scholarly journals ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND THE LIBRARY - FORGING THAT CRITICAL FIRST LINK

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin M. Perry
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
First Year ◽  
Initial Contact ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Library Support ◽  
The University ◽  
Incoming Students ◽  
Experience Difficulty

Engineering librarians occasionally experience difficulty getting an initial “in,” that all-important first connection with engineering students and faculty. In part, that may be because many do not have engineering degrees themselves. That said, a fundamental question arises- where and how can they make that initial contact? Equally important, how can the goals of the engineering faculty and the Library support one another? Engineering schools usually have a first year course intended to introduce broad aspects of the profession, and to show that Engineering does not exist in isolation. Rather, it interacts with and impacts upon society in a multitude of ways. The Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board mandates those same goals, and also requires that students learn to communicate adequately, both orally and in writing, and work effectively as part of a project team. The University of Regina Faculty of Engineering uses two first year classes to begin this process. It is at that point, in the first semester, that a connection between incoming students and the Library starts to be forged.

Personality traits, teamwork competencies and academic performance among first-year engineering students

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuok Ho Daniel Tang
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Academic Excellence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

PurposeIt is commonly believed that personality traits determine a person's ability to work in a team and academic performance. However, studies have shown inconsistent results with some personality traits better than the other in predicting students' performance in different academic majors. The purpose of this study is to examine the interrelation between personality traits, teamwork competencies and academic performance among first-year first semester engineering students in an Australian university located in the Sarawak state of Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThe Individual and Team Performance (ITP) metrics were administered among 189 students to gauge their personality traits as well as self-rated and peer-rated teamwork competencies. The correlations between personality traits and teamwork competencies as well as correlations of both the variables to academic performance were subsequently analyzed.FindingsThis study shows no significant difference between the self-rated and peer-rated teamwork competencies. Adventurous trait appears to negatively correlate with teamwork competencies. This study also reveals teamwork competencies as better predictors of academic performance than personality traits. Commitment and focus show relatively larger effect on academic performance. It can be concluded that commitment is the most significant factor to excel in first-year engineering in the university. Therefore, interventions that promote commitment is crucial to academic performance of the first-year first semester engineering students.Practical implicationsThis study promulgates the development of team competencies which are more crucial to academic excellence than personalities. It is useful for the design of team learning activities which lead to the development of teamwork competencies while improving academic performance. It shows that team activities which reinforce commitment especially and focus secondarily, will have significant positive effect on academic performance of the first-year engineering students generally.Originality/valueWhile most studies in this area examine the correlation between personality traits and academic performance, this study is among the very few that looks into the aspect of teamwork competencies. This study also finds its value in its regional significance as such correlational studies are not prevalent in Malaysia.

Engineering for good: A case of community driven engineering innovation

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinweike Eseonu ◽  
Martin A Cortes
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Technology Innovation ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
First Year ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Social Consideration

There is a culture of disengagement from social consideration in engineering disciplines. This means that first year engineering students, who arrive planning to change the world through engineering, lose this passion as they progress through the engineering curriculum. The community driven technology innovation and investment program described in this paper is an attempt to reverse this trend by fusing community engagement with the normal engineering design process. This approach differs from existing project or trip based approaches – outreach – because the focus is on local communities with which the university team forms a long-term partnership through weekly in-person meetings and community driven problem statements – engagement.

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.

scholarly journals Evasion of Industrial Engineering students of FT/UFAM

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 551-564
Author(s):  
Jéssica Barbosa Da Silva ◽  
Jonas Gomes da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Industrial Engineering ◽  
Electronic Questionnaire ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Vocational Orientation ◽  
The University ◽  
E Mail

The undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering at the Faculty of Technology (FT) of the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) completed 15 years in the first semester of 2019. During this period, enrolled 837 students, of which 238 (28%) have already graduated, 335 (40 %) continue to study and 263 (32%) have left the course. Given this percentage of dropout and the need to research more about the topic, this article aims to investigate the main causes of abandonment in this course in order to propose strategies to minimize the problem. The method used was the Survey, which applied a five-part electronic questionnaire sent to 203 dropout students who had e-mail. After analyzing the answers of 39 (19.21%), it was concluded that most students did not receive vocational orientation before joining the University and the main reasons that influenced the students to quit the course were the didactic-pedagogical deficiency of the teachers, the difficulty in conciliating study and work, and the course did not satisfy their expectations.

scholarly journals Value-added model of basic mathematics-physics training in engineering students

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 528-536
Author(s):  
Henry de Jesús Gallardo Pérez ◽  
Mawency Vergel Ortega ◽  
Marling Carolina Cordero Díaz
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Educational Institution ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Physics Courses ◽  
The University

The added value in education refers to the contribution that the educational institution effectively makes to student learning, expressed as the growth in knowledge, skills and abilities, in a period of time, as a result of their educational experience. The objective of the research is to determine the added value of the academic work of the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander in the development of physical- mathematical thinking in engineering students and the estimation of a mathematical model that allows its valuation. In model allows analyzing the trajectory of the group of engineering students who entered in the first semester of 2018 and involves endogenous and exogenous variables associated with the process. The research is framed in the quantitative paradigm, descriptive, multivariate and correlational. We work with two types of data, the secondary data are constituted by the students’ grades in 2018 and 2019, this information may present biases because they are different courses with different teachers, however, it allows to see the evolution of students in calculus, statistics and physics courses. Primary data were obtained from a test applied in 2018 and a similar test applied in 2019, graded using item response theory. Results were compared and differences were evaluated to estimate the contribution effectively made by the university.   

The Use of Applets in an Engineering Chemistry Course

2010 ◽  
pp. 108-118
Author(s):  
B.M. Trigo ◽  
G.S. Olguin ◽  
P.H.L.S. Matai
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Engineering Department ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The University

This chapter deals with the use of Applets, which are examples of software applications, combined with a specific methodology of teaching, based on Paulo Freire’s education concepts. According to his methods, co-creation between its participants is fundamental for the effectiveness of learning process. In that way, to promote a cooperative learning, the Applet should have interactive features. The Chemistry course of Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, in which students take in the first semester of the first year of the engineering course, was the case study. First, a research with the teachers of the Chemical Engineering Department was carried out, to identify the main problems and difficulties teachers and students face. Then, a topic was selected to be explored with the Applet, which was developed and applied to a small group of students. To identify the success of this experiment a questionnaire was created and the results are presented in this chapter. Some conclusions were drawn and the interactive features of the Applet received a positive feedback.

scholarly journals A MODEL TO DEVELOP PEER FEEDBACK SKILLS IN FIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Mattucci ◽  
Jim Sibley ◽  
Jonathan Nakane ◽  
Peter Ostafichuk
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Professional Communication ◽  
First Year ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
University Of British Columbia ◽  
Feedback Model ◽  
Poster Presentations ◽  
The University ◽  
Proper Interpretation

Abstract – Giving and receiving feedback is a necessary, but often difficult skill for young engineers to acquire. We developed and piloted the delivery of a feedback model as part of the first-year engineering experience at the University of British Columbia. The approach is based on recognizing feedback as a form of professional communication, and that it requires practice to improve. We wove different aspects of communication skill development through two large newly-designed first-year introduction to engineering courses, building towards face-to-face feedback through a staged series of communication experiences. The full feedback model highlighted the nuances of face-to-face communication, and was called the "3×3", since it includes the three components involved in face-to-face feedback (sender, message, and receiver), each with three associated aspects. The sender uses appropriate words and body language, ensures proper interpretation, and is empathetic; the message is objective and non-judgmental, sufficiently detailed, and contains suggestions for improvement; and the receiver remains open and listening, acknowledges to the sender that they are listening, and clarifies to ensure understanding. Students applied what they had learned through an activity reviewing poster presentations from a major course design project. In the activity, they each had an opportunity to craft a feedback message before delivering the message face-to-face to a peer. Students then reflected on the feedback they received by summarizing the message, recognizing how the sender delivered the feedback, and identifying why the feedback was helpful. Student reflections were analyzed for themes from the 3×3 model. Students found feedback from peers particularly helpful when it was delivered in an appropriate and courteous manner, checked for proper interpretation, provided clear suggestions for improvement, and was coupled with praise of something that was done well. Providing students with a structured model allows them to follow a process in both providing effective face-to-face feedback, but also better appreciate why receiving feedback is beneficial in helping them improve.  

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