2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WIP: A Multi-tiered Strategy to Increase Freshman Retention

Motivation
This Work in Progress paper will describe how our redesigned first-year experience program aims to increase student success and retention using a three-pronged pedagogical approach of a multidisciplinary team project, a peer mentor program, and professional development workshops. Preliminary results show a 77% retention rate, a double-digit increase over our previous iteration of the course.
Brief Background
Our college of engineering’s traditional Engineering 101 course was redesigned in 2016 to a project-based course for engineering students with the hopes of increasing the freshman retention rate; however, retention rates stayed the same, in the mid-60 percent range. We took a different approach in 2021, when a new dean challenged us to not only increase the retention rate but do it on a large scale.
Methods
This is when we created our [School Mascot] Design Experience program, a full first-year student experience. We took what was a one-semester course and divided it into a two-semester program and opened it up to all majors on campus. Students take a fall semester introductory course and can optionally continue their project into a spring applied project course. Our theoretical background combines elements from two frameworks: the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) Entrepreneurial Mindset framework with the “3Cs” of Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value, and Stanford d.school’s Design Thinking, a human-centered design approach.
Multiple pedagogical strategies are employed in this first-year program, including multidisciplinary teams working on project-based learning, a peer mentor program to support the freshmen, and professional competency workshops to foster lifelong learning.
Multidisciplinary teams are formed in week two of the fall semester and students stay in these teams throughout the fall semester, optionally through the spring semester applied project. We coach teamwork skills using the Table Group’s Working Genius framework; this is incorporated into a team charter, meeting agenda, and project schedule. We also emphasize the value that comes from diversity of thought and help each team include each member’s perspectives in the team project.
Peer mentors are paid student workers who have previously successfully completed our first-year program. These students receive training in leadership and facilitation so they can guide teams of new freshmen through the program. Peer mentors meet one-on-one with teams throughout the week to guide them in the project, they give encouragement, and they provide academic and social support.
Professional competency workshops are a way for us to provide student success content (as required by our first-year seminar designation) and career readiness skills. We bring in guest speakers and subject matter experts from across campus and from local industry to speak on various topics. We hypothesize that combining the pedagogical strategies of multidisciplinary teams, a peer mentor program, and professional competency workshops contributes to student retention.
Results
Our redesigned first-year program began in 2021 with 149 students (90% engineers), and this past year we grew to nearly 450 students (70% engineers). Since the academic year 2021-2022, we have been tracking retention rates from year to year and from term to term. Our year-to-year results are as follows: in the 2021-2022 academic year, 149 participating students had a 73% retention rate, which was 2% above the college average. In the 2022-2023 academic year, 328 participating students had a 77% retention rate, which is 6% above the college average; 199 were engineering majors, meaning 79% of engineering majors persisted. In the 2023-2024 academic year, 445 participating students had a 77% retention rate, which is 6% above the college average; 242 were engineering majors, meaning 80% of engineering majors persisted. This demonstrates that students who go through our program are retained at a higher rate than the rest of our college. The data also shows that students who take both semesters of our first-year program persist at a higher rate than those who only take the fall semester. More data is needed to determine causation and to clarify the impact of each pedagogical method on student retention.