Exploring nontraditional characteristics of students in a freshman engineering course

William B. Corley; J C McNeil

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: Two-year College Potpourri
Tagged Division: Two Year College Division
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--28331
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/28331
Download Count: 1757

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

William B. Corley University of Louisville orcid.org/0000-0001-6378-4680

visit author page

William B. Corley, M.S., is the graduate research assistant on this project. He is an experimental psychology graduate student with the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at University of Louisville. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in experimental psychology with a cognitive psychology concentration. His background includes several educational research projects and training in statistical methods.

visit author page

biography

J C McNeil University of Louisville orcid.org/0000-0001-6133-4467

visit author page

J.C. McNeil is an Assistant Professor for the Department of Engineering Fundamentals at University of Louisville. Research includes investigating nontraditional students in engineering, the intersection of co-op experiences and higher education institutions, and how students decide their major. Other research has included how engineering faculty consider quality teaching through the ABET accreditation process and the university climate. Contact her at j.mcneil@louisville.edu

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction

Nontraditional students (NTS) face a myriad of challenges from their personal and professional lives while pursuing a post-secondary degree. Having spouses, children, full-time jobs, and other factors pose as additional responsibilities, outside of the main role of being a learner, which some researchers claim is distracting from learning. NTS are ranked, by magnitude, based on how many NTS characteristics they possess (e.g., part-time student status, employment, living off-campus, etc.), and are broken down into minimal, moderate, and high levels of nontraditional. Along with this, the higher a NTS is ranked, the lower their likelihood of graduating. In fact, the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) reports that moderate and highly nontraditional students graduate at rates of 16.9% and 11.2% respectively. These figures can be compared to the graduation rate for traditional students, 53.9% from the same NCES report. For engineering students, there is a 40% attrition rate, according to Ngambecki and colleagues (2010), as does some other work (McNeil & Ohland, 2015). Why does this disparity between engineering and other disciplines occur? The proposed study attempts to discover some of the reasons such a profound difference in NTS graduation rates exists.

Method

The study was conducted through an informed survey, quantitative analysis of 549 students at an urban, medium sized university. The researchers included all current first-year engineering students, both traditional and nontraditional. The survey informed the researchers about the prevalence of nontraditional characteristics of incoming freshman students in engineering programs. The survey was given during the fall of 2016. Survey items included age, major, gender, whether they lived on or off campus, distance of permanent and local address from campus, marriage status, modality of transportation, information about dependents, single-parent status, financial independence, employment status, employment environment, length of break after high school and/or during college, possession of high school diploma or GED, part-time enrollment, and self-report on hindrances and benefits of being a NTS.

Preliminary Results

From the study design, a sample of 549 undergraduate students (426 male, 117 female, 6 other; Mage = 19.04) was examined. The analyses indicated that participants aged 25 and older reported significantly more NTS characteristics than did participants aged 24 and younger. Males have the likelihood of having more nontraditional characteristics than females. The results also show that marriage has a compounding effect for nontraditional characteristics, if a student is married, then they are also financially independent. Married males have more nontraditional characteristics than married females. NTS are also more likely to report being electrical engineering majors compared to the other majors available to engineering students.

Citation
Format

Corley, W. B., & McNeil, J. C. (2017, June), Exploring nontraditional characteristics of students in a freshman engineering course Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28331

TY - CPAPER
AB - Abstract

Introduction

Nontraditional students (NTS) face a myriad of challenges from their personal and professional lives while pursuing a post-secondary degree. Having spouses, children, full-time jobs, and other factors pose as additional responsibilities, outside of the main role of being a learner, which some researchers claim is distracting from learning. NTS are ranked, by magnitude, based on how many NTS characteristics they possess (e.g., part-time student status, employment, living off-campus, etc.), and are broken down into minimal, moderate, and high levels of nontraditional. Along with this, the higher a NTS is ranked, the lower their likelihood of graduating. In fact, the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) reports that moderate and highly nontraditional students graduate at rates of 16.9% and 11.2% respectively. These figures can be compared to the graduation rate for traditional students, 53.9% from the same NCES report. For engineering students, there is a 40% attrition rate, according to Ngambecki and colleagues (2010), as does some other work (McNeil &amp; Ohland, 2015). Why does this disparity between engineering and other disciplines occur? The proposed study attempts to discover some of the reasons such a profound difference in NTS graduation rates exists.

Method

The study was conducted through an informed survey, quantitative analysis of 549 students at an urban, medium sized university. The researchers included all current first-year engineering students, both traditional and nontraditional. The survey informed the researchers about the prevalence of nontraditional characteristics of incoming freshman students in engineering programs. The survey was given during the fall of 2016. Survey items included age, major, gender, whether they lived on or off campus, distance of permanent and local address from campus, marriage status, modality of transportation, information about dependents, single-parent status, financial independence, employment status, employment environment, length of break after high school and/or during college, possession of high school diploma or GED, part-time enrollment, and self-report on hindrances and benefits of being a NTS.

Preliminary Results

From the study design, a sample of 549 undergraduate students (426 male, 117 female, 6 other; Mage = 19.04) was examined. The analyses indicated that participants aged 25 and older reported significantly more NTS characteristics than did participants aged 24 and younger. Males have the likelihood of having more nontraditional characteristics than females. The results also show that marriage has a compounding effect for nontraditional characteristics, if a student is married, then they are also financially independent. Married males have more nontraditional characteristics than married females. NTS are also more likely to report being electrical engineering majors compared to the other majors available to engineering students.

AU - William B. Corley
AU - J C McNeil
CY - Columbus, Ohio
DA - 2017/06/24
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Exploring nontraditional characteristics of students in a freshman engineering course
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/28331
DO - 10.18260/1-2--28331
ER -