Student Voices: Service Learning In Core Engineering Courses

Abstract

Undergraduate engineering students were asked about their views of the principal benefits attributable to service-learning (S-L) dispersed through core required courses through surveys, interviews, and focus groups. As S-L continues to become a significant part of the communityengagement movement in higher education, and as more university professors are encouraged to incorporate S-L activities in their course requirements, it is essential that educators build an understanding of what students gain with S-L and that they give students a voice in their own educational process and in the community. The service-learning (S-L) program SLICE (Service-Learning Integrated throughout a College of Engineering), based within the Francis College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, began as a curricular reform initiative designed to sequentially infuse S-L throughout engineering curriculum as a broad approach to promote development of better engineers, more engaged citizens, along with engineering the common good in communities. Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, and Plastics Engineering departments within the college integrated S-L activities into 192 course offerings (5 intro, 65 ME, 32 EE, 47 CE, 31 PlE, 12 ChE) across the last five years that involved an average of 753 undergraduate students each semester carrying out S-L projects. Half of the faculty has been involved.In order to discover student views about S-L activities in engineering courses, and to better understand why students seem more motivated to learn with S-L, administration of 399 pre-S-L surveys and 458 post-S-L surveys were conducted with freshmen students; 526 post S-L student surveys at the end of the 2009 academic year; and 100 interviews, including some focus groups with undergraduate students and 5 alumni in 2009. Based on overall quantitative and qualitative data, students reported that S-L provided an important element of their education that encourages deepened and meaningful learning benefits. The outcomes are based on the total number of participants that responded to surveys across five years, as well as interviews, and focus groups. In short, engineering student voices are calling for more S-L projects integrated into core courses, for more direct community interactions, for meaning to what they are studying, and for empowerment to provide useful service to the community at all levels in their studies.

Service-based First-year Engineering Projects: Do They Make a Difference?

“…12,13 Several programs also report that participation in service-learning positively impacts students' determination to continue in engineering (retention) or was a factor in selecting the program (recruitment). 10,14,15 Specifically, Duffy (2009) found that consistently over 60% of students surveyed from year to year at the University of Massachusetts Lowell indicated that engagement in service-learning helped them stay in engineering; females were significantly more likely to agree with this sentiment. 14 First-year students' belief in the usefulness of engineering has been positively correlated to their plans on choosing a career in engineering.…”

What Do Students Think About Service-learning in Required Engineering Courses?

“…The goal was to have students exposed to S-L in on average one course in each of eight semesters during their engineering program with an overarching aim to graduate better engineers and more engaged citizens. Previous papers have summarized earlier results [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] .…”