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 »
Effects of High Impact Educational Practices on Engineering and Computer Science Student Participation, Persistence, and Success at Land Grant Universities
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 how and why students participate in HIEP and how participation
affects their persistence and success in engineering and more »
- Award ID(s):
- 1927218
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10355058
- Journal Name:
- 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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