2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This full paper introduces a larger project exploring how the development of time management and metacognition skills may positively impact the agency of first-year engineering students and their success, which we acknowledge can be measure in traditional ways (e.g. persistence, achievement) and non-traditional ways (e.g. well-being).
The ever-evolving characteristics of college students demand continuous actualization of educational strategies. It is known that most college students nowadays belong to Generation Z, who are technology-natives, ethnically diverse and are on track to become the most educated generation. However, they also struggle the most with their mental health, which is influenced by contemporary challenges such as mass shootings, money and work stressors, the political climate, and stresses and losses derived from learning within a pandemic. If we honor our commitment to support their success, we need to consider these strengths and weaknesses. As well as considering the critical role of well-being in their success.
As part of the project, we collected baseline measures of the constructs of interest in a first-year engineering course at a University in the U.S. East, using established and validated instruments. The measures took place before and after students were provided with formal content about metacognition and time management within the Fall 2024 semester. Paired t-tests comparisons were conducted to evaluate gains in metacognitive and time management skills as well as to explore changes in well-being. Interpretations and implications of our results in the first-year engineering experience are offered.