It\u27s the End of the World as We Know It, and I Need a Job: A Qualitative Exploration of Mid-year Engineering Students\u27 Future Possible Careers

This research is situated in a larger mixed methods study exploring mid-year engineering students’ motivations related to their future possible careers. Our work draws from the future-oriented motivation frameworks of future time perspectives (FTP) and future possible selves (FPS). In this study we qualitatively explore the perception of a previously identified category of students with shortened FTPs and unattainable ideal FPSs in terms of their future careers. In this exploratory qualitative phase of our research, we interviewed eight mid-year engineering students who, based on our quantitative data, demonstrated a focus on short-term goals and a belief that they will not achieve their ideal future career. Mid-year engineering students from four large research institutions with high or majority undergraduate enrollment were recruited for this study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews to guide students through three major topics: long-term goals, short-term goals, and connections between long- and short-term goals. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a priori coding through directed content analysis (DCA) based on a previously developed codebook, and emergent coding. Participants primarily focused on their near-future goals and generally lacked distant future-oriented motivations and connections between the present and future. Students described their short extension into the future as being driven by their need for basic wellbeing and their sense of being overwhelmed by their current workload, with quotes such as: “[Classes are] not technically hard, just the amount of time that I have to put in them…is kind of keeping my full attention at the moment. Between that and studying abroad it is kind of difficult to think much further than that.” Previous studies have identified workload, particularly when the value of the tasks is questioned, as being a source for psychological distress for students in higher education. Participants also described feelings of being stuck in engineering. For example, some participants describe having gotten “too far into [engineering degree] to switch.” These feelings of being stuck stemmed from financial or familial pressures and a lack of flexibility in engineering curriculum. When considering inclusivity in our course or policy decisions, we should consider different student motivations and perceptions of the future. By allowing for some flexibility in engineering curricula, we could provide safe opportunities for students to find a career path that best fits their future goals and reduces the fear, discomfort, or feelings of being stuck that some students associate with thinking about the future. As practitioners and policy makers strive to help motivate students in the classroom, techniques that involve describing the future in terms that make it seem nearer and more important could contribute to some students feeling overwhelmed, even by the near-future; bringing the far-future to their attention may only cause additional distress and lack of motivation. Future directions for this research include assessing how engineering programs can consider different ways that students think about their future in engineering to create an inclusive and supportive environment for all types of students

Perceptions of Future Careers for Middle Year Engineering Students

Background: One facet of motivation relevant to students\u27 learning is their perceptions of the future, including future career goals and how those perceptions influence their present actions; this is collectively referred to as their future time perspective (FTP). Purpose/Hypothesis: This study describes the different FTPs of engineering students. We aim to help researchers and practitioners leverage students\u27 motivations to improve learning experiences and inform future studies by providing a model of engineering students\u27 FTP. Design/Method: A phenomenographic approach was used to determine students\u27 different characteristic FTPs within the context of their engineering courses. Interviews with engineering students (n=18) at a southeastern US research-intensive university were analyzed for differences and similarities in their descriptions of their FTPs. Results: Three groups emerged from the data that were visualized as different shapes within the outcome space. Cone, a long narrow shape, represents students who narrowed down their future careers deep into the future. Cup, a wider truncated cone, represents students who have conflicting desired and realistic future careers. Bowl, a short and wide shape, represents students who have broad perceptions of their future careers and do not describe how their future goals affect their present actions. Conclusions: Using a phenomenographic approach to examine engineering students\u27 FTPs revealed three characteristic groups and allowed us to document how different FTPs affect students\u27 perceptions of tasks in their engineering courses. Our findings can help educators foster students\u27 interest in and value of learning engineering concepts and their positive perceptions of their future careers

Examination of Ableist Educational Systems and Structures that Limit Access to Engineering Education through Narratives

The purpose of this paper is to examine how higher education systems limit access to engineering education for disabled and neurodivergent engineering students. Throughout this paper we will discuss ableism in higher education systems. Particularly, U.S. institutions and education are designed for non-disabled and neurotypical people rather than with accessibility for all despite legal efforts to improve access to education. We also provide two narratives from the authors that describe their experiences with having a disability and being neurodivergent in engineering education. Finally, we suggest other paradigms and methodologies engineering education researchers can utilize when conducting research on disability and neurodivergence in engineering

Working Full Time and Earning an Engineering Degree: Wellbeing in a Co-Op-Based Engineering Program

The purpose of this research paper is to describe how stress manifests in undergraduate engineering students who are working in paid engineering positions while completing their upper-division coursework, through the analysis of reflective prompts on wellbeing, and engineering belongingness. Previous research has identified the culture of “suffering and shared hardship” where heavy workloads and stressful situations are expected in engineering programs and engineering as a discipline. Stress, specifically feelings of being overwhelmed with workload, has far reaching implications for an individuals’ wellbeing beyond academic performance. We focus on the frameworks of self-determination theory, engineering belonging, identity, to better understand undergraduate engineering students’ wellbeing. Our population for this study is approximately 70 students at a large, public, primarily undergraduate institution in an off-campus co-op based learning program. In this upper-division program, students complete their BS in Engineering in five semesters after completing their lower division coursework at community colleges across the nation. For four semesters, students complete technical, professional, and design coursework while working as paid engineering interns. As part of their coursework, students regularly complete reflections on technical, professional, and design topics. The reflections of 24 undergraduate engineering students on health, wellbeing, and belongingness were analyzed using an open coding, thematic approach. Each student has completed 3 reflections on health, wellbeing, and belongingness. The results identify stressors and coping strategies utilized by engineering co-op students. Strategies such as establishing a stable routine is identified as a critical coping mechanism. Further connections of wellbeing and belonging are described. Students identified relatedness as key to feelings of belonging in engineering and imposter syndrome as a key barrier to belongingness

Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Belongingness in Civil Engineering

Prior research shows that engineering students with low feelings of belongingness tend to switch to non-technical majors. With the understanding that aspects of student motivation, identity, and personality, as well as their academic performance, affect their sense of community in engineering, this study seeks to assess these student attributes over time. The context for this study is a single civil engineering program that is undergoing both curricular and cultural changes as part of an NSF-funded project. The data and findings presented here are part of a larger study of how student attitudes and beliefs change during their experiences in a curriculum that is different from the status quo. The focus of this paper is on students’ sense of belonging within their courses, major and university, and how those perceptions differ based on student demographics and year in the program. Data collected for this study include responses to a survey designed to assess the current civil engineering students’ motivation, attitudes and beliefs about their courses, department, and university. The survey, which was adapted from a prior NSF-funded project, included eight constructs: sense of community, time-oriented motivation, goal orientation, career outcome expectations, grit, identity, agency beliefs and Big 5 personality traits. Subscales for students’ sense of community (which is the focus of this paper) were sense of community within their current engineering course, their engineering major and university. Undergraduates were invited to complete the survey during lab courses in which they were enrolled during the Fall and Spring semesters. Of the total number of students in the program, 92.2% completed the survey (86% White and 80% male, which is representative of enrollment in the department). Quantitative data analyses included descriptive statistics, inferential statistics (ANOVA) to compare the factor means by gender and race and by year in the program. Interviews were conducted with a subset of the survey participants (n=9) from a range of classes and demographics during the last two weeks of each semester. The interview questions pertaining to students’ perceptions of belongingness are included in this paper, although other questions explored students’ beliefs about identity and their perceptions of their future in engineering. Interviews were analyzed using open coding, with codes organized into categories and themes. Quantitative results showed that mean scores for all three belongingness sub-constructs increase as students’ time in the program increases, with the exception of juniors having the highest score for sense of belonging at the university level. The largest increases in sense of belonging at the course, major and institution levels were between sophomore and junior year. Some factors of belongingness were significantly lower for non-majority student groups. Qualitative analyses revealed that students’ perceptions of belongingness were affected by positive learning experiences, connecting with civil engineers in different contexts, making personal connections and having a sense of solidarity with others in the program. Perceptions of not belonging were affected by students selecting this major to fulfill others’ expectations, not meeting instructors’ expectations, and a lack of role models for females

An Integrated Engineering Model for Advising

This evidence-based practice paper describes the theoretical foundations of the supportive advising practices used by the Integrated Engineering Department (IE) at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The driving motivation for the advising model is to support the development of student engineers as whole people. Generally in academia, faculty in traditional professor roles serve as formal advisors, mentors, facilitators, evaluators, and coaches and are joined by full-time staff that serve in roles to support student development. Integrated Engineers at Minnesota State University, Mankato are supported to become the engineer they want to be. This paper describes the unique model employed by IE of mentoring and advising that incorporates not just faculty but staff, industry mentors or facilitators, and peers that bring different perspectives to student support. Evidence of effectiveness includes high graduation rates, career placement rates of students, and student perceptions of preparation for meeting our program educational objectives. Perspectives from faculty new to the program and current and former students illustrate the personal impact of the model

A Mixed Methods Study on Engineering Students\u27 Perceptions of Their Future Careers

In this doctoral work I seek to answer the research question: “In what ways are mid-year engineering students thinking about their future careers, and how are their perceptions related to their current academic actions and decisions?” I use a multi-phase mixed methods research design with a phenomenographic approach guided by theoretical frameworks of future time perspectives, future possible selves, and goal paths. In the five-phase study, the qualitative strands provide an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon, and quantitative strands allow for a broader exploration of the phenomenon across multiple majors and institutions. Four different ways of thinking about the future possible careers were identified and described using an analogy of shapes of ice-cream cones: Sugar Cone—one well-defined ideal and attainable future possible career; Cake Cone—broad and optimistic perceptions of future possible careers; Waffle Cone—conflicting ideal and realistic future possible careers; and Cup—lack of future-oriented motivation with feelings of being stuck in engineering. These four ways of thinking about the future are further described by how the present and future connect, their relationship to different academic and social identity demographics, and shifts in these perceptions over time. These results provide a visualizable and memorable framework for understanding the variety of ways mid-year engineering students are perceiving their future possible careers, and they provide insight into how to create an inclusive classroom environment for different types of motivations

Gendered Interests in Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering: Intersections with Career Outcome Expectations

The current study finds that female-identified students report stronger associations between “helping others” and interest in bioengineering/biomedical engineering than non-females, while they report less interest in electrical and computer engineering overall, with similar associations to factors such as “inventing/designing things” than non-females. Background: While women have made gains in STEM, electrical and computer engineering programs award 13% of their Bachelor\u27s degrees to women while bioengineering/biomedical engineering programs award over 40%. Prior work suggests that women\u27s persistent under-representation in electrical and computer engingeering may be due to them being drawn into other disciplines. Women persist in engineering at similar rates as men, so a better understanding of early college attitudes is needed. Research Questions: (1) How are career outcome expectations associated to electrical engineering, computer engineering, and bioengineering/biomedical engineering? (2) What are females\u27 interests in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and bioengineering/biomedical engineering? (3) Are outcome expectations and major interests distinct for female-identified students? Methodology: Regression analyses were conducted on multiply-imputed data of introductory engineering students at four public universities in the U.S. Findings: Students associate inventing/designing things and “developing new knowledge and skills” to electrical engineering, and associate inventing/designing things and “working with people” (negative) to computer engineering. Students associate helping others and “supervising others” (negative) to bioengineering/biomedical engineering. Female-identified students are less interested in electrical and computer engineering, more interested in bioengineering/biomedical engineering, and associate helping others to bioengineering/biomedical engineering more strongly