2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work in progress proposes a study assessing the impacts of engineering educators' self-determination on student learning experiences and outcomes.
Engineering is a long-standing field with persistent problems that can be better informed by the conceptual lenses of non-STEM frameworks. Self-Determination Theory (SDT), emerged to challenge the widely accepted belief that the best way to encourage people to perform tasks was through reinforcing their behavior with rewards. SDT posits that humans are motivated based on the degree to which three main psychological needs are fulfilled: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In practice, SDT has provided evidence of how to effectively assess and improve the motivation of teachers, students, employees, athletes, and parents, among other groups of people.
The recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty body within engineering schools remains challenging. Engineering schools often search for ways to diversify their faculty and student populations. However, faculty experiences are not as widely researched and discussed as the experiences of the students they work with. Further inquiry into the perceptions, experiences, and satisfaction of faculty will provide insight on how to better support and attract them. In turn, this will help engineering leaders strategize for the recruitment and retention of a faculty makeup that is representative of their schools and students. With more attention given to faculty and their experiences, engineering schools will better understand how to foster the best environment for them, allowing educators to show up as their best selves for students.
This WIP began with the distribution of two Qualtrics surveys in the summer of 2024- one for engineering educators and one for engineering students. The validated SDT instruments used to assess educator self-determination included the Work Climate Questionnaire (WCQ) and the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction at Work Scale. Students were invited to complete a survey comprised of general questions about their performance range, experiences in the learning environment, and overall educator-student relationship dynamics.
The next steps include analyzing the survey responses from educators and students who taught and took engineering summer courses. Quantitative and qualitative findings will be aggregated to determine if trends and/or correlations are present between educators' self-determination in the context of teaching and students' performance and learning experiences in the educator's class (and the significance of those relationships and/or strength of the correlations).
The broader goal is to use theories and viewpoints typically adopted outside of engineering to reexamine persistent issues in engineering education. This study prioritizes translating theory and implications to practice and emphasizes catalyzing real, sustainable change. Localized impacts may include a summary to engineering administrators at the host institution, which can inform needed interventions or support strategies for faculty to learn and adopt improved teaching practices. Larger impacts include a model for examining faculty teaching experiences and self-determination in the workplace, posing an opportunity to create similar assessments and improvement plans at other institutions. The dissemination of this WIP at ASEE 2025 would be best communicated via round table discussion or lightning talk.