scholarly journals Engage Engineering Students In Homework: Attribution Of Low Completion And Suggestions For Interventions

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenshu Li ◽  
Richard M. Bennett ◽  
Taimi Olsen ◽  
Rachel McCord
Keyword(s):  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
First Year ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Adjustment Problems ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Homework Completion

Homework is an important out-of-class activity, crucial to student success in engineering courses. However, in a first-semester freshman engineering course, approximately one-fourth of students were completing less than 80% of the homework.  The purpose of this study was to examine students’ attribution of their low completion of homework and suggest corresponding interventions to help students with different attribution types. A qualitative approach was applied using semi-structured interviews for data collection. The interviewees were students who were on track to complete less than 80% of the homework. Students in the study attributed their low rates of completion to multiple factors. We coded and summarized students’ attributions of homework incompletion according to Weiner’s attribution theory and suggested corresponding interventions for students with different attribution types. Results show that most students attributed their failure to complete their homework to external reasons rather than internal reasons. A large portion of student’s attributions for low homework completion was due to poor time management skills.  Some students attributed low homework completion to unstable factors such as illness, transition, or adjustment problems. A small portion attributed low homework completion to uncontrollable reasons, such as sickness and homework difficulty. Students’ reasons for homework incompletion varied across the three dimensions of Weiner’s attribution theory suggesting that a variety of intervention techniques is required.  In addition to use of widely adopted interventions such as first year seminars, tutoring, and tutorial sessions, intervention techniques based on attribution theory may be necessary to employ, to help students avoid negative emotional and behavioral consequences of homework incompletion.

First-Year Engineering Students’ Conceptualization of Entrepreneurial Mindset

2021 ◽  
pp. 251512742110292
Author(s):  
Darby R. Riley ◽  
Hayley M. Shuster ◽  
Courtney A. LeMasney ◽  
Carla E. Silvestri ◽  
Kaitlin E. Mallouk
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
College Student ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Multidisciplinary Design ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
First Year College ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Reflection Prompts

This study was conducted to examine how first-year engineering students conceptualize the Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) and how that conceptualization changes over the course of their first semester of college, using the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN)’s 3Cs as a starting point. Students enrolled in an introductory, multidisciplinary design course responded to biweekly reflection prompts on their educational experiences (either in high school or as a first-year college student) and related this experience to one of the 3Cs of EM: Curiosity, Connections, or Creating Value. Results indicate that students’ conceptualization of the 3Cs often align with definitions of EM from KEEN, as well as foundational works in the entrepreneurship field, and that their interpretation of each of the 3Cs does change during their first semester in college. For instance, students were less likely to write about curiosity and more likely to write about creating value at the end of the semester compared to the beginning.

Some Models and Methods to Nurture General Management Skills in Engineering Students Living in Large Residential Communities

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varghese Panthalookaran ◽  
Biru R.
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
General Management ◽  
Residential Communities ◽  
The Face ◽  
Residential Student ◽  
Time Frames ◽  
Globalized World

To be successful in one’s profession, an engineer operating in the contemporary globalized world needs to be adequately equipped with suitable management skills. They include talent to plan, implement and manage engineering projects in diverse and pluralistic teams, ability to communicate at different levels, perseverance in the face of failures and crisis, creativeness to improvise innovative solutions, maintenance of physical and mental health, ability to invent and implement eco-friendly engineering solutions, and smartness to work within stipulated time-frames, etc. Large residential student communities prepare suitable context for engineering students to nurture their general management skills, if carefully planned. In the current paper, we present some innovative models and appropriate methods to convert large residential student communities into an arena where students can train themselves in general management skills. It also presents some results of two years of implementation of such methods in a men’s hostel, which accommodates youngsters between 17–19 years of age in their first year of undergraduate engineering study.

scholarly journals First-Year Students’ EFL Reading Difficulties at a Greek Merchant Marine Academy: An Activity Theory Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 378
Author(s):  
Emmanouela Seiradakis
Keyword(s):  
Activity Theory ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
First Year ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Merchant Marine ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Marine Engineering

This paper explores how the transition from secondary to tertiary education influences Greek marine engineering students’ EFL reading behaviors and strategies from an activity-theory perspective. Data were gathered through individual semi-structured interviews with four first-year students who struggled with reading texts in English. Findings suggest that these students experience difficulties in reading lengthy discipline-specific texts such as technical manuals due to the fact they still use the same EFL reading strategies and have the same expectations they had before entering tertiary education. From an activity theory perspective, these students’ difficulties are associated with two distinct EFL reading activity systems which have diverse goals, tools, values, and division of labour. The first system is placed within the wider Greek foreign language education context these students belonged in high school. The second, involves the system that emerged after they entered the Merchant Marine Academy as tertiary education students. These two EFL reading systems clash and create obstacles in their discipline-specific reading which in turn slows down their disciplinary socialization in the marine engineering community.

scholarly journals Student Responses to a Tough Early Assessment: A Useful “Kick up the Bum”?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Wilson ◽  
Kate F Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Diagnostic Assessment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mixed Methods Design ◽  
High Failure Rate ◽  
Early Assessment ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
First Semester ◽  
The Right ◽  
Depth Interviews

First year is a delicate time for students. Many have little idea what to expect of university, and their sense of identity as tertiary students is fragile. A diagnostic assessment early in first semester may reassure students that they have chosen the right path. However, some academics, particularly in engineering, argue that this early assessment should be very demanding – so tough, in fact, that some students fail - in order to alert students to the hard work required to pass the course. This study uses a mixed methods design (weekly surveys and in-depth interviews) to explore the effects of a purposefully tough early assessment on first year engineering students at an Australian university. We find that, across the cohort, the high failure rate was not associated with a significant slump or spike in motivation. Although some students were initially dismayed by their results, most went on to address their study with resilience, and appreciated the “kick up the bum”, as they described it.

scholarly journals The Effects of Gamified Flipped Learning Method on Student’s Innovation Skills, Self-Efficacy towards Virtual Physics Lab Course and Perceptions

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10163
Author(s):  
Hana Dler Ahmed ◽  
Gulsum Asiksoy
Keyword(s):  
Physics Education ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Flipped Learning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Laboratory Courses

Laboratory courses are extremely important in Physics education in terms of providing a better understanding of the theoretical course subjects by the students. However, since the COVID-19 epidemic caused education to be carried out remotely and digitally all over the world, practical as well as theoretical courses were moved to digital platforms. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the Gamified Flipped Learning (GFL) method on students’ physics self-efficacy and innovation skills in a virtual physics laboratory course. The study was carried out with true experimental design and the participants were a total of 70 first-year engineering students, which were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group was trained with the GFL method, the control group was trained with Classical Flipped Learning (CFL) method. Data were collected from a physics self-efficacy questionnaire, innovative skills questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews form. The research results showed that GFL method has a positive impact on the innovation skills of students although insignificant improvement was introduced by gamified-flipped learning on students’ self-efficacy. In addition, the interviews with the students revealed a positive perception of gamification, by mentioning some important aspects of the process that were extremely beneficial.

The Use of Blogs in a Project-Based Learning Context for First-Year Engineering Students’ Teams

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anabela C. Alves ◽  
Ana C. Pereira ◽  
Celina P. Leão ◽  
Sandra Fernandes ◽  
Andre F. Uebe-Mansur
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Industrial Engineering ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Development Context ◽  
Project Phases

Abstract The Integrated Project of Industrial Engineering and Management 1 (IPIEM1) is a curricular unit of the first year developed in the first semester of the Integrated Masters degree of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM11) – University of Minho, Portugal. In the 2019’s 1st semester and in the IPIEM1 previous versions, Project-Based Learning (PBL) was usually adopted as a learning methodology. In this pedagogical development context, freshman students develop a project integrating all five courses related to this current semester. To undertake this project, the students work in large teams that comprise nine to ten members. Throughout the semester, each team must accomplish the project phases and tasks. To communicate their progress and results developed during the semester, each team designed a blog. In the IPIEM1 previous editions of PBL of this year in this program, the weblog (blog) digital technology was also adopted, but it was never assessed. Thus, this paper has two main objectives: 1) to evaluate the importance of the blog for the teams; 2) to discuss teams’ engagement during its development, knowing that it would be a part of the assessment method. The survey results revealed that the teams considered the blog useful to keep an update record of the project progress and to stimulate the writing and reflection about project contents. Furthermore, some of teachers’ and students’ considerations showed the need for providing more training and experience in the development of blogs.

Assessing the enterprising tendencies of Arab female undergraduate engineering students in the Sultanate of Oman

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 429-439
Author(s):  
Naveed Yasin ◽  
Zeinab Khansari ◽  
Taimur Sharif
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
Boot Camp ◽  
First Year ◽  
Need For Achievement ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Extended Duration ◽  
The Impact

This study assesses the enterprising characteristics of first-year undergraduate Omani female chemical engineering students in Muscat, Oman. Pre and post surveys were conducted with 27 respondents from an entrepreneurship boot camp module mandated by the Oman Ministry of Higher Education. The variables, measured on a 10-point Likert scale, included need for achievement, need for autonomy, creativity, risk-taking, and locus of control. Statistical analysis was performed on the integrated data to measure the impact of student learning using a t-test approach and comparing mean averages. This was followed by qualitative semi-structured interviews that were examined using thematic analysis. The comparison of students’ enterprise tendencies before and after the module indicates minor to moderate improvements in their entrepreneurial abilities and their understanding of entrepreneurial behavior. The most noticeable impact was on students’ risk-taking abilities, followed by their creativity, need for achievement, need for control, and, lastly, their need for autonomy. The findings illustrate that students perceived entrepreneurship positively but were concerned about the scheduling of the module and its integration into their core program of study. Students may have benefited further from a module of extended duration as opposed to the block delivery “boot camp” mode of learning. Due to the limited number of participants and the focus on female students only, the results of the study cannot be generalized. However, the article presents an initial exploration of and offers insights into enterprising characteristics among an empirically underexplored demographic and nonbusiness group.

scholarly journals Digital Immigrants in a Blended Learning Environment: A Case Study in Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. p28
Author(s):  
Chng Lay Kee ◽  
Jasmine Selvarani Emmanuel
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Digital Immigrants ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
First Semester ◽  
E Learning

In this rapidly changing environment, an increasing number of people are turning towards open distance universities to earn their degrees, develop new skills and acquire current knowledge in order to upgrade themselves in their professions. A number of them who enrol in these blended learning or fully online courses are middle-aged, born or brought up before the widespread use of digital technology. These digital immigrants, being used to traditional classrooms, are not very tech savvy and can be fearful about using technology as part of their learning. This study gives an insight into their learning styles, learning emotions, challenges and experience of using technology in the e-learning process during their first semester at an open distance university. The findings show that regardless of the difficulties and challenges that participants had gone through during the semester, all participants observed some changes in themselves such as the increase of confidence levels, better stress and time management skills, improvement in writing skills and becoming more independent learners with an increased ability to use technological tools for their learning. In addition, even though the learning environment is technology-based, digital immigrants maintain that they still prefer the blended learning mode rather than going completely online.

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