2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 173: Fostering Community of Practive (CoP): The Impact on Self-Efficacy and Belonging of Undergraduate Students

Presented at Student Division (STDT) Poster Session

In 2021, 2.3 million students dropped out of college, a 3.6% increase from the previous year, resulting in a 40.4 million Some College, No Credential (SCNC) population. Although many strategies have been implemented to retain and support these students in recent years, the increasing SCNC population indicates the issue persists. We hypothesize that increasing community of practice (CoP) through participation in student organizations could increase belonging in college and consequently increase retention. A community of practice is a group of people with a shared passion or concern who interact regularly in a common endeavor. CoP can be utilized to significantly increase a student's sense of belonging and self-efficacy (confidence in one's ability to execute a course of action to deal with a prospective situation), leading to greater academic success. To test this hypothesis, we created a survey to examine students' co-curricular and extracurricular participation, belonging, and self-efficacy. We also conducted case-study interviews through the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) method. The Appreciative Inquiry method is a strengths-based approach that highlights what is already effective and how to incorporate these aspects to the issues at hand. We conducted a survey of over 200 participants from community colleges and 4-year institutions. Our results suggest that engagement in extracurricular or co-curricular activities through community of practice empowers students' self-efficacy and sense of belonging; however, many undergraduate students, especially from community colleges, diverge from their goals due to external barriers. We were also able to identify barriers that prevent college students from fully committing to academics and participating in extracurricular or co-curricular activities. Interestingly, regardless of the barriers, some students are willing to participate and take on more responsibilities in their community if given the chance to develop CoP. Students who engage in these extra and co-curricular activities found that they experienced positive impacts in their lives—ranging from increased confidence, increased professional aptitude, and an increased sense of community. Identifying the factors in co-curricular and extracurricular engagement that cultivate CoP can aid colleges in providing spaces for developing these communities and increasing retention. The interviews investigated how students grew their skills by immersing themselves amongst like-minded individuals in their community who share similar experiences and goals. The case study interviews show that students, despite barriers, find added motivation to continue their degree programs due to the deeper connections formed while engaging in professional workshops, studying together, and participating in communal activities. These findings underscore the potential of CoP cultivated from extracurricular and cocurricular activities to fortify students' resolve, providing a pathway toward improved academic persistence, success, and retention.

Authors

Vivian H Nguyen City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Vivian Nguyen completed Associate in Engineering Science (AES) at Wright College. She is pursuing material science engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, UIUC. Vivian served as the Vice-President for the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE), a tutor and a research assistant while at Wright College.
Anthony Jesus Blanco City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Anthony Blanco is an associate in engineering science (AES) at City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College and is pursuing his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the Grainger College of Engineering at Urbana Champaign. Anthony is a tutor and a research assistant for the NSF HSI Building Bridges at Wright College.
Andrew Steppan City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Andrew Steppan completed his Associate in Engineering Science (AES) at Wright College. Andrew served as a tutor and a research assistant for the NSF HSI Building Bridges at Wright. He also served as the Vice President for the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Wright College Chapter.
Juan Munoz City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Juan Munoz completed Associate in Engineering Science (AES) at Wright College. Juan served as a tutor and a research assistant for the NSF HSI Building Bridges into Engineering at Wright. He also served as the Membership Chair for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Wright College Chapter.
Guadalupe Pina-Castillo City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Guadalupe Pina-Castillo completed his Associate in Engineering Science (AES) at Wright College. Guadalupe was a Bridge participant, tutor, ambassador and research assistant at the NSF HSI Building Bridges into Engineering Project at Wright College. He also served as the President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), Wright College Chapter .
Shlesha Patel City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Shlesha Patel completed her Associates in Engineering Science (AES) at Wright College and is pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at The Grainger College of Engineering, UIUC. Shlesha was a Vice President of American Chemical Society (ACS). She served as a tutor and research assistant for the NSF HSI Building Bridges in Engineering at Wright College.
Melvin Cabrera City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Melvin Cabrera completed his Associates in Engineering Science (AES) at Wilbur Wright College. He pursuing computer science at the Illinois Tech. Melvin was a Bridge participant, tutor and research assistant for the project, NSF HSI Building Bridges. Melvin was the vice-president of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) at Wright College.
Tobias Wimmer
Dr. Doris J. Espiritu City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Doris Espiritu is the Dean of the Center of Excellence for Engineering and Computer Science and Professor of Chemistry at City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College. She also serves as the Senior Advisor to the Provost of the City Colleges of Chicago. Doris Espiritu is one of the first National Science Foundation’s research awardees under the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program. She pioneered Engineering at Wright and had grown the Engineering
program enrollment by 2500% within five years. Doris founded seven student chapters of national organizations including the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and ten times Outstanding Chapter Awardee, the American Chemical Society-Wright College Chapter. Doris promotes collaboration between K-12 schools, other community colleges, 4-year institutions, non-profit organizations, and industries. Doris’ current research is to design and implement practices that develop Community of Practice (CoP), Professional Identity, and Self-Efficacy to increase diversity in Engineering and Computer Science and to streamline transfer from community colleges to 4-year institutions.

Download paper (2.06 MB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session