Effects of High Impact Educational Practices on Engineering and Computer Science Student Participation, Persistence, and Success at Land Grant Universities: Award# RIEF-1927218 – Year 2 Abstract Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), this project aims to investigate and identify associations (if any) that exist between student participation in High Impact Educational Practices (HIP) and their educational outcomes in undergraduate engineering and computer science (E/CS) programs. To understand the effects of HIP participation among E/CS students from groups historically underrepresented and underserved in E/CS, this study takes place within the rural, public university context at two western land grant institutions (one of which is an Hispanic-serving institution). Conceptualizing diversity broadly, this study considers gender, race and ethnicity, and first-generation, transfer, and nontraditional student status to be facets of identity that contribute to the diversity of academic programs and the technical workforce. This sequential, explanatory, mixed-methods study is guided by the following research questions: 1. To what extent do E/CS students participate in HIP? 2. What relationships (if any) exist between E/CS student participation in HIP and their educational outcomes (i.e., persistence in major, academic performance, and graduation)? 3. How do contextual factors (e.g., institutional, programmatic, personal, social, financial, etc.) affectmore »
This content will become publicly available on August 23, 2023
Effects of High Impact Educational Practices on Engineering and Computer Science Student Participation, Persistence, and Success at Land Grant Universities – Year 2
The science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce contributes to
the U.S. economy by supporting 67% of jobs and 69% of the gross domestic product [1].
Currently, there is an increased demand for engineering and computer science (E/CS)
professionals, particularly those from underrepresented (e.g., gender, racial, ethnic) and
underserved (socio-economic, geographically isolated) groups who bring diversity of thought
and experience to the national E/CS workforce [2]. Correspondingly, educational institutions are
called upon to develop capabilities to attract, engage, and retain students from these diverse
backgrounds in E/CS programs of study.
To encourage and enable diverse students to opt into and persist within E/CS programs of
study, there is a critical need to engage students in supportive and enriching opportunities from
which to learn and grow. The importance of student engagement for promoting student growth
and development has been researched to such an extent that its utility is widely agreed upon [5].
Importantly, it has been shown that both academic and extracurricular aspects of a student’s
learning processes are characterized by engagement [6]. High Impact Educational Practices
(HIP) provide useful opportunities for deep student engagement and, thus, positively influence
student retention and persistence [4]. Kuh [3] identified eleven curricular and extracurricular HIP
(i.e., collaborative assignments and projects, common intellectual experiences, eportfolios, first
year seminars and experiences, global learning more »
- Award ID(s):
- 1927218
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10355051
- Journal Name:
- 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Despite efforts to attract and retain more students in engineering and computer science — particularly women and students from underrepresented groups — diversity within these educational programs and the technical workforce remains stubbornly low. Research shows that undergraduate retention, persistence, and success in college is affected by several factors, including sense of belonging, task value, positive student-faculty interactions, school connectedness, and student engagement [1], [2]. Kuh [1] found that improvement in persistence, performance, and graduation for students in college were correlated to students’ level of participation in particular activities known as high impact educational practices (HIEP). HIEP include, among others, culminating experiences, learning communities, service learning, study abroad, and undergraduate research; Kuh [1] concluded that these activities may be effective at promoting overall student success. Kuh [1] and others [3] further hypothesized that participation in HIEP may especially benefit students from non-majority groups. Whether and how engineering and computer science students benefit from participating in HIEP and whether students from non-majority groups have access to HIEP activities, however, remain as questions to investigate. In this project, we examine engineering and computer science student participation in HIEP at two public land grant institutions. In this study, we seek to understand howmore »
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