The Struggle to Belong and Thrive

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Sense of Belonging in Higher Education for STEM Students in the United States and Mexico

“…This correlation supports other studies showing that students who feel less connected with their academic environment and community are more likely to struggle to learn new topics about their major, affecting their sense of belonging and ability development [7]. Engineering educators should be aware that some of their post-pandemic students may be struggling to keep track of their course material due to their poor development of a sense of belonging and a lack of identification with their academic community [29,30]. This could ultimately negatively affect their learning abilities and interest in making an extra effort to perform better in their college courses [33].…”

“…Prior research has found a positive relationship between students' sense of belonging at the course level and their academic motivation [28], as well as between students' sense of belonging and their performance at the course level [7]. The literature suggests that characteristics of the learning environment, such as academic, pedagogical, and social interactions, could foster students' sense of belonging in their courses [29], and interactions between students and their professors could have a positive effect on students' sense of belonging in their college courses [30]. It is, therefore, important to consider how interactions are fostered and supported in academic contexts, as these variables characterize the learning environment that affects students' comfort and emotional security in their courses [31].…”

“…Six independent variables were considered for the model: X1) connecting to peers/colleagues, X2) connecting to instructors, X3) connecting to teaching assistants/mentors, X4) connecting to other engineering groups, X5) online classes affecting learning, and X6) gender. These six independent variables were considered as possible influential factors in the participants' sense of belonging level according to the previously established theory [7,29,30]. Using these variables, regression models were created for each of the two study sites.…”

Specifications Grading at Scale: Improved Letter Grades and Grading-Related Interactions in a Course with over 1,000 Students

“…A curve creates a competitive environment in which higher letter grades are artificially treated as scarce resources that students earn by outperforming their peers. 69 In addition, implementing a curve is based on the assumption that student performance will follow a normal distribution without consideration of the external cultural and social pressures that contribute to letter grade scores. 70 A normal distribution should not necessarily arise when comparing student work, even if the student population in a given course is large.…”

Building a Functional Cardiograph Over Four Semesters, Part 3: Estimating Heart Rate and Respiration Rate in the Time and Frequency Domains Using MATLAB

“…This increased sense of belonging to the engineering community may also contribute to persistence in the program. In their follow-up ethnographic study, Seymour and Hunter observed that 52% of switchers were negatively affected by their difficulties in developing a sense of belonging to their STEM program [27]. It was encouraging that most students (63%) were excited to complete the project and have a finished cardiograph.…”