• AC 2009-213: A Cross-Institutional Comparison of Educational Factors Promoting or Discouraging the Intent to Remain in Engineering
• Peggy Meszaros, Virginia Tech and
• Catherine Amelink, Virginia Tech

A student’s motivation to engage in the learning process is a major element affecting student learning (Crone, 2007; McClellan, 2008). Recent discussions have focused on transforming engineering education so that students are actively engaged in the learning process and thereby more likely to successfully complete a degree (Chen, Lattuca, & Hamilton, 2008). Despite the attention given to examining student engagement in their educational experience, few studies have explored what motivates engineering undergraduates to accomplish their educational goals (Coles, 1990). This study looks at factors that encourage or discourage engineering undergraduates from continuing in an engineering program. Differences by gender and institutional type among factors that encourage or discourage motivation to remain in engineering programs are also explored.

A mixed-method approach was used to examine these research questions. An online questionnaire administered to students in schools or colleges of engineering at 9 institutions (N=1679) provides the data for this study. Engineering schools with above average and below average graduation rates of undergraduate women in engineering were used for this study. In addition, qualitative data was gathered through interviews and focus groups with engineering faculty, undergraduate students and key administrators during a campus visit.

Findings provide insight to retention issues across engineering colleges and influences of gender on retention. Across institutional type and gender, salary potential and future employment opportunities are influential factors encouraging retention among both male and female engineering undergraduates. Further, females identified peer support as important while males cited enjoyment of engineering subject matter among the factors encouraging them to remain in an engineering degree program. Discouraging elements of the educational experience included amount of time required for engineering coursework, competition in engineering courses, and grades. Qualitative data associated with the study further illuminate major factors that encourage the persistence of female and male undergraduates to attain a degree in engineering, including access to faculty and experiences with group work.

Results counter common assumptions that incentives for students differ by gender and males may benefit more than females from competitive classroom environments. In addition, findings point to the importance of how group work is structured and the manner in which peer support is provided. Practitioners can utilize results to shape the educational experiences of both male and female undergraduates to positively impact retention and persistence to degree.

Denice Dee Denton (27 August 1959 – 24 June 2006) was a professor of electrical engineering and an academic administrator. She held academic appointments at both the University of Massachusetts and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. In 1996, Denice became the first women engineering dean at a major research institution with her appointment to lead the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. In 2003 at the age of 45, Denice D. Denton became the youngest person to be appointed chancellor in the University of California system at UC-Santa Cruz. Women engineering faculty will forever remember Denice for what she achieved as she paved the way for acceptance of women as engineering academic leaders.