2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This Work in Progress paper describes the process of implementing a community-based learning project (also commonly referred to as service learning) into an existing introductory first-year engineering course. The Foundations of Engineering course in this study is the first of an introductory two-course sequence that focuses on learning outcomes related to teamwork, communication, systems modeling, problem solving strategies, and taking a holistic view of problems in an engineering context. Course assignments and assessments are designed to elicit students’ progress in these learning outcomes. However, when asked about their perceptions of the course, students often seem to omit broader concepts in favor of mentioning more concrete and narrower topics covered like the syntax of programming in MATLAB.

Community engagement projects (also commonly referred to as service learning) are one potential path that this course could take to help students recognize the breadth of their foundational learning. The department plans to pilot a community engagement project in up to four sections of the class in Spring 2024, while maintaining the existing learning outcomes and overarching course structure. Service learning has been shown to increase students’ attitudes and perceptions towards course material that is otherwise not highly valued, such as concepts often covered in required introductory courses. Moreover, it can leverage other educational benefits that are well-aligned with the course and first-year program outcomes at this institution.

This paper discusses the process of adjusting the existing semester-long team course project and other related course material in a way that facilitates the implementation of a community-based project, in preparation for pilot implementation. In this approach, student teams are tasked with researching and producing a project scoping document for an external partner. The paper also outlines a proposed plan to evaluate the impact of this project on student perceptions. Each semester, the department administers a survey to the students including questions related to their perceptions of course and program outcomes. This data can be compared between semesters of the course both with and without the implementation of the community engagement project, and the results analyzed through the lens of the Course Acceptance Model theoretical framework to provide insights.

We anticipate that this study's results will show that many of the objectives of community engagement projects are well-aligned with the existing learning outcomes of the course. From the standpoint of the students, we expect that the service-learning experience will provide for a more positive perception of the holistic course material for many students when compared to a more traditional approach. The paper will also discuss challenges that may be encountered when implementing projects involving external partners into existing project-based courses. These challenges are expected to include balancing student workload as well as the additional time for faculty to build community partner relationships in a way that is mutually beneficial for the students and the community partners.