Undergraduate Engineering Student Perceptions of Graduate School and the Decision to Enroll

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ryan Clemmer ◽

Karen Gordon ◽

Julie Vale

Keyword(s):

Student Perceptions ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Skill Development ◽

Problem Analysis ◽

Engineering Curriculum ◽

Engineering Student ◽

Undergraduate Engineering ◽

Factor Study ◽

Study Process ◽

Similar Sample

In engineering, it is important for students to develop strong problem analysis skills; however, this skill development may be hindered by a reliance on memorization. In this study, a survey was used to investigate undergraduate engineering student perspectives towards their curriculum and memorization and their styles using Bigg’s revised two-factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F).The majority of the participants are characterized as students having good study habits, a deep motivation, and deep strategies when approaching their education. They generally recognize the decreasing importance of memorization as they progress in the engineering curriculum. There is also a fairly large subset of students that are classified as deep motivation but surface strategy. Most students believe that at least 50% of an exam should contain questions similar sample problems or assignment questions and surface learners tend to perceive exams to be unfair if too many questions are dissimilar. There was no observed correlation between grades and the R-SPQ-2F results in the courses examined. These results tend to support the hypothesis that surface strategies, including memorization, are being employed by undergraduate students as a means of obtaining adequate performance in lieu of problem analysis skill development.

Download Full-text

STUDENT PERCEPTIONS AND USE OF AN INVENTORY TO FACILITATE LEARNING OF INDIVIDUAL TEAM-EFFECTIVENESS

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) ◽

10.24908/pceea.v0i0.4924 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Patricia Kristine Sheridan ◽

Doug Reeve ◽

Greg Evans

Keyword(s):

Student Perceptions ◽

Team Effectiveness ◽

Energy Systems ◽

Engineering Science ◽

Engineering Student ◽

Web Based ◽

Team Members ◽

Course Content ◽

Graduate Attributes ◽

Communication Competencies

Team-based projects have become a common method of modeling real-world experience and meeting required graduate attributes in engineering. In these projects, much of a student’s grade is attributed to work produced by an entire team, creating a need for instruction on how to work effectively as team members in addition to course-content instruction. A web-based tool is in development to create a virtual environment in which students can learn about and improve their individual team-effectiveness competencies through self- and peer-assessments. Framed as a guided reflection, these assessments are facilitated using an inventory which identifies 18 competencies along three aspects of team-effectiveness: Organisational, Relational and Communication competencies [1]. The inventory assesses observable behaviours that translate to specific levels of competency so as to provide a foundation for normalized self- and peer-assessments, as well as provide examples of how to improve. A study to assess student perceptions and use of the inventory was conducted in the Fall 2012 term in two upper year courses. The first course was a third-year course on energy systems that is required of all students in the Energy Option of Engineering Science and the second a fourth-year engineering leadership course which any engineering student can select as an elective. The objective of this study was to determine if students in a required engineering course perceived and used the inventory differently than those who self-selected into an engineering leadership course.

Download Full-text

Student perceptions and persistence : taking a person-centered approach to understand undergraduate engineering retention.

10.18297/etd/3238 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Brittany Crawford

Keyword(s):

Student Perceptions ◽

Undergraduate Engineering ◽

Person Centered Approach

Download Full-text

Graduate Students as Independent Instructors: Seven Things to Know about Teaching Your Own Course while in Graduate School

Political Science and Politics ◽

10.1017/s1049096510000806 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 43 (03) ◽

pp. 557-560 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Edward M. Burmila

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Novice Teachers ◽

Student Perceptions ◽

Graduate Student ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Graduate School ◽

Teaching Assistants ◽

Undergraduate Instruction ◽

Graduate Instructors

AbstractDespite being responsible for a large percentage of undergraduate instruction, graduate students often receive little preparation for their first solo teaching assignments (J. D. Nyquist et al.,Change31 (3): 18, 1999). Furthermore, the existing literature on pedagogy fails to address the unique challenges faced by graduate students who are asked to serve as course instructors rather than teaching assistants. This article presents seven pieces of advice intended to better prepare the predoctoral graduate student to assume the role of the professor before assuming the title. By understanding the attitudes of undergraduate students toward graduate instructors, preparing in advance to handle the mistakes that novice teachers often make, and recognizing the correlation between outward confidence and student perceptions of instructor quality, graduate students can derive the most benefit from a stressful and time-consuming assignment. Most important, graduate instructors can learn to effectively manage the time spent on teaching duties to ensure that other responsibilities such as coursework, qualifying exams, and dissertation research do not suffer.

Download Full-text