HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Enhancing Student Success in Engineering Curriculum through Active e-Learning and High Impact Teaching Practices

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With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to increase Hispanic/Latino transfer student success through the implementation and evaluation of innovative teaching/learning practices in engineering gateway courses. As a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution, the University of Central Florida (UCF) is one of the leading transfer institutions in the nation. Based on admission articulated agreements with six community colleges in the Central Florida Region, transfer students are guaranteed access to high-quality bachelor’s degree programs at UCF. This transfer pathway has been used as an attractive conduit for many Hispanic/Latino students. However, the retention rates of transfer students are significantly lower than those of first-time in college students. In order to enhance Hispanic/Latino transfer students’ academic perseverance and success, a team of faculty members will work together to implement active learning and high-impact teaching practices in engineering foundation courses such as Statics, Dynamics, and Thermodynamics, including coordinated curriculum alignment efforts with partner community colleges. Students will be allowed to make mistakes and learn from their mistakes through multiple attempts, will be given opportunities to design, build, and test physical models through mini-projects, and will be provided flexible learning tools and an encouraging environment. As a result, this program will achieve a significant gain in Hispanic/Latino transfer students’ retention.This program aims to increase Hispanic/Latino transfer student success through the implementation and evaluation of innovative teaching/learning practices. There is an almost equal distribution of students arriving at the University of Central Florida as first-time in college versus those transferring from another college. However, the retention rates between these groups show a very significant achievement gap. This project will focus on improving transfer students' initial experiences in engineering foundation courses in two large enrollment engineering majors –Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering. The project team will (1) embed self-regulated and shared learning in foundation courses by incorporating multiple attempts to practice tests and mini-projects at the early stage of engineering curricula, (2) construct a blended learning environment in order to facilitate student progress by providing flexibility, (3) guide students to tackle real-world engineering problems and tasks, and (4) utilize group participation and social interactions as an asset for their shared learning through team-based project activities. This project will investigate the changing nature of regulated learning, self-efficacy, and achievement goal orientation. This coordinated initiative will be used as a template for student success and shared with partner community colleges regionally via curriculum alignment meetings and other engineering programs nationally via conferences and journal publications. The program website will host exemplary mini-projects and make them available to students, educators, and the general public. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.