2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The purpose of this practice paper is to describe the development of a survey instrument aimed to broadly capture the engineering student experience from their entry into first-year through to graduation. Engineering education faces significant challenges related to addressing student persistence and retention within engineering programs. Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are stated areas of priority for post-secondary institutions (PSIs) in British Columbia (BC) with the goal to ensure that students of all backgrounds, identities, and demographics are provided an opportunity to thrive without compromise. However, there continues to be a lack of appropriate, desegregated demographic data that can inform how well this goal is being achieved by engineering programs at public PSIs in BC.

This paper describes the pilot study that was used to develop a survey instrument that intends to fill this information void through a comprehensive, student-facing, and voluntary questionnaire that is made available to engineering students in their first year and their final year of study. Through a set of defined and open-ended survey questions, coded as addressing autonomy, competency, or relatedness to align with the self-determination theory (SDT) framework, and in-person interview sessions, the survey more broadly seeks details -- such as physical and mental health, home life, sexual orientation and gender identity, and belonging -- to better contextualise the student experience than what may typically be captured.

Direct-entry students to the engineering science program at [Redacted] and first-year engineering students from [Redacted] , one of [Redacted] incoming transfer pathways, were invited as survey respondents. As a follow-up, these students were given the option to take part in a one-on-one, in-person interview to better understand the general survey responses, as no survey response was linked to a specific individual. These conversations uncovered, gathered, and represented the direct student perspective and academic experience and, with the general survey responses, played a crucial role in honing the instrument. It is suggested that by analysing changes within the student cohort from their first to final year of study, an improved picture of the complex dynamics of persistence and retention can be obtained, while the efficacy of initiatives intended to address underrepresentation of specific demographic groupings may be examined. Further, this paper suggests how SDT may provide a framework for understanding the characteristics of those students who persist within their studies through graduation.

The next stage of this project is to expand the use of the survey instrument to other PSIs within the BC Transfer System, including both those hosting engineering schools and those from which students transfer to engineering schools after their first year of studies. It is expected that the instrument will continue to evolve, and support work to develop resources for engineering programs that enhance equity, allyship, and representation. Additionally, these tailored resources provide opportunities for like-minded students to establish support systems, fostering a sense of belonging that produces a unified and resilient student body of persisters.