Student Perceptions and Attitudes Towards a Required vs. an Optional Course in Leadership

For almost ten years, the majority of students in the College of Engineering and Technology at Brigham Young University have been required to take a sophomore level leadership foundations course focused on leadership principles, ethics, and global issues. The course is part of an overall leadership framework whereby students are introduced to the importance of leadership as freshmen, learn foundational leadership principles as sophomores, and practice these principles as juniors and seniors. The leadership foundations course is required for graduation by 7 of 10 programs within the College of Engineering and Technology. Students external to the college also participate in the course as it fulfills two general education requirements for graduation. As a result, the college teaches approximately 12 sections each academic year averaging 60-80 students per section. Approximately 10-15% of student course participants are external to the college. In this paper a survey is presented of 163 students initially enrolled in the leadership foundations course regarding their perceptions and attitudes towards leadership. Results include a comparison of students who are required to take the course and those for whom it is optional. No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups of students except for their expectation regarding workload. The engineering and technology students expected the leadership foundations course to be easier, relative to their other classes, than the nonengineering and technology group. In general, both sets of students had high expectations for the course and expressed positive attitudes towards learning about leadership. For example, students in both groups indicated they felt learning about leadership was somewhat more important than learning the skills of their discipline.