2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Undergraduate Student Experience with Research Facilitated by Project Management and Self-regulated Learning Processes

Presented at Self-Regulation and Learning

There is a growing popularity of undergraduate research programs (URPs) as they benefit students, faculty mentors, and the university. However, maintaining URPs is often difficult. Therefore, it is critical to find ways to reduce the workload of faculty mentors and develop self-regulation in undergraduate research students. To address this need, we implemented Scrum methodology as a framework to manage three teams of undergraduate
students pursuing undergraduate research projects during a semester and promote self-regulated learning skills.

The study was designed to gather insights into the students’ experience with the research course and understand what self-regulated learning skills they developed as part of this learning experience. Specifically, the study examines “What are students' perceptions of the role of self-regulated learning and project management skills in the context of their research project?”

The study was conducted in a senior-level undergraduate course offered at a large midwestern university. The course focused on project management, research skills, and mentorship in the context of a research project. Data were collected through guided student reflections at the end of the semester and analyzed thematically according to the stages of self-regulated learning, i.e., planning, performance, and self-reflection.

Results indicate that students had prior knowledge of project management but lacked familiarity with the research process. Students encountered project management challenges, but effective communication and clear goal setting were key strategies in meeting deadlines and completing coursework. Students valued collaboration and continuous mentoring, and the course had a positive impact on students' understanding and interest in research, as well as their
development of transferable skills for future practice. Overall, this study highlights the importance of project management skills and mentorship in promoting self-regulated learning and research skills in undergraduate students.

Implications of this study relate to (1) the need to provide students with professional skills, such as project management and teamwork, in addition to research skills to help them cultivate self-regulated abilities and (2) methods for facilitating undergraduate research

Authors

Ms. Sakhi Aggrawal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2274-0152 Purdue University [biography]

Sakhi Aggrawal is a Graduate Research Fellow in Computer and Information Technology department at Purdue University. She completed her master’s degree in Business Analytics from Imperial College London and bachelor’s degree in Computer and Information Technology and Organizational Leadership from Purdue University. She worked in industry for several years with her latest jobs being as project manager at Google and Microsoft. Her current research focuses on integrating project management processes in undergraduate education. Her main goal is to understand how work management and product development practices widely used in industry can be modified and adapted to streamline undergraduate STEM education.
Dr. Alejandra J. Magana http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6117-7502 Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) [biography]

Dr. Alejandra J. Magana is the W.C. Furnas Professor in Enterprise Excellence in the Department of Computer and Information Technology and Professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Dr. Magana holds a B.E. in Information Systems and an M.S. in Technology, both from Tec de Monterrey, and an M.S. in Educational Technology and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education, both from Purdue University. Her research program investigates how model-based cognition in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) can be better supported by means of expert tools and disciplinary practices such as data science computation, modeling, and simulation. In 2015 Dr. Magana received the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for investigating modeling and simulation practices in undergraduate engineering education. In 2016 she was conferred the status of Purdue Faculty Scholar for being on an accelerated path toward academic distinction. And in 2022, she was inducted into the Purdue University Teaching Academy, recognizing her excellence in teaching.

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