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From the Students' Point of View: Experiences in a Freshman Engineering Design Course
Author(s) -
Courter Sandra Shaw,
Millar Susan B.,
Lyons Lyman
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of engineering education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.896
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 2168-9830
pISSN - 1069-4730
DOI - 10.1002/j.2168-9830.1998.tb00355.x
Subject(s) - interview , context (archaeology) , engineering education , set (abstract data type) , course (navigation) , point (geometry) , qualitative research , psychology , mathematics education , engineering , medical education , computer science , engineering management , sociology , medicine , mathematics , paleontology , social science , geometry , anthropology , biology , programming language , aerospace engineering
We evaluated the pilot semester of a freshman introduction to engineering course in order to provide an understanding of the students' experience in the course and identify aspects of this experience that could lead to improved student retention in engineering. The course concentrates on having students work in teams to identify customer needs, find solutions, and design and build a final product. We used qualitative research methods for data collection and analysis that included interviewing students using a set of open‐ended questions, thus allowing them to introduce issues and describe their experiences. Our analysis indicated that students experienced engineering in a supportive, team‐oriented environment that provided a context for making informed career decisions. The students' experiences indicate that courses such as this one can help students face the challenges they encounter in beginning their engineering education.