Evolution of a Student Transition and Success Program: Reflections on a 10 Year Journey

Abstract A lot has happened since 2012 – in society, in education, and in engineering student development program, called project! The Project started in 2012 at a large, mid-Atlantic, R1 institution and received NSF S-STEM funding beginning in 2016 and corporate sponsorship beginning in 2021. The program was designed around research-based strategies to support and retain talented, but underprepared (non-calculus-ready) and underrepresented first-time, full-time engineering undergraduate students with the intention of contributing to the diversification of the engineering workforce by increasing the number of graduating engineers 1, 2. This program has served over 100 students and provided financial support to 21 students through renewable NSF S-STEM scholarships. The Project first-year experience is composed of three elements: (1) a structured week-long summer bridge experience, (2) a fall professional development course, and (3) a spring "Engineering in History" course. Students also participate in several co-curricular activities related to their development as an engineering professional. During their first year, students have opportunities for interactions with other students, faculty, and engineering professionals through a variety of experiences. Students also have many opportunities for career exploration as well as significant academic and student success support. Opportunities are provided for upper-level Project students to interact with each year's new cohort. Based on the results of surveys, individual and focus group interviews, and student feedback, past research has focused on Project participants' feelings of institutional inclusion, engineering self-efficacy and identity, and their assessment of their own development of academic and professional success skills 1, 2. Past studies have reported support for the Kruger-Dunning Effect, "a cognitive bias in which unskilled people do not recognize their incompetence in specific areas and often overestimate their abilities" 3, 4, 5. Specifically, the students who ultimately left engineering before their second year tended to enter college with unrealistic expectations of the difficulty of the major, an underestimate of the time and effort demands needed to be successful, and an overestimate of their ability to succeed with little effort 2, 3, 5. This paper focuses on the evolution of the program throughout several time periods, lessons learned, and the observed effect of the various program modifications on student retention and persistence. It also provides insight regarding the most positively impactful and supportive programmatic elements from students who have completed or nearly completed their engineering degree and have persisted through the challenges of an engineering education, even with the additional complications and challenges of COVID. These insights will be shared with the engineering educational community to inform other, future programs. References 1 Paper presented at the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition proceedings, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. June 2018. 2 Paper presented at the 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference, Virtual Online. June 2020. 3 J. Kruger and D. Dunning, "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol 77. Pp.1121-1134. 2002. 4 Paper presented at the ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition proceedings. Tampa, FL, USA. June 2019. 5 Paper presented at the ASEE Virtual Conference proceedings, online. June 2020.