The Relationship of Learning Communities to Engineering Students' Perceptions of the Freshman Year Experience, Academic Performance, and Persistence

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Tolley, P. (2009). The Relationship of Learning Communities to Engineering Students' Perceptions of the Freshman Year Experience, Academic Performance, and Persistence. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the effects of a residential learning community and enrollment in an introductory engineering course to engineering students' perceptions of the freshman year experience, academic performance, and persistence. The sample included students enrolled in a large, urban, public, research university in the fall semesters of 2005-2007. Students' perceptions regarding their choice of major, sense of community, the learning environment, academic advising, and competencies required by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (2009) were operationalized using items from the College of Engineering annual student survey. Incoming characteristics of predicted grade index and level of parental education were incorporated into the study. Structural equation modeling was used to test the goodness-of-fit of the sample data to two hypothesized models that represented competing theories or conceptualizations of the freshman year experience. A hierarchical logistic regression was also conducted to predict re-enrollment in the College of Engineering in the second semester of the sophomore year. Results indicated that neither learning community influenced students' perceptions of the freshman year experience or sophomore year retention despite historical data that consistently demonstrate the positive effect of the residential learning community on freshman year retention rates. Of the variables considered, only students' perceptions of the major had a moderate direct effect on both outcomes. Parental education level and academic performance were also significant predictors of persistence. Of particular interest was the finding that students whose parents had not earned a four-year college degree were more than twice as likely to persist in the College of Engineering than their peers who had a least one college-educated parent.

Details
Author

Tolley, Patricia

Title

The Relationship of Learning Communities to Engineering Students' Perceptions of the Freshman Year Experience, Academic Performance, and Persistence

Physical Description

1 online resource (140 pages) : PDF

Date

2009

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the effects of a residential learning community and enrollment in an introductory engineering course to engineering students' perceptions of the freshman year experience, academic performance, and persistence. The sample included students enrolled in a large, urban, public, research university in the fall semesters of 2005-2007. Students' perceptions regarding their choice of major, sense of community, the learning environment, academic advising, and competencies required by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (2009) were operationalized using items from the College of Engineering annual student survey. Incoming characteristics of predicted grade index and level of parental education were incorporated into the study. Structural equation modeling was used to test the goodness-of-fit of the sample data to two hypothesized models that represented competing theories or conceptualizations of the freshman year experience. A hierarchical logistic regression was also conducted to predict re-enrollment in the College of Engineering in the second semester of the sophomore year. Results indicated that neither learning community influenced students' perceptions of the freshman year experience or sophomore year retention despite historical data that consistently demonstrate the positive effect of the residential learning community on freshman year retention rates. Of the variables considered, only students' perceptions of the major had a moderate direct effect on both outcomes. Parental education level and academic performance were also significant predictors of persistence. Of particular interest was the finding that students whose parents had not earned a four-year college degree were more than twice as likely to persist in the College of Engineering than their peers who had a least one college-educated parent.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Engineering
Mathematics--Study and teaching
Curriculum planning

Degree

Ph.D.

Keywords

ABET
First-Year Experience
Freshman Engineering
Learning Communities
Retention
Social Learning

Subject Area

Curriculum & Instruction

Advisor(s)

Royster, David

Committee Members

Flowers, Claudia
Pugalee, David
Sharer, Deborah

Degree Note

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2009.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Tolley_uncc_0694D_10033

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:780