First-year Engineering Student Expectations and Experiences: Community, College, and Curriculum

This is an evidence-based practice paper whose purpose is to analyze the impact of servicelearning in a first-year engineering course on students who choose to enroll in these sections. The paper will also look at the level of engagement the students experience and their connection to an urban community. Past literature revealed that students understand an engineering design process better when the practice is implemented in a service learning environment. The focus of this research is to see if these findings hold true at Northeastern University, if service learning efforts have enhanced or detracted from students’ engineering education as a whole in comparison to their non-service learning peers, and if the practices and outcomes of these sections create new trajectories and plans for students, specifically whether it enhances future involvement in community outreach efforts.