2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The purpose of this evidence-based practice paper is to explore and document trends in students’ engineering/computing science identity and sense of belonging in their discipline based on their experiences in a recently reimagined first year curriculum over the first two years of full implementation.

Developing an identity and sense of belonging in engineering and computing science early in the collegiate years has had positive impacts on student retention and success. This is especially important for students coming from minoritized communities including women, people of color, and first generation students. Previous research suggests that exposing students early on to project-based learning can help build student identity as it exposes and inspires them to what can be accomplished in their major. Additionally, research shows that students who develop camaraderie within course-based teams can help build students’ sense of belonging. The overall goal of this project is to reimagine the first year curriculum in the college of engineering and computing at an undergraduate-focused national public university in the Midwest in order to better engage first-year students in engineering and computing science. The courses were modified from courses that centered on introducing students to the university and their respective departments to college-level courses that focused on project-based learning leveraging multidisciplinary teams. The goal of this paper is to determine the impact of the course experiences on students’ engineering/computing science identity and sense of belonging across multiple cohorts of data and to explore improvements in the impacts as the teaching team improves the course structure and delivery.

The two-semester course sequence was first developed as a pilot for the 2022 - 2023 academic year with approximately 20 - 25% of the student body randomly assigned to the new sequence. A previous paper explored the impact of the new sequence compared to the old sequence of courses and found a small increase in student sense of belonging and interest. Since the pilot year, all new students enrolled in the college are required to take the new course sequence. Two survey instruments, one for identity and one for belongingness, were used to document the impact of the course. Surveys were distributed to students at the start of the fall semester as well the end of the spring semester. Results of the survey responses for the previous academic year (AY 2023 - 2024) will be explored and discussed in the paper.