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Educating Engineering Students Innovatively (EESI, pronounced "easy") is a student support program for sophomores to seniors enrolled in an engineering major offered at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. The program is designed to: (1) foster a sense of community, (2) improve students’ engineering skill sets, and (3) provide each student with their direct path of interest from college to the STEM workforce. Universities spend much effort to provide student support programs for first-year students, such as summer bridge programs. However, sometimes upper-level students are not offered the same level of support and can fall off the STEM pathway. Introducing experiential learning experiences centered on the safe space (or community) of students provides a model to address underrepresentation in the STEM workforce and graduate school. This case study of an experiential learning program will provide an option for universities to consider underrepresented minority upperclassmen retention methods. We will present data for students enrolled in an engineering major between 2018-2021, considering students' gender, first-generation, and financial status. This paper will report the results of four (4) different cohorts of EESI Scholars who completed at least one semester in the student support program. We compare the retention rates, persistence, and academic performance of EESI Scholars compared with students that did not participate in the student support program as one measure of the program's success. Then we provide the best practices of the experiential learning program that led to students' persistence at ***** University. This paper could assist other colleges that would like to ensure Black students, who have been historically underrepresented in STEM, persistence in their engineering programs.
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Introduction to engineering design graphics project supporting problem-based learning for students at-risk
All engineering schools in the United States are currently teaching some version of a design graphics course, since it is required by ABET. This project will explore the factors that affect program persistence, in order to create a curricular approach that will improve the student experience, particularly for at-risk, females, underrepresented minority, and first-generation college students. Our overall goal is to refine a transferable Problem-Based Learning framework to promote engineering persistence, academic success, and engagement. The authors feel that such efforts will support the retention of STEM students by addressing shortcomings of introductory STEM courses (i.e. Engineering Graphics).
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- Award ID(s):
- 1900348
- PAR ID:
- 10291244
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the annual midyear conference of the Engineering Design Graphics Division American Society for Engineering Education
- ISSN:
- 1949-5560
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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