Developing Nontechnical Professional Skills in African American Engineering Majors Through Co-Curricular Activities

Abstract

Contribution: This study contributes to efforts to diversify the field of engineering by studying the influence of cocurricular activities on African American students' development of key nontechnical professional skills.Background: The 21st Century workforce requires significant collaboration and communication. For engineering graduates to meet workforce challenges, they must graduate with nontechnical skills. This study operationalized these skills using traits identified in the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) "Engineer of 2020" report. The NAE also points to the urgent need for the United States to diversify its workforce; broadening the participation of African American engineers is key to doing so. Co-curricular activities help students develop nontechnical professional skills and are particularly important to African Americans at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Research Question: How do African American engineering students attending PWIs in the United States develop nontechnical professional skills through participation in ethnic-specific co-curricular activities?Methodology: This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of 16 participants from one of six engineering disciplines. Each participant was a member of at least one of the following organizations: a Black fraternity or sorority (termed Black Greek Letter organizations), their campus student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, or an institutionsponsored program for racially underrepresented students such as a minority engineering program.Findings: Data analysis revealed significant evidence that involvement in one or more of the studied ethnic-specific cocurricular activities enhanced African American engineering students' educational experiences by providing resources and opportunities to help them develop professional skills.

Co-curricular engagement among engineering undergrads: do they have the time and motivation?

“…Nor did they describe development of specific technical and professional competencies like those found in the literature (Carter et al, 2016 ; Shehata, 2015 ; Young et al, 2014 ). While studies have described specific competency development recognized by students through co-curriculars (e.g., Garrett et al, 2021 ), it is interesting that in our interviews, students were not more explicit about specific competencies.…”

“…Student clubs can lead to deep technical experience and industry-aligned practices, as well as effective communication and consideration of social and cultural context (Hinkle & Koretsky, 2019 ). Other studies focused on the co-curricular experiences of African American students reported gains in professional skills, such as teamwork, reflective behavior, and communication (Garrett et al, 2021 ; Young et al, 2014 ).…”

Examining how social networks influence women and under-represented minority students’ pursuit of engineering in university: when, who, and how?

“…In this study, we examined the critical role of social networks, relationships with alters 2 (influential individuals), and the knowledge and resources accessible through those relationships (Bourdieu, 1986;Lin, 2001) in influencing students' decisions to pursue engineering as an undergraduate degree major. The literature demonstrates that social networks provide women and URM students with access to relationships and crucial resources that help them make academic and career decisions and succeed in STEM higher education (Cooper et al, 2021;Dika et al, 2020;Garrett et al, 2021;Joshi et al, 2019;Rincón & Rodriguez, 2021;Shekhar & Huang-Saad, 2021;Solanki et al, 2019). However, women and URM students may not have sufficient access to necessary and relevant social networks (Lin, 1999;Martin et al, 2011) due to their historical exclusion from STEM fields, which were created to serve white men in the middle-to-upper social class (Frehill, 2004;Slaton, 2010).…”

The Effectiveness of Online Sports Co - Curricular Activities in Times of Covid 19

“…Emotional, physical, spiritual, and ethical development must be supplemented and accompanied by co-curricular activities for a child's whole development. Co-curricular activities are characterized as the activities that empower to supplement and complement the curricular or crucial syllabi exercises (Garrett et al, 2021). These are an imperative feature of educational institutions to form the students' identity as well as to invigorate classroom learning.…”