2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work-In-Progress: Exploring Student Growth in Engagement, Belonging, and Engineering Identity in a Large-Enrollment Statics Course

Presented at Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Poster Session

This methods/theory work-in-progress mixed-methods study examines students’ engagement, sense of belonging, and developing engineering identity within a transformed foundational course (Statics) over a semester. While these constructs have been studied in early engineering courses, less is known about how they evolve in large-enrollment, interactive settings, such as courses where students attend lectures of up to 275 peers and discussion sections of up to 140 students, collaborating in small groups on whiteboards and using engineering software. The study examines how features of the redesign relate to students’ engagement, belonging, and engineering identity over time and how these experiences are associated with academic outcomes such as performance and persistence. A mixed-methods approach integrates pre-, mid-, and post-course surveys, a structured reflection activity, and course performance data to examine both patterns across students and contextualized accounts of experience. As a work-in-progress, this paper presents the study’s conceptual framing and research design.

Authors

Atulonio Nil Basu University of Wisconsin - Madison [biography]

Atulonio Nil Basu is a Master’s student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he conducts research on student engagement, belonging, and engineering identity in undergraduate engineering courses. In addition to engineering education research, Nil has strong interest in thermal-fluid sciences, with a focus on heat transfer, combustion, and energy system applications. He is interested in bridging technical engineering practice with educational research to improve student experiences in engineering classrooms.
Dr. Jennifer Detlor University of Wisconsin - Madison [biography]

Jennifer Detlor is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She earned a B.S in Mathematics, Chemistry, and English, a M.S. in Engineering Mechanics and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She teaches core, large-enrollment courses at the first- through fourth-year level in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, such as statics, mechanics of materials, fluids, and heat transfer. Her research includes engineering education focused on interactive tools for the classroom and recruitment and retention of underserved students.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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