Polytechnic Students' Aspirations, Interests, and Confidence: Case Study on Students' Understanding of and Reasoning for Major Selection

This case study explores the conceptions held by first year polytechnic students at Purdue Polytechnic New Albany related to technology majors. Specifically, this research examines how technology students define Mechanical Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology, and Computer Graphics Technology majors, their confidence in their given definitions, and the future job titles they associate with technology majors. The data for the study was collected from survey responses of 34 polytechnic students in a fall 2016 gateway to technology course. Qualitative data (i.e. structured survey text) was analyzed using NVivo® to identify themes, trends and patterns in the students’ responses. Quantitative data (i.e. scaled responses) was analyzed by common statistical software and methods (i.e. frequency, mean, standard deviation, etc.). Results of the study show that the primary factor cited by students in choosing a major was interest in the discipline-specific subject matter. It was also found that most students associate technology majors with the process of design. These findings can be used by technology programs to re-design recruitment efforts in a manner that addresses the uncertainty and misconceptions held by incoming students. Thus helping them to better align their aspirations and interests for the future with an academic major. Introduction: In response to documented demand for engineering and technology graduates [1], a variety of studies have been conducted with the aim of better understanding why students choose to enroll in specific engineering programs. Most of these efforts have looked at the motivations of students already enrolled in engineering schools. A rich understanding of student motivation as it relates to their choice of college major has been established. One commonly held belief is that students choose to enroll in engineering and technology majors based on what they envision their career to be, a view supported by a variety of studies that have found evidence for behavior as a motivational construct for pursuing engineering (i.e. that students choose engineering and technology majors because they want careers where they build things, fix things, and solve problems). For example, Watson et al (2015) found that among first year civil engineers a drive to make/build things, the desire to be technically challenged, and a general interest in the field were the top three reasons cited by the students (among 10) for choosing engineering [5]. Other reasons students give for choosing engineering majors include an aptitude and enjoyment of science and math [2], [3] and high starting salaries [2]. However, in investigating methods to improve enrollment rates, it may be more instructive to look at reasons students chose either not to enroll in or to leave an engineering major. The majority of research in this area points to a general lack of understanding of engineering as a career. A community college research program designed to increase enrollment at Arizona State University found that “Not Interesting” and “Not Aware of Job Opportunities” were among the top three reasons given when non-engineers who participated in an outreach program were asked to indicate the factors as to why they did not choose engineering [2]. Similarly, a study of engineering persisters (those who graduated from engineering schools) versus switchers (students who changed degree to non-engineering) showed that both groups had a fairly limited knowledge of the profession and any knowledge had was almost entirely based on engineers they