2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 70: Impact of First Co-op Experience on Student Retention and Learning: A Work in Progress

Presented at Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED) Poster Session

This work-in-progress research paper examines the impact of the first COOP experience on engineering student retention and students’ learning as measured by overall GPA. Engineering student retention rates at US academic institutions range from 40 to 80%. The intervention presented in literature to address the retention problem in engineering schools may be generally divided into different themes. While improving mathematics and physics skills have been used in some initiatives to reduce attrition, some included first-year interventions based on hands-on projects. Others focused on inculcating a more collaborative, interactive, and supportive learning environment. Also, COOP programs have been designed to introduce students to the actual workplace environment and help them to be more engaged with real-world problems. There is a significant dearth of literature on the impact of COOP on retention in engineering. It has been demonstrated that after completing a COOP, students are more inclined to continue in an engineering degree because they experience first-hand their future working conditions and feel empowered to pursue their career goals with more confidence. Since most engineering students follow careers in industry, of particular importance is how cooperative experiences help to make better engineers. Specific to multi-COOP experiences, the first COOP as a first-facing actual work experience and work environment can be more significant because ineffective first COOP experiences might lead to attrition. Additionally, relatively few universities in the US require COOP programs as part of their engineering curricula. Society's need for engineers, the proportion of engineering students that drop out after their first year, and optional COOP in some universities and mandatory COOP in others, are the main reasons that motivated this study. The specific research question investigated in this study is: to what degree does a student's first COOP experience impact retention and student learning?
To address this research question, we looked at the retention of students in a large, midwestern, public, R1 university where COOP is mandatory. We analyzed GPA and retention patterns on five years of data that were recorded by the university using t-tests. Differences in retention based on sex were investigated. Differences in GPA of all cohorts were examined at different points in the degree. Results will include a discussion of retention and GPA patterns over the five years. Future work will involve the investigation of student’s COOP experiences and its impact on the change in attitude toward their major and career goals.

Authors

Dr. P.K. Imbrie University of Cincinnati [biography]

P.K. Imbrie is the Head and Professor of the Department of Engineering Education and a Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
University of Cincinnati. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University. He is an advocate for research-based approaches to engineering education, curricular reform, and student retention. Imbrie conducts both traditional, as well as educational research in experimental mechanics, piezospectroscopic techniques, epistemologies, assessment, and modeling of student learning, student success, student team effectiveness, and global competencies He helped establish the scholarly foundation for engineering education as an academic discipline through lead authorship of the landmark 2006 JEE special reports “The National Engineering Education Research Colloquies” and “The Research Agenda for the New Discipline of Engineering Education.” He has a passion for designing state-of-the-art learning spaces. While at Purdue University, Imbrie co-led the creation of the First-Year Engineering Program’s Ideas to Innovation (i2i) Learning Laboratory, a design-oriented facility that engages students in team-based, socially relevant projects. While at Texas A&M University Imbrie co-led the design of a 525,000 square foot state-of-the-art engineering education focused facility; the largest educational building in the state. His expertise in educational pedagogy, student learning, and teaching has impacted thousands of students at the universities for which he has been associated. Imbrie is nationally recognized for his work in active/collaborative learning pedagogies, teaming and student success modeling. His engineering education leadership has produced fundamental changes in the way students are educated around the world.

Imbrie has been a member of ASEE since 2000 and has been actively involved with the Society in various capacities. He has served in multiple leadership roles in the ERM and FPD divisions, including: ERM board of directors (2002-2004), program chair for ERM (2005 and 2009), ERM program chair for Frontiers in Education (FIE) (2004), FIE Steering Committee ERM representative (2003-2009), as well as program chair (2016) and division chair (2016-17) for FPD. He has also served on two ASEE advisory committees.
Mr. Fazel Ranjbar University of Cincinnati
Dr. Jutshi Agarwal University of Cincinnati [biography]

Jutshi Agarwal is a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Department of Engineering & Computing Education at the University of Cincinnati. She has a Doctoral degree in Engineering Education, a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from University of Cincinnati, and a Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering from SRM University, India. Her research areas of interest are graduate student professional development for a career in academia, preparing future faculty, and using AI tools to solve non-traditional problems in engineering education.

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