Exploring the Role of Mentorship in Enhancing Engineering Students’ Innovation Self-Efficacy

Azadeh Bolhari; Angela R Bielefeldt

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT) Technical Session 5: Exploring and Re-Examining Ideas in Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation Education
Tagged Division: Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT)
Page Count: 15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43649
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43649
Download Count: 199

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Paper Authors

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Azadeh Bolhari P.E. University of Colorado Boulder orcid.org/0000-0001-6289-7771

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Dr. Bolhari is a professor of environmental engineering in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her teaching focuses on fate and transport of contaminants and capstone design. Dr. Bolhari's research interests explore the boundaries of engineering and social science to understand formation of innovation self-efficacy in engineering students and evolution of resilience capacity at family and community level utilizing quantitative and qualitative research methods.

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Angela R Bielefeldt P.E. University of Colorado Boulder

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Angela Bielefeldt is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) and Director for the Engineering Plus program. She has served as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate

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Abstract

It is critical to incorporate inclusive practices in the engineering curriculum which prepares neurodiverse students to achieve their full potential in the workforce. This work-in-progress paper seeks to capitalize on the unique strengths of marginalized neurodiverse engineering students. In this study, the innovation self-efficacy of engineering students who self-identify as neurodiverse is explored before and after a curricular intervention, which has been shown to have the potential to enhance innovation self-efficacy, in an environmental engineering target course. A previously validated Likert-type survey was used, which included the Very Brief Innovation Self-Efficacy scale, the Innovation Interests scale, and the Career Goals: Innovative Work scale. Among the 47 responses on the pre-survey, 13% of the students self-identified as neurodiverse and an additional 19% indicated that they were maybe neurodiverse. This included a much higher percentage of female than male students in the course (23% vs. 5% neurodiverse). There were no significant differences in the pre-survey or post-survey in the innovation self-efficacy and innovation interest among students who self-identified as neurodiverse, maybe neurodiverse, and not neurodiverse. Career goals based on the innovative work scale differed in the pre-survey among the three groups, being lowest among students who self-identified as maybe neurodiverse; there were no differences among the groups in the post-survey. It appeared that there were gains in the innovation self-efficacy between the pre and post-survey among the students who self-identified as neurodiverse and maybe neurodiverse but these differences were not statistically significant. A limitation of the study was the lack of ability to pair the data for individual students and a low number of neurodiverse students in the dataset. This preliminary work calls attention to the need to consider neurodiverse students in our instructional practices. In the future, we hope the research will expand our understanding of a neurodiverse-friendly curricular design in preparation for engineering students with autism spectrum disorder and other types of neurodiversity for the workforce, as well as assisting engineering educators in the adoption of practices that have the tendency to enhance innovation self-efficacy in neurodiverse students.

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Bolhari, A., & Bielefeldt, A. R. (2023, June), Exploring the Role of Mentorship in Enhancing Engineering Students’ Innovation Self-Efficacy Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43649

TY - CPAPER
AB - It is critical to incorporate inclusive practices in the engineering curriculum which prepares neurodiverse students to achieve their full potential in the workforce. This work-in-progress paper seeks to capitalize on the unique strengths of marginalized neurodiverse engineering students. In this study, the innovation self-efficacy of engineering students who self-identify as neurodiverse is explored before and after a curricular intervention, which has been shown to have the potential to enhance innovation self-efficacy, in an environmental engineering target course. A previously validated Likert-type survey was used, which included the Very Brief Innovation Self-Efficacy scale, the Innovation Interests scale, and the Career Goals: Innovative Work scale. Among the 47 responses on the pre-survey, 13% of the students self-identified as neurodiverse and an additional 19% indicated that they were maybe neurodiverse. This included a much higher percentage of female than male students in the course (23% vs. 5% neurodiverse). There were no significant differences in the pre-survey or post-survey in the innovation self-efficacy and innovation interest among students who self-identified as neurodiverse, maybe neurodiverse, and not neurodiverse. Career goals based on the innovative work scale differed in the pre-survey among the three groups, being lowest among students who self-identified as maybe neurodiverse; there were no differences among the groups in the post-survey. It appeared that there were gains in the innovation self-efficacy between the pre and post-survey among the students who self-identified as neurodiverse and maybe neurodiverse but these differences were not statistically significant. A limitation of the study was the lack of ability to pair the data for individual students and a low number of neurodiverse students in the dataset. This preliminary work calls attention to the need to consider neurodiverse students in our instructional practices. In the future, we hope the research will expand our understanding of a neurodiverse-friendly curricular design in preparation for engineering students with autism spectrum disorder and other types of neurodiversity for the workforce, as well as assisting engineering educators in the adoption of practices that have the tendency to enhance innovation self-efficacy in neurodiverse students.
AU - Azadeh Bolhari P.E.
AU - Angela R Bielefeldt P.E.
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Exploring the Role of Mentorship in Enhancing Engineering Students’ Innovation Self-Efficacy
UR - https://peer.asee.org/43649
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43649
ER -