Research Initiation : Exploring First Generation Engineering Technology College Students Acquisition of the Engineering Identity

每年，工程专业的学生都要进入大学学习知识，发展技能，为他们在该领域的职业生涯做准备。这些学生在工程教育中的成功和经验塑造了他们如何看待自己从“工程学生”到“工程师”的转变。虽然获得工程师身份的过程对每个学生来说都是不同的，但当工程专业学生的身份与其他身份（包括那些面临独特挑战的身份，如第一代身份）混淆时，会出现某些复杂性。与连续一代的同龄人不同，第一代学生是他们家庭中第一个上大学的人，他们正在向工程师身份迈进，同时他们正在学习如何驾驭高等教育的复杂结构和行话。这些身份会影响学生如何理解他们在工程项目中的地位。此外，学生报名参加的课程类型可能会影响学生如何概念化和巩固工程师身份。工程技术课程历来与工程教育的实践方法有关。因此，获得工程师身份的过程可能看起来不同的工程技术专业的学生相比，在工程科学课程的同龄人。本研究将探讨第一代工程师与工程技术专业学生这两种身份如何交叉影响工程师身份的形成。这一目标与工程师职业形成研究直接一致，旨在更好地了解工程教育项目如何培养未来的工程师。该项目的研究设计是一个两阶段、混合方法的方法。在第一阶段，我们将调查大约500名工程技术专业的学生，他们来自两年制和四年制院校。回应将解决自我认定的第一代工程技术学生如何概念化和巩固工程师身份作为其跨机构教育的一部分的研究问题，以及解决第一代参与者如何理解和利用社会资本形式来追求他们的工程学位相比，继续一代同行。此外，绩效指标数据将获得和de-identified通过机构效率办公室在夏洛特夏洛特的本地参与者谁同意参加作为一种方式来调查是否存在差异之间的第一代工程技术的学生和连续一代的同龄人在同一程序。在第二阶段，我们将对35名第一代工程技术学生进行定性访谈，以确保对他们的经历有更丰富的了解。这种迭代方法将使我们能够识别第1阶段中的潜在差距，而第2阶段中的定性工作将扩展我们对工程师身份获取过程的理解。该项目的主要目标是为工程教育研究人员提供的不断增长的知识体系做出贡献。目前，有有限的研究探讨巩固第一代学生的工程师身份。没有现有的研究探讨了这一现象与工程技术的学生。我们希望利用我们的研究来开始缩小这一知识差距，并将我们的发现广泛传播给其他工程教育工作者，他们致力于支持第一代工程技术学生，因为他们概念化他们在工程专业中的位置。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

Each year engineering students enroll in college to gain knowledge and develop skills in preparation for their careers in the field. The successes and experiences of these students within their engineering education shape how they see themselves within the profession as they transition from “engineering student” to “engineer”. While the process of acquiring the engineer identity looks different for every student, there are certain complexities that emerge when the engineering student identity is intersected with other identities, including those that face unique challenges such as first-generation. Unlike continuing-generation peers, first-generation students who are the first in their families to attend college are progressing toward the engineer identity at the same time they are learning to navigate the landscape of higher education with its complex structures and jargon. These identities influence how students understand their position within engineering programs. Furthermore, the type of program a student enrolls in may impact how a student conceptualizes and consolidates the engineer identity. Engineering technology programs have historically been associated with a more hands-on approach to engineering education. As such, the process of acquiring the engineer identity may look different for engineering technology students compared to peers in engineering science programs. This study will explore the question of how these two identities: first-generation and engineering technology students intersect to influence the formation of the engineer identity. This goal is directly aligned with research in the professional formation of engineers which seeks to better understand how engineering education programs develop future engineers.The research design for this project is a two phase, mixed methods approach. In Phase 1, we will survey approximately 500 engineering technology students across two and four-year institutions. Responses will address the research questions of how self-identified first-generation engineering technology students conceptualize and consolidate the engineer identity as part of their education across institutions, as well as address how first-generation participants understand and leverage forms of social capital in pursuit of their engineering degree as compared to continuing-generation peers. Additionally, performance metric data will be obtained and de-identified through the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at UNC Charlotte for local participants who have consented to participate as a way to investigate whether discrepancies exist between first-generation engineering technology students and continuing-generation peers in the same program. In Phase 2, we will employ qualitative interviews with a diverse group of 35 first generation engineering technology students to secure a richer understanding of their experiences. This iterative approach will allow us to identify potential gaps in Phase 1 while the qualitative work in Phase 2 will then expand our understanding of the engineer identity acquisition process. The primary goal of this project is to contribute to the growing body of knowledge provided by engineering education researchers. At present, there is limited research exploring the consolidation of the engineer identity among first-generation students. No existing study has explored this phenomenon with engineering technology students. We hope to leverage our research to begin to close this knowledge gap and to disseminate our findings widely to other engineering educators who serve to support first-generation engineering technology students as they conceptualize their place within the engineering profession.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.