Assuring Students Success in Engineering Technology Programs

确保学生在工程技术课程中取得成功

• 批准号: 2221037
• 负责人: Mohsen Ayoobi
• 金额: $ 149.98万
• 依托单位: Wayne State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2028-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221037&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Assuring; Students; Success; Engineering; Technology

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Wayne State University (WSU), an urban, public research university in Detroit, Michigan. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 48 unique undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Engineering Technology (ET) programs. WSU’s ET programs are upper division only, designed to provide a pathway for community college graduates to earn a BS degree in 2 years. These non-traditional students face significant financial and personal challenges in completing their degrees. This project will provide high-achieving low-income students with financial support, implement evidence-based active learning techniques, as well as offer various professional and academic support services to strengthen students’ engineering identity and commitment to enter the STEM workforce or graduate school upon graduation. The project will also impact all ET students at WSU by a) promoting utilization of evidence-based active learning techniques in all programs of study at the institution, b) increasing student retention and graduation rates, while reducing time-to-degree, and c) providing a qualified technical workforce for local industry. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. A recent national study indicated that the six-year graduation rate of transfer students who earned a 4-year baccalaureate degree was only around 42% and the likelihood of degree completion for low-income students is even less. Based on identity theory that seeks to understand the links between social organization and individual behavior, this project hypothesizes that early engagement, and continuous support play a key role in fostering engineering identity, retention, and persistence of ET transfer students, thus improving their academic and professional outcomes. The project will inform faculty, the engineering education community, and administrators about how engineering technology students perceive their identification with engineering careers and how “early engagement” and “continued support” of transfer students in engineering technology impact their commitment to and identification with the engineering profession. Upon the successful completion of this project, three outcomes are expected. First is to improve overall 1st-to-2nd year retention rates, the average time-to-degree, and the average 4-year graduation rates of all ET transfer students. Second is to have at least 90% of participating students enter the STEM workforce or graduate studies within 6 months of graduation. And third is to help meet industry demand for technologically competent graduates. An external evaluator will perform process and outcome evaluation using results from formative and summative assessments. The findings of this project will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and workshops, workshops for area community colleges, and seminars. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目将支持有经济需求的成绩优异、低收入的学生在密歇根州底特律市的一所城市公立研究型大学韦恩州立大学 (WSU) 的保留和毕业，从而满足国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。该项目为期 6 年，将为 48 名正在攻读工程技术 (ET) 课程学士学位的独特本科生提供奖学金。 WSU 的 ET 项目仅限高年级，旨在为社区大学毕业生在 2 年内获得学士学位提供一条途径。这些非传统学生在完成学位时面临着巨大的财务和个人挑战。该项目将为成绩优异的低收入学生提供经济支持，实施基于证据的主动学习技术，并提供各种专业和学术支持服务，以增强学生的工程身份和毕业后进入 STEM 劳动力或研究生院的承诺。该项目还将通过以下方式影响 WSU 的所有 ET 学生：a) 促进在该机构的所有学习项目中使用基于证据的主动学习技术；b) 提高​​学生保留率和毕业率，同时缩短获得学位的时间；c) 为当地行业提供合格的技术劳动力。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、成绩优异的本科生完成 STEM 学位的机会。最近的一项全国性研究表明，获得四年制学士学位的转学生的六年毕业率仅为 42% 左右，低收入学生完成学位的可能性更小。该项目基于旨在了解社会组织与个人行为之间联系的身份理论，假设早期参与和持续支持在培养 ET 转学生的工程身份、保留和坚持方面发挥着关键作用，从而提高他们的学术和职业成果。该项目将向教师、工程教育界和管理人员通报工程技术学生如何看待他们对工程职业的认同，以及工程技术转学生的“早期参与”和“持续支持”如何影响他们对工程职业的承诺和认同。该项目成功完成后，预计将取得三项成果。首先是提高所有 ET 转学生的第一年至第二年的总体保留率、平均获得学位的时间以及平均四年毕业率。其次是让至少 90% 的参与学生在毕业后 6 个月内进入 STEM 劳动力或研究生学习。第三是帮助满足行业对具有技术能力的毕业生的需求。外部评估员将使用形成性评估和总结性评估的结果进行过程和结果评估。该项目的研究结果将通过同行评审出版物、会议演讲和研讨会、地区社区学院研讨会和研讨会进行传播。该项目由 NSF 科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加具有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生获得 STEM 领域学位的数量。它还旨在改善未来 STEM 工作者的教育，并产生有关低收入学生的学业成功、保留、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。