2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This method/theory full paper presents findings from a scoping literature review of sense of belonging in engineering and computing education. A surge in research exploring sense of belonging in engineering and computing education reflects a growing awareness of its significance among researchers. Although this growth has generated a wealth of literature, it also introduced challenges similar to those faced by more established fields, including a lack of consensus on conceptual attributes (i.e., terminologies, definitions, and dimensions) and the way of operationalizing SB in research. For example, terminologies related to sense of belonging are used sporadically and inconsistently across engineering education literature, with terms like "connectedness," "sense of community," etc. often being used interchangeably. Additionally, much of the research on sense of belonging in engineering and computing education fails to consider the construct’s dimensionality, i.e., whether sense of belonging is unidimensional or multidimensional, and often focuses on its social aspect. This conceptual ambiguity poses substantial challenges for educators and researchers working to establish a coherent and comprehensive understanding of sense of belonging in engineering education.

As a first step in responding to the call for conceptualizing sense of belonging within engineering and computing education, this study conducts synthesis research, an effective method for addressing conceptual ambiguity by consolidating evidence, fostering consensus, and acting as a catalyst for advancing emerging fields of research. Particularly, this study uses a scoping review methodology to map the existing research on sense of belonging within the past 10 years. We conducted a pilot search across multiple databases (e.g., Scopus, ERIC, APA PsycINFO, Engineering Village) and refined the search strategy to explore relevant studies. Our refined search string incorporates four distinct search strings which includes broader terms such as “belonging,” and “connectedness,” as well as context-specific terms for engineering and computing education, informed by our pilot reviews. We screened articles using inclusion criteria focusing on empirical and conceptual studies related to the sense of belonging, published in English, and subject to peer reviewed articles (e.g. journal and conference papers etc.). The full paper will present detailed findings, including the descriptive summaries and statistics of the 1) Bibliographic (e.g., Publication title; Year the article was published; Source title) and 2) Research scope and trends (e.g., Research topics; Research types and methods; etc.) and content analysis findings on the 3) Conceptual attributes (e.g., Terminologies, Definitions, Dimensions).

By systematically mapping the existing body of work, this study will provide insights on the current landscape of sense of belonging research and diagnose the current practice of conceptualization and operationalization. These findings will be utilized to identify opportunities for future research and provide suggestions for conceptualization, contributing to the advancement of the field of research on sense of belonging in engineering education.