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Building on prior studies that show a sense of belonging and community bolster student success, we developed a pilot program for computer engineering (CpE) and computer science (CS) undergraduates and their families that focused on building a sense of belonging and community supported by co-curricular and socioeconomic scaffolding. As a dually designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) – two types of federally designated Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) – with 55% of our undergraduates being first-generation students, we aimed to demonstrate the importance of these principles for underrepresented and first-generation students. Using a student cohort model (for each incoming group of students) and also providing supports to build community across cohorts as well as including students’ families in their college experiences, our program aimed to increase student satisfaction and academic success. We recruited two cohorts of nine incoming students each across two years, 2019 and 2020; 69% of participants were from underrepresented racial or minority groups and 33% were women. Each participant was awarded an annual scholarship and given co-curricular support including peer and faculty mentoring, a dedicated cohort space for studying and gathering, monthly co-curricular activities, enhanced tutoring, and summer bridge and orientation programs. Students’ families were also included in the orientation and semi-annual meetings. The program has resulted in students exceeding the retention rates of their comparison groups, which were undergraduates majoring in CpE and CS who entered college in the same semester as the cohorts; first- and second-year retention rates for participants were 83% (compared to 72%) and 67% (compared to 57%). The GPAs of participants were 0.35 points higher on average than the comparison group and, most notably, participants completed 50% more credits than their comparison groups, on average. In addition, 9 of the 18 scholars (all of the students who wanted to participate) engaged in summer research or internships. In combination, the cohort building, inclusion of families, financial literacy education and support, and formal and informal peer and faculty mentoring have correlated with increased academic success. The cohorts are finishing their programs in Spring 2023 and Spring 2024, but data up to this point already show increases in GPA, course completion, and retention and graduation rates, with three students having already graduated early, within three and a half years. The findings from this study are now being used to expand the successful parts of the program and inform university initiatives, with the PI serving on campus-wide STEM pipeline committee aiming to recruit, retain, and support more STEM students at the institution.
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This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2025
Work in Progress: Development of a Bootcamp for Freshman Student Success During COVID-19 Transition
Assessment results show that passing rates in introductory courses and retention rates of first year students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of X, a predominantly Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), significantly dropped with the onset of COVID-19. These results and trends highlight the academic preparation of incoming students, particularly the new cohort of underrepresented Hispanic students from underserved and challenged communities in the region, who may not have the necessary skills (e.g., adaptability, persistence, and performance) for the rigor of engineering education. To address this challenge, an onboarding “boostcamp” was created for incoming and transfer students to bridge the transition from secondary education to higher education. The boostcamp primes students to overcome academic deficiencies, develop a critical skills portfolio, learn problem-solving techniques, build a sustainable community of mentoring support with faculty and students, and gain a template to sustain academic and professional success during their undergraduate education. The paper presents the boostcamp's design process steps, including curricular analysis, identification of areas for improvement, skills inventory, and blueprinting, as well as its initial implementation in the mechanical engineering program. The boostcamp was organized over a week and featured hands-on engineering activities, faculty and student talks, and engineering lab tours. It was based on a design thinking approach and structured around Challenge-based Instruction, innovation, design, and mentoring. Daily activities focused on promoting critical thinking, assertiveness in the face of adversity, informed decision-making, and task prioritization. Results indicate that the boostcamp increased student confidence and established a valuable network system among participants. Future work will focus on expanding the boostcamp to include students from other engineering and computer science departments and developing a template for other institutions with similar challenges.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2217780
- PAR ID:
- 10544833
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE Conferences
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, Oregon
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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