answers and also see that their responses are not outliers. Sharing the summary also naturally leads to a discussion about habits for student success and gives the instructors an opportunity to clarify course goals.

Additionally, instructors use the resulting data to inform multiple aspects of the course. For instance, in fall 2021, a new student resource was developed with answers to the most common questions asked about engineering. This resource continues to be enhanced as more students contribute questions. By continuing to implement the survey each semester, at least through the first year of full-scale implementation, the instructional team can use the results as a basis to anticipate potential differences in student comfort with particular aspects of the course and to proactively make modifications to meet the students where they are, without making assumptions about what background they may or may not have.

The full paper will share additional details about the rationale behind choosing the three questions, a brief description of the course, a summary of responses to date, a comparison of the three semester’s worth of data taken, and thoughts on the future utility of the survey as the program grows to full scale.