2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 375: REU Participants’ Perceptions of Engineering Education Research: Looking for REU Impact

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

Undergraduate research has received growing attention in recent years due to its positive impact on engineering, including increasing students’ understanding, confidence, awareness, and interest in numerous engineering subjects. Our research experience for the undergraduate (REU) program focuses on engineering educational research, which is to expose and train undergraduate students in emerging engineering education research through independent, collaborative well-managed, high-quality research projects.
This paper shares findings of the REU participants’ perception of engineering education research before and after participating in engineering education research projects. The qualitative data were collected through Qualtrics survey from three REU cohorts, who participated in the summer of 2021, 2022, and 2023. Each cohort participated in a 10-week research activity and was mentored by experienced researchers at a mid-size public university located at western of the United States. There were 24 students (16 females, and 8 males) from 20 institutions, and 15 different states, participated in the program working on 13 research projects.
One of the questions in the entry and exit surveys asked each participant to describe their perception of engineering education research (EER). Two researchers were involved in the data analysis to find themes that identify the participants’ understanding of engineering education research. More than 87% of the participants claimed that their views on engineering education research have changed after participating in the program. Five themes were identified reflecting students’ perceptions about EER before and after REU participation. Further analyses based on gender, prior research experience, and educational background were also conducted. Brief discussion on how their research experience impacts their future study or professional career will be included in the paper.

Authors

Dr. Oenardi Lawanto Utah State University [biography]

Dr. Oenardi Lawanto is a professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University, USA. He received his B.S.E.E. from Iowa State University, his M.S.E.E. from the University of Dayton, and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Lawanto has a combination of expertise in engineering and education and has more than 30 and 14 years of experience teaching engineering and cognitive-related topics courses for his doctoral students, respectively. He also has extensive experience in working collaboratively with several universities in Asia, the World Bank Institute, and USAID to design and conduct workshops promoting active-learning and life-long learning that is sustainable and scalable. Dr. Lawanto’s research interests include cognition, learning, and instruction, and online learning.
Dr. Wade H Goodridge http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5811-7629 Utah State University [biography]

Wade Goodridge is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University. His research lies in spatial thinking and ability, curriculum development, and professional development in K-16 engineering teaching.
Mr. Rifatul Himel Utah State University [biography]

Having obtained a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and a master's degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Rifatul I. Himel is currently undertaking doctoral studies in Engineering Education at Utah State University (USU), located in Logan, Utah, USA. His research focuses on cognition and behavioral science and modeling, decision-making, and learning analytics.
ORCID: 0000-0002-0415-4774
Zain ul Abideen Utah State University [biography]

Zain ul Abideen is a Graduate Research Assistant and Ph.D. student in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University (USU). With an undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering and a Master’s in Engineering Management, coupled with over 12 years of teaching experience with undergraduate engineering students, Zain is currently dedicated to pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering Education at USU in Logan, UT, USA. His current focus is on coursework and literature exploration, with a particular interest in studying Meta-cognitive processes and how engineering students self-regulate their cognition and motivation strategies during problem solving activities.

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