2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This Evidence-Based Practice paper seeks to present results of a multi-institutional virtual graduate program showcase by presenting evidence from the perspective of the prospective students in attendance.

Graduate programs in engineering education have continued to grow over recent years, along with new models and institutional structures. Recruitment efforts for these programs are challenging given the niche and novelty of the degree within the colleges of engineering. In addition, while the increased number and diversity of programs provide prospective students with many options for doctoral engineering education research programs, prospective students access to information about these options is not straightforward or simple. Recognizing this problem, the United States engineering education research community came together in Fall 2023 to offer a multi-institutional virtual graduate program showcase for prospective graduate students. This showcase encompassed a total of 16 engineering education doctoral programs located across the United States.

The two hour online showcase provided prospective graduate students with a short presentation on “What is Engineering Education Research?” followed by short overviews of each of the 16 programs in attendance. The program overviews focused upon key research areas, the graduate student experience, unique differentiating factors about the program, and how prospective graduate students could expect to be supported financially throughout their studies. Subsequently to the program overviews, the showcase provided a short presentation on “What Makes a Good Graduate Application” followed by two short interactive panels on the graduate application process and advisor selection. The final portion of the showcase provided time for prospective students to visit and discuss in more detail specific graduate programs through an individual selected breakout room organization.

In total, 45 prospective graduate students attended the multi-institutional graduate program showcase out of the 94 prospective graduate students that registered. To evaluate the showcase, organizers of the session used the Kirkpatrick Four Level Training Program Evaluation Framework as a guide. Prospective graduate students were provided with a post-event survey that was designed to measure their reaction to the training (Level 1). The survey posed questions about the effectiveness of the showcase sessions, the most valuable components, areas for improvement or changes, how it helped prepare prospective graduate students for specific outcomes, how likely they would be to apply to one of the programs participating, whether the showcase met their expectations, and their overall rating of the showcase. Out of the 45 prospective graduate students that attended, 15 completed the anonymous reaction survey. Overall, participant responses to the showcase session evaluation were strongly positive with median values of either 4 or 5, representing Very Good or Excellent. The responses to closed- and open-ended questions suggest that the program met the advertised intentions of the sessions including: (1) providing an overview of Engineering Education Research as a field, (2) offering sessions on what makes a good graduate application, (3) offering sessions on identifying advisors, and (4) creating interactive time through breakout rooms and Q&A sessions. The paper will report in more detail on the results and provide implications for future graduate student recruitment practices.

Keywords: program evaluation, graduate education, survey, recruitment