2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

“I haven't really made those connections that maybe most would their first year”: A qualitative study of the COVID-19 pandemic and student social capital among 3 Cohorts of first-year engineering majors.

Presented at First-Year Programs Division (FYP) - Technical Session 9: Identity & Belonging 1

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the education of students of all ages and challenged teachers and academic support services to make major adaptations to continue to support student learning while also limiting the spread of the virus. Our team received an NSF grant in the Fall of 2018 to broaden participation in engineering by recruiting and retaining students who have been historically marginalized in engineering. We focused our research on first-year students who participated in pathway programs which provided peer and formal mentoring, success coaching, shared classes, and social activities, that would provide a sense of community and shared engineering identity for participants. We sought to conduct interviews at the end of their first year. Our interviews had been set to take place in April of 2020. This paper is a qualitative study of our unanticipated research on student experiences from three different cohorts of first-year engineering students and their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic (n=32). Using a theory of social capital, we contrast the different experiences of students who entered their freshman year and experienced the pathway program at different stages. The experiences of students within and between these cohorts varied considerably, however themes emerged among the three distinct cohorts. Using qualitative methods, we demonstrate how the pandemic impacted first-year engineering students at different points of entry during the pandemic. Many students reported “loss of connection” and deep feelings of “isolation” associated with the pandemic precautions meant to stop the spread of the virus. Pandemic precautions taken by the university negatively impacted all students academically and socially, but there were also unique challenges for students who entered college their first year in the fall of 2020. We conclude by sharing how pathway programs helped to buffer student social isolation and how students found resilience to overcome social and academic obstacles.

Authors

Dr. Patricia Wonch Hill University of Nebraska - Lincoln [biography]

Dr. Hill is an applied sociologist, evaluator, and researcher whose primary scholarship is in gender, STEM and broadening participation in K-22 education and in professorate.
Dr. Lance C. Pérez University of Nebraska - Lincoln [biography]

Lance C. Pérez is the Omar H. Heins Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he has been a faculty member since 1996. He has won numerous teaching awards and has been principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than $15 million in federally funded research. His research interests include signal and information processing, engineering education, and faculty leadership development. From 2008-10, Pérez was a program director in the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation. He has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Dr. Sohrab Asgarpoor University of Nebraska - Lincoln [biography]

Sohrab Asgarpoor received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D., all in electrical engineering, from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
From 1986 to 1989 he was with ABB Network Management Inc. as a Lead
Engineer. Since September 1989 he has been with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he is currently the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the College of Engineering and a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. His research interests include engineering education, mathematical modeling & simulation, risk analysis, reliability evaluation, maintenance optimization, and advanced computer applications in electric power and energy systems.
Dr. David Jones Utah State University [biography]

David Jones is the Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor in Biological Engineering at Utah State University in Logan, UT.
Mr. Zachary George Short University of Nebraska-Lincoln [biography]

Zachary Short is a Doctoral Student within the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to entering his doctoral program, Zachary received his BS degree in Philosophy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his MA degree in Counseling in Educational Settings from Rowan University. Currently, Zachary's primary research focuses on examining principles of growth mindset from a neurodevelopmental perspective.
Dr. Jennifer N. Rutt University of Nebraska - Lincoln [biography]

Jennifer Rutt, PhD is the Associate Director of the Methodology & Evaluation Research Core Facility at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Dr. Rutt received her doctorate in Educational Studies from the UNL in 2020. Her personal research interests and experiences include examining international students of Color’s first-year experiences at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), ethnic identity development in heritage scholars (study abroad), working on eliminating minority health disparities, and studies on identity (including cultural identity, conflict identity, and nationalism).

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