Student Attitudes to Engagement – a case study of engineering programmes

1. Student Attitudes to Engagement – a case study of engineering programmes Margaret Morgan and PearseO’Gorman School of Engineering

2. School of Engineering Main programmes: MEng\BEng Hons BSc Hons 834 FTEs Clean Technology Biomedical Engineering Electronic Engineering MechatronicEngineering Engineering Management Mechanical Engineering Sports Technology Technology with Design • HESA: mechanical/production / • manufacturing engineering ~ 33% of student numbers

3. Rationale How we might engage our students more effectively? retention Engagement NSS results

4. Approach • Questionnaire – closed and free response • Heller1 and CASEE2 • All years were surveyed – response rate 51% • Student Focus groups Investigate what could be done improve ‘engagement’ • Heller, R et al, Student and Faculty Perceptions of Engagement in Engineering, Journal of Engineering Education, 2010 • Bjorkland, S.,andFortenberry, N., Measuring Faculty and Student Engagement in Engineering Education, CASEE Report • 5902001-20050705

5. Survey Results Students’ familiarity with the term ‘engagement’

6. Lecturer views on a fully engaged student • attend all timetabled classes, prepared, on time and contribute enthusiastically in class discussion. • occupy themselves with purposeful activities when they are not in class. • devote at least 35 hrs per week to their studies inclusive of class contact time.

7. Students’ perception of their participation levels 85% considered that they participated fully in their studies 65% believed that attending all timetabled classes is important

8. How many hours do students spend on their studies outside timetabled classes? • Typical class contact (hours): 18 – First Year • 18 – Second Year • 15 – Final Year

9. Perceived benefit and enjoyment Enjoyable (fun) activities tend to improve participation Small lecture Laboratory/Workshop Engineering Assignments Tutorial Team projects Large lecture Management assignments Oral Presentations

10. Easy to learn situations/activities

11. Three things that SEng should do to enhance student participation? Free responses were categorised into five main areas: • Relating theory to professional practice • Lecturer attributes • Programmeorganisation • Team working • e-Learning opportunities

13. Focus Groups • Validate free responses • Explore what students believe would enhance their engagement • Two groups with 8 students per group – balanced representation across the two programmes and across all years • Groups asked to address those main categories identified for improvement

14. Material is more interesting when we see its relevance. Lecturers should relate lecture material using real-life examples/anecdotes. Assignments and exercises should be related to ‘real’ engineering. 1. Real-life assignments, engineering activities Science and maths is easier to understand when we see where it is used in everyday situations. • Company visits • to see what engineering is about • what jobs engineers do.

15. Good if he/she can relate classroom material to real-life engineering problems. Like to feel that our lecturers care about us and make an effort to be helpful. • Humorous 2. Lecturer attributes • Approachable, available outside class and provides good feedback on our assignments. Classes are more interesting if the lecturer uses a variety of media, e.g. videos, software, demonstrations. We like a lecturer that encourages interaction and allows us to ask questions.

16. We would prefer 3 reasonably busy days per week. • Our timetables sometimes don’t seem to take account of the expense of travelling to Uni or accommodating a part-time job. • 10 am starts are better than 9 am as rush-hour is avoided. 3. Programme Organisation Fewer large lectures. Not good for asking questions and whenever questions are asked they tend to break the flow. Easier to learn where there is a clear link between the lecture and tutorial class. • Class duration: 2 hours max. Ideally an hour long and no more than an hour gap between classes.

17. We like ‘shared experience’ of working together in small group tutorial. Makes you feel part of a team. Enjoyable – provided we have clear outline of what’s expected. • Good if all team members contribute equally. 4. Team-working Put good students together in groups. We see the benefit of ‘team-work’ for industry. We don’t like group work in final year.

18. Make notes available on a week-by week basis. • Notes available beforehand to ease notetaking. 5. e-Learning Podcasts would let us access information and revise whenit suits us. Specialist engineering software should be available somewhere we can socialise together informally.

19. Thank you