Relationship Between Students' Engineering Identity, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Directed Learning and Participation in Engineering Education Enrichment

• In Event: AERA Virtual Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Informal Learning Environments Research SIG Poster Session

Abstract

The development of engineering skills through co-curricular activities and certain social-psychological traits (engineering identity, self-efficacy, and self-directed learning) are important for preparing engineering students for the workplace. Studies typically relate co-curricular program participation to enhancement of such traits. Here, those traits are used as predictors of participation to give insights for recruitment of target student populations. The Engineering Education Enrichment (e3 Initiative) program includes industry-guided design projects, industry-recognized certifications, and entrepreneurship training. To examine whether students with higher engineering identity, self-efficacy, and self-directed learning are more likely to participate, a survey was administered in Fall 2020 to invited engineering undergraduates (N=117). After controlling for gender and first-generation status, preliminary findings from logistic regressing indicate that self-directed learning predicts participation.

Authors

• Hengameh Bayat, New Mexico State University

• Hannah Huvard, New Mexico State University

• Catherine E. Brewer, New Mexico State University

• Sandra M. Way, New Mexico State University