First-Year Students in Experiential Learning in Engineering Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This complete theory paper is a literature review that outlines the introduction of experiential learning in undergraduate engineering education. Using a population-intervention-comparison framework and PRISMA flow diagram, we investigated how experiential learning was implemented in undergraduate engineering education between 1995-2020. This paper is part of a larger review highlighting engineering education research findings that apply to the first-year experience.From a total of 220 studies that were synthesized, 45 studies purely involved first-year students and 39 studies pertained to a combination of first-year students and second-year to fourth-year students. These 84 studies examined what students learned in their first-year and addressed the nature of preparation and composition of students entering engineering. Experiential learning was mostly measured through the lens of student performance (89%) through different forms of evaluations including performance checks, surveys, and individual interviews. A second lens was faculty evaluations (7%) including instructors' observations, feedback, and reflections of students' performance and experience. Finally, a third lens was industry feedback (4%), obtained to inform capstone design courses where students work at industrial sites on company based projects with industry mentors.From our literature survey, we identified four key elements with corresponding insights that described successful implementation of experiential learning that might serve as consideration for future implementation for engineering educators and researchers. These four key insights include: 1.) Relevance and collaboration with stakeholders, students, academe, industry, and society, 2.) Students engagement and ownership, 3.) Scaffolding and integration across levels, and 4.) Importance of assessment.