2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Improving student performance is an evolving element in engineering education and this full evidence-based practice paper will discuss some practices that contribute to student performance. A student entering an engineering college in the 1980s may have heard the phrase, “Look to the left, look to the right, only one of you will become an engineer.” While some of us may have heard that phrase when entering college, today the aspirational objective should be, “Look to the left, look to the right, all three of you have the opportunity to graduate as an engineer.”

Several factors are creating challenges in meeting this aspirational objective: student preparation, student demographics, and student to college adaptation [1][2][3][4][5].

Student preparation is one of the most challenging elements a college can face. Incoming student population preparation is changing. Over the last 5 years, students that are entering engineering are less prepared in the state of Louisiana because over 20% of all the math and science classes taught are short of adequately prepared teachers [4][6].

The student demographics is also changing. The percentage of first-generation students has increased over 17% since 2012. Underrepresented minorities have increased over 8% and Pell grant recipients has also increased over 8%. These changes in student make-up are positive as engineering expands and diversifies its student population [1].

Strategically, the Louisiana State University College of Engineering (CoE) decided that programs must be implemented to give students the best opportunity for success. As a college, in the heat of the pandemic and with industry support, several programs were developed including a summer academic (calculus) bridge course, peer mentoring programs, and structured first-year student tutoring within the college.

Bridge to Engineering Excellence (BEE) was started as an online program the summer of 2020 to prepare incoming first-year engineering and computer science students for differential and integral calculus, build connections with current successful engineering students, and introduce student success skills. Big Sibling Mentoring is a peer mentoring program that builds relationships between freshmen and upperclassmen with similar backgrounds through a formal program. The goal is to provide students with insight that improves the transition to college and to ultimately increase CoE retention and graduation of students. EXcellence in Calculus/STEM for Engineering Leadership and Diversity (EXCELD) is a student peer tutoring program that was established in the college for freshman-level math and science courses.

The implementation of these programs for CoE majors at LSU are impacting the retention of students and creating a connected community of students. This paper will present more of a case study assessment of the three programs designed to help engineering students reach success.