Self-Reflection Assignments for Evaluating Non-Technical Skills and Setting Goals for Professional Development

Ashlee Nicole Ford Versypt

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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: Professional Skills Development
Tagged Division: Chemical Engineering
Page Count: 31
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--28819
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/28819
Download Count: 795

Paper Authors

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Ashlee Nicole Ford Versypt Oklahoma State University orcid.org/0000-0001-9059-5703

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Dr. Ashlee N. Ford Versypt is an assistant professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in ChE at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her B.S. at the University of Oklahoma. She also conducted postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on developing computational models for systems biomedicine & pharmaceutics and using computing and reflection in the classroom.

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Abstract

“Self-reflection assignments” have been used in two offerings of an undergraduate chemical kinetics course at a large, public state university. The self-reflection assignments involve brief essays and goal setting related to professional, non-technical skills. The assignments were adapted from a document called the Self-Evaluation Rubric for guided reflection assignments. The outcomes of the assignments have not been previously measured and reported in an engineering course. The Self-Evaluation Rubric contains a list of non-technical skills important for scientists and engineers, such as persistence, organization, self-compassion, and reflection. In the course, written assignments were used to foster development of these skills. Five times during the semester, students were given an essay prompt to identify one or more skills to work on in the following two-week period (first essay) or one-month period (subsequent essays except the last). Students were asked to assess their current proficiency level (beginning, developing, or succeeding) in the skill according to the Self-Evaluation Rubric, describe their goals related to the skill and their plan for improvement, and share progress in the skill(s) if any had been made since the previous essay. This process required the students to identify the change they want to make, come up with a plan to implement that change, and frequently assess how their changes worked. The essays were submitted electronically as small percentage homework assignments graded by completion. The instructor provided feedback through the classroom management system. Besides the intended goal of professional skill development, the assignments also gave the students practice with written communication and forged connections between the students and the faculty instructor for the course. A classroom research study was conducted to assess the impact of the assignments using pre- and post-assignment surveys of student perceptions of their non-technical skill levels and their opinions on the impact of the assignments on any changes in their skill levels. The hypothesis is that the self-reflection assignments positively impact student progression toward higher levels of non-technical skills. Further, we hypothesize that skills that students focus on actively and skills that students are made aware of through the exercises and do not actively reflect on in course assignments improve during the semester with some level of attribution to the self-reflection assignments. We quantified the number of students that rank themselves as beginning, developing, or succeeding for each skill on the rubric before and after the use of self-reflection assignments in the course. Our surveys also included open-ended questions about potential causes for skill level changes, if any, about skills they focused on throughout the term for the self-reflection assignments, and about their opinions of the self-reflection assignments in general. Pre- and post-surveys have been matched using unique, non-identifiable keys generated by users. Student participation in the surveys was optional. Student self-reflection assignment submissions were not utilized directly in the study. The data will be provided in aggregate form. The research provides insight into the efficacy of the self-reflection assignments in improving non-technical skills in the context of an upper division engineering course.

Citation
Format

Ford Versypt, A. N. (2017, June), Self-Reflection Assignments for Evaluating Non-Technical Skills and Setting Goals for Professional Development Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28819

TY - CPAPER
AB - “Self-reflection assignments” have been used in two offerings of an undergraduate chemical kinetics course at a large, public state university. The self-reflection assignments involve brief essays and goal setting related to professional, non-technical skills. The assignments were adapted from a document called the Self-Evaluation Rubric for guided reflection assignments. The outcomes of the assignments have not been previously measured and reported in an engineering course. The Self-Evaluation Rubric contains a list of non-technical skills important for scientists and engineers, such as persistence, organization, self-compassion, and reflection. In the course, written assignments were used to foster development of these skills. Five times during the semester, students were given an essay prompt to identify one or more skills to work on in the following two-week period (first essay) or one-month period (subsequent essays except the last). Students were asked to assess their current proficiency level (beginning, developing, or succeeding) in the skill according to the Self-Evaluation Rubric, describe their goals related to the skill and their plan for improvement, and share progress in the skill(s) if any had been made since the previous essay. This process required the students to identify the change they want to make, come up with a plan to implement that change, and frequently assess how their changes worked. The essays were submitted electronically as small percentage homework assignments graded by completion. The instructor provided feedback through the classroom management system. Besides the intended goal of professional skill development, the assignments also gave the students practice with written communication and forged connections between the students and the faculty instructor for the course. A classroom research study was conducted to assess the impact of the assignments using pre- and post-assignment surveys of student perceptions of their non-technical skill levels and their opinions on the impact of the assignments on any changes in their skill levels. The hypothesis is that the self-reflection assignments positively impact student progression toward higher levels of non-technical skills. Further, we hypothesize that skills that students focus on actively and skills that students are made aware of through the exercises and do not actively reflect on in course assignments improve during the semester with some level of attribution to the self-reflection assignments. We quantified the number of students that rank themselves as beginning, developing, or succeeding for each skill on the rubric before and after the use of self-reflection assignments in the course. Our surveys also included open-ended questions about potential causes for skill level changes, if any, about skills they focused on throughout the term for the self-reflection assignments, and about their opinions of the self-reflection assignments in general. Pre- and post-surveys have been matched using unique, non-identifiable keys generated by users. Student participation in the surveys was optional. Student self-reflection assignment submissions were not utilized directly in the study. The data will be provided in aggregate form. The research provides insight into the efficacy of the self-reflection assignments in improving non-technical skills in the context of an upper division engineering course.
AU - Ashlee Nicole Ford Versypt
CY - Columbus, Ohio
DA - 2017/06/24
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Self-Reflection Assignments for Evaluating Non-Technical Skills and Setting Goals for Professional Development
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/28819
DO - 10.18260/1-2--28819
ER -