A Model for Predicting and Assessing the Programmatic Impact of Student Success in Engineering

这项授予普渡大学的拨款寻求为期两年的NSF资助，以开发一种新颖而系统的方法，以更好地了解新生工程学生属性和结果之间的直接和间接关系。有了这些知识，学院将实施以下流程：a）使教师和顾问能够为新生提供有关课程选择的更明智的指导; B）促进第一年工程经验的持续改进; c）提供一种方法来操作学生成功的定义，以包括其他功能（即，不仅仅是简单地看GPA和工程学的持久性）;以及d）促进我们调查代表性不足的学生群体的预测因素和结果模型中的差异的能力（例如，性别和种族），从而为这些学生提供更有意义的建议。该项目将开发一个全面的评估过程，使工程教师和顾问能够更好地评估：新生的认知和非认知特征，以更准确地将学生置于最合适的化学，工程，数学和物理入门课程。此外，项目使用调查项目（自我概念和期望），以前的学业成绩（高中学业成绩），学生评估他们的成绩，以了解大一学生的属性和结果之间的直接和间接关系，以提供在我们的第一年工程计划的持续改进的基础，同时也为我们提供了一个衡量学生是否有成功的第一年经历的基础。当前的工程认证模式要求开发和实施一个持续评估系统，该系统部分通过评估项目成果来证明项目教育目标的实现。然而，迄今为止，尚未作出努力将这些结果与学生在高等教育系统中的起点联系起来。 我们相信，本文提出的模型将在普渡大学和全国各地的工程机构的能力。

This grant to Purdue University seeks two years of NSF funding to develop a novel and systematic approach to better understand the direct and indirect relationships among freshman engineering student attributes and outcomes. With this knowledge, the college will implement processes that: a) enable faculty and advisors to give more informed guidance to incoming freshmen about their course selections; b) foster the continuous improvement of first-year engineering experiences; c) provide a means to operationalize the definition of student success to include additional features (i.e., something more than simply looking at GPA and persistence in engineering); and d) facilitate our ability to investigate differences in a model of predictors and outcomes for underrepresented student groups (e.g., gender, and ethnicity), leading to more meaningful advising for these students. This project will develop a comprehensive evaluation process that will enable engineering faculty and advisors to better assess: the cognitive and noncognitive characteristics of incoming freshman to more accurately place students into the most appropriate introductory chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and physics courses. In addition, the project to use survey items (self-concepts and expectations), prior academic performance (high school academic record), and student assessment of their achievement to understand the direct and indirect relationships among freshman student attributes and outcomes in order to provide the foundation for continuous improvement in our first-year engineering program, as well as provide a bases by which we can measure whether a student has had a successful first-year experience. The current model for engineering accreditation calls for the development and implementation of a system of ongoing evaluation that demonstrates achievement of programs educational objectives, in part, through the assessment of program outcomes. However, to date, no effort has been made to relate these outcomes back to a student's starting point in the higher education system. We believe the model proposed herein will serve in that capacity both at Purdue University and engineering institutions across the country.