Identifying Sources of Information That Students Use in Deciding Which Engineering Major to Pursue

Abstract

Raised in South Florida, born in Mexico. Half Colombian and half Mexican; proud Mexilombian. Héctor is currently pursuing an MS in Computer Engineering and a PhD in Engineering Education, both from Purdue University. His research interests are in investigating the LGBTQ+ community with relation to STEM. He's an avid videographer, eater of tasty food, moped enthusiast, and user/tweaker of computers. His research interests are focused on the practice and teaching of process design, simulation and control and also on faculty and institutional development through engineering education research. Ms. S. Zahra Atiq, Purdue UniversityS. Zahra Atiq is a first-year PhD student at the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University and an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore -Pakistan. Her research interests include: computer science education specifically on teaching computer programming to undergraduates and how to improve their learning experiences. She is also interested in looking at studying student behavior and performance in online learning environments specifically MOOCs. Identifying sources of information that first year engineering students use in deciding which engineering major to pursue AbstractThis study explores the sources of information that first year engineering students use to decide which engineering major to pursue for their undergraduate studies. The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to understand how students make an informed decision of which engineering major to pursue and (2) to help the First Year Engineering (FYE) program administration improve the informational resources they provide the students. This study was framed within the FYE population of a large Midwestern university and was commissioned by the FYE program.FYE administration conducts regular student surveys for feedback and improvement purposes. We analyzed different survey data collected over a period of one year and found out that students identified "Self-Led Exploration of Engineering Disciplines" (SLE) as the single most important source of information in selecting a major. SLE is a broad, ill-defined term, which students may interpret differently. Hence, we developed a qualitative study to investigate how students perform SLE. We conducted individual interviews with 12 students enrolled in the FYE Program. These students were selected so that they were representative of the entire student population in terms of gender. The qualitative findings of this study reinforce that the students are basing their decision of a major using SLE. These findings also helped us unpack the meaning of SLE, and we further came up with 6 different types of SLE. Finally, our findings also indicated that direct interaction with people was highly valued by the students while selecting a major.

Challenges and Opportunities for Recruiting Students to Undergraduate Civil Engineering Programs

“…One recent study showed that approximately 70% of all first-year engineering students select a different engineering major at the end of their first year of engineering than they had originally intended 10 ; our survey of first-year non-civil engineering students indicated a similar number of non-civil engineering students having decided their major during their first year (65%). These results suggest that perhaps civil engineering students are, as a whole, more sure of their major choice (since fewer civil engineers switch majors during the first year than first-year engineering students as a whole).…”

“…Our survey to second-year students who chose civil engineering, indicated "Self-led Exploration" was one of the top influencers for their decision. This was introduced by Rodriguez-Simmons et al 10 . It is worth noting that 5 of the top 6 influencers listed were attributes of the person and/or civil engineering, while self-led exploration is really a method of discovery.…”

“…directly enrolling in specific engineering disciplines) and (b) students enrolling at engineering schools that have a first-year engineering program, after which they decide their engineering major. In the latter case, experiences during the first-year engineering program can largely shape their decisions; one study at a large Midwestern university with a first-year engineering program found that approximately 70% of students selected a different major at the end of their first year of engineering than they had originally intended 10 . Our own marketing survey, described later in this paper, confirms this result (65%), and this is an important conclusion from our work that motivates our focus on first-year engineers.…”

Assessing Gender Differences between Student Motivations for Studying Engineering

“…15 Other sources of information that students commonly use to decide on a discipline include personal exploration, peer discussion, and advice from professors. 16 Primary difference between majors in the first year have been classified for civil, environmental, and mechanical. Students entered civil engineering to build things, environmental engineering to help the environment, and mechanical engineering because they like math and science.…”

Enhancing Curriculum in a First-Year Introduction to Engineering Course to Assist Students in Choice of Major

“…Similar to first-year courses at other engineering schools [1][2][3] , the various disciplines have typically been presented to the students through department seminars in which faculty from each of the engineering departments give presentations to students. Our department is currently re-vamping the Introduction to Engineering course and has added some activities to see if it would help students decide their choice of major within the first semester or year rather than later in the student's engineering program.…”