In this work-in-progress research paper, we explore key themes and patterns prevalent in definitions of thriving for undergraduate engineering students. Although there is growing research and acknowledgment of the breadth and complexity of thriving in engineering, the field has limited conceptual clarity regarding its range of definitions. Data for this research was collected from 47 engineering faculty and staff who are considered long-term members of the engineering education system who also play a vital role in creating environments conducive to thriving and forming relationships with students that facilitate thriving. Participants were asked to define engineering student thriving in an open-ended survey, where their responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. 29 codes emerged from the data, 18 of which align with prior research. 10 new codes emerged, relating to positive emotions (such as happy, excited, and passionate), learning (love of learning, growing, understanding and deep learning), wellbeing, identity, belongingness, and professional experiences. These findings highlight positive aspects of engineering thriving beyond the absence or reduction of suffering and hardship. Implications of these findings include developing measures with multi-dimensional focus and emphasizing the role of emotional support and identity development in engineering students.
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What Most Facilitates Thriving for Undergraduate Engineering Students? A Rank Order Investigation of Engineering Experts
This research paper explores engineering experts' perceptions of the most important factors of thriving for undergraduate engineering students. Faculty, staff, and members of the engineering education system play a vital role in creating environments, and forming relationships with students conducive to thriving. The study in this paper builds upon prior work on engineering thriving that identified 147 factors developed from a literature review, refined with expert consultation. Out of the long list of factors, little is known regarding the most important factors that can serve as a starting point for engineering experts with limited resources to create environments and relationships that support more thriving engineering students.
In this paper, we analyze ranked order data to investigate the most important internal thriving competencies. Participants include 47 engineering experts i.e., engineering administrators, professors, staff, and advisers. To find which competencies were perceived as most important to engineering thriving, each expert was asked to generate and define up to ten competencies that they considered to be most important, then rank these competencies in order of importance. During data analysis, ranked competencies were scored on a reverse ordinal points basis, with the most important rankings receiving 10 points and the least important rankings receiving 1 point.
Overall, the top five most important competencies were Communication/Listening Skills (overall score = 104), Help-seeking/ Resourcefulness (overall score = 104), Teamwork (overall score = 97), Time Management (overall score = 96), and Resilience (overall score = 95). Findings from this study highlight the importance of intrapersonal, social, and behavioral competencies, providing a starting point for future work developing a survey of thriving for engineering students. Furthermore, these findings provide a greater insight into which high-impact competencies engineering faculty, staff, and administrators can focus on when creating environments conducive to student thriving and interacting directly with students when teaching, supporting, advising, and mentoring.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1757371
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10384797
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE annual conference exposition proceedings
- ISSN:
- 2153-5868
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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