Work in Progress: Impacts of Engineering-Adjacent Participation On  Identity and Motivation in Engineering

Cassandra Sue Ellen Jamison; Justin Charles Major; Alexandra Mary Jackson; Cheryl A. Bodnar

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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: Work-in-Progress Session: Supporting Students To, Through, and Beyond Transitions
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44278
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/44278
Download Count: 176

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Paper Authors

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Cassandra Sue Ellen Jamison Rowan University orcid.org/0000-0002-0253-1636

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Cassandra (Cassie) Jamison is an Assistant Professor in the Experiential Engineering Education Department at Rowan University (Glassboro, NJ). Her research interests focus on understanding and improving the learning that occurs in experiential, out-of-class activities for engineering students. Cassie previously received a B.A. in Engineering Sciences at Wartburg College (Waverly, IA) and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in BME from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI).

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Justin Charles Major Rowan University orcid.org/0000-0002-3111-8509

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Dr. Justin C. Major (he/him) is an Assistant Professor of Experiential Engineering Education at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey where he leads ASPIRE Lab (Advancing Student Pathways through Inequality Research in Engineering). Justin’s research focuses on socioeconomically disadvantaged students (SDS; low-income) in engineering, student experiences of trauma, and feminist approaches to engineering education research, and connects these topics to broader understandings of student success in engineering. Justin completed his Ph.D. in Engineering Education (’22) and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics (’21) at Purdue University, and two B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Secondary Mathematics Education at the University of Nevada, Reno (’17). Atop his education, Justin is a previous National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and has won over a dozen awards for research, service, and activism related to marginalized communities, including the 2020 American Society for Engineering Education Educational Research and Methods Division Best Diversity Paper for his work on test anxiety. As a previous homeless and food-insecure student, Justin is eager to challenge and change engineering education to be a pathway for socioeconomic mobility and broader systemic improvement rather than an additional barrier.

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Alexandra Mary Jackson Rowan University

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Alexandra Jackson is a second year PhD student at Rowan University seeking a specialization in Engineering Education. She began her research in Rowan's Experiential Engineering Education Department in the Fall of 2019, and has developed interests in entrepreneurial mindset and student development. In particular, she is interested in assessment of entrepreneurial mindset through both quantitative and qualitative methods, and is currently working in both survey and concept map assessment. She was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in April, 2022, and hopes to continue her research in entrepreneurial mindset assessment using narrative inquiry.

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Cheryl A. Bodnar Rowan University

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Dr. Bodnar is an Associate Professor in the Experiential Engineering Education Department at Rowan University. Her research interests relate to the incorporation of active learning techniques such as game-based learning in undergraduate classes as well as innovation and entrepreneurship.

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Abstract

This work-in-progress research paper describes the beginning stages of a study exploring connections between students' participation in “engineering-adjacent” activities outside of class and their motivation to pursue their future engineering goals. In this study, we define engineering-adjacent activities as those that are not typically seen as “engineering” by the curriculum (in opposition to accepted activities such as engineering club participation, engineering service, etc.), but that students identify as connected to their goals as engineering students or future engineers.

Current literature suggests that engineering student identity, belonging, and motivation are key attitudinal constructs that inform immediate and future student success in engineering. According to this research, success is determined by a student's ability to see themselves as the “kind of person” (Gee, 2000) who can competently complete engineering tasks and be recognized for them by others. In part, this ability requires students to see themselves in future roles that include engineering, identify present tasks, and see connections between their present and future selves in ways that motivate them to take specific steps to connect the present and future. Researchers and practitioners should support the attitudinal development of students to encourage these connections by improving their engineering curriculum design or developing out-of-class programming, as students who make connections between their present and future goals are more likely to achieve success in engineering.

Students tend to participate in on- and off-campus activities to help develop their sense of belonging and conceptions of themselves as engineers. Within these activities, students are exposed and integrated into cultures of engineering that inform and develop their perceptions. Many of these activities are directly connected to engineering, though past work has included the idea that students also participate in engineering-adjacent activities. We are exploring students' participation in engineering-adjacent activities and their perceptions of the role these activities play in their sense of belonging, identity development, and motivation related to engineering.

We are currently recruiting engineering students at a mid-Atlantic university to participate in semi-structured interviews. After a saturation of fifteen to twenty students, we will purposefully sample eight to twelve students that capture a broad range of academic years and disciplines. During their interviews, participants will be asked to reflect on their goals for the future, share their present actions including involvement in engineering, engineering-adjacent, and non-engineering activities, and then connect their goals with their activities. Once interviews have been completed, we anticipate using deductive, thematic coding that applies a priori codes from our prior work with motivation and identity theories like future time perspective, expectancy value, and multiple identity. Our paper will describe the proposed research design and our future goals for this study.

Citation
Format

Jamison, C. S. E., & Major, J. C., & Jackson, A. M., & Bodnar, C. A. (2023, June), Work in Progress: Impacts of Engineering-Adjacent Participation On Identity and Motivation in Engineering Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44278

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This work-in-progress research paper describes the beginning stages of a study exploring connections between students&#39; participation in “engineering-adjacent” activities outside of class and their motivation to pursue their future engineering goals. In this study, we define engineering-adjacent activities as those that are not typically seen as “engineering” by the curriculum (in opposition to accepted activities such as engineering club participation, engineering service, etc.), but that students identify as connected to their goals as engineering students or future engineers.

Current literature suggests that engineering student identity, belonging, and motivation are key attitudinal constructs that inform immediate and future student success in engineering. According to this research, success is determined by a student&#39;s ability to see themselves as the “kind of person” (Gee, 2000) who can competently complete engineering tasks and be recognized for them by others. In part, this ability requires students to see themselves in future roles that include engineering, identify present tasks, and see connections between their present and future selves in ways that motivate them to take specific steps to connect the present and future. Researchers and practitioners should support the attitudinal development of students to encourage these connections by improving their engineering curriculum design or developing out-of-class programming, as students who make connections between their present and future goals are more likely to achieve success in engineering. 

Students tend to participate in on- and off-campus activities to help develop their sense of belonging and conceptions of themselves as engineers. Within these activities, students are exposed and integrated into cultures of engineering that inform and develop their perceptions. Many of these activities are directly connected to engineering, though past work has included the idea that students also participate in engineering-adjacent activities. We are exploring students&#39; participation in engineering-adjacent activities and their perceptions of the role these activities play in their sense of belonging, identity development, and motivation related to engineering. 

We are currently recruiting engineering students at a mid-Atlantic university to participate in semi-structured interviews. After a saturation of fifteen to twenty students, we will purposefully sample eight to twelve students that capture a broad range of academic years and disciplines. During their interviews, participants will be asked to reflect on their goals for the future, share their present actions including involvement in engineering, engineering-adjacent, and non-engineering activities, and then connect their goals with their activities. Once interviews have been completed, we anticipate using deductive, thematic coding that applies a priori codes from our prior work with motivation and identity theories like future time perspective, expectancy value, and multiple identity. Our paper will describe the proposed research design and our future goals for this study.
AU  - Cassandra Sue Ellen Jamison
AU  - Justin Charles Major
AU  - Alexandra Mary Jackson
AU  - Cheryl A. Bodnar
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Work in Progress: Impacts of Engineering-Adjacent Participation On  Identity and Motivation in Engineering
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/44278
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44278
ER  -