Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Engineering students study'

The General Engineering Program exists at Virginia Tech to provide curriculums that engage, challenge and support entry-level engineers. One important part of this initiative is helping students identify with a specific engineering branch, and overtime develop an identity within it. Yet, there exists little research on what entry-level engineers believe it means to be an engineer, especially during these stages of early formation and continual shifting. In order to generate insight on this topic we developed a contextual inquiry method to help inquire into engineering identity. Two participants were placed in an online chatroom and allowed to talk for ten minutes, with one trying to answer the question 'Am I talking to an engineer or not?' and asked to give their reasoning. Comparisons allow entry-level engineering students to articulate their beliefs on what characteristics, behaviors and personalities make up their cohort -- thus exposing their ideas about identity. Moreover, this methodology also provides opportunities for participants to critique their own bias and further develop and expose their opinions on identity. Additionally, our findings showcase the complexity around student's perceptions of engineers. For example, participants' responses pointed to: many sources that inform identity, the difficulty of identifying what is uniquely engineering, how identity is impacted by the ideal image of an engineer, that identity is a spectrum, and that identity varies with respect to associations and time. As a result, through our inquiry and representation of results we demonstrate the validity of our methodology as a HCI research tool along with the power of narrative forms of representation.
Master of Science
The General Engineering Program exists at Virginia Tech to provide curriculums that engage, challenge and support entry-level engineers. One important part of this initiative is helping students identify with a specific type of engineering, and overtime develop an identity within it. Yet, there exists little research on what entry-level engineers believe it means to be an engineer, especially during their freshmen year of college when they are still forming and changing their ideas about engineering identity. In order to generate insight on this topic we developed a methodology to help inquire into engineering identity. Two participants at a time were placed in an online chatroom and allowed to talk for ten minutes, with one trying to answer the question ‘Am I talking to an engineer or not?’ and asked to give their reasoning. Comparisons allow entry-level engineering students to articulate their beliefs on what characteristics, behaviors and personalities make up their cohort -- thus exposing their ideas about identity. Moreover, this methodology also provides opportunities for participants to critique their own assumptions about engineering identity and further develop and expose their opinions on identity. Additionally, our findings showcase the complexity around student’s perceptions of engineers. For example, participants’ responses pointed to: many sources that inform identity, the difficulty of identifying what is uniquely engineering, how identity is impacted by the ideal image of an engineer, that identity is a spectrum, and that identity varies with respect to associations and time. As a result, through our inquiry and representation of results we demonstrate the validity of our methodology as a Human Computer Interaction research tool along with the power of using written stories to represent results.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 3, 2009) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Mathematics permeates almost every aspect of human life and it is a skill much needed by the increasingly complex technological world. It is necessary that this essential skill must be properly developed among students to prepare them for future academic and professional careers. An assessment of the research-based instructional strategies blending with old traditional methods with the modern technological development is a must. Due to the complexity of mathematics learning and the varied learning styles of learners, an integration of appropriate multiple instructional strategies into mathematics education will positively impact mathematical achievement of students. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of the use of Integrated Technologies Instructional Method (ITIM) as a supplement to the traditional lecture method on mathematics achievement of the Integral Calculus students at the College of Engineering, University of Ha'il, Saudi Arabia. The ITIM includes the four instructional strategies such as the use of the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, the collaborative learning, the bilingual support and the study support. Different types of academic supports have been used to examine their effects on students achievement in mathematics. Mathematics, the bedrock of science and engineering, is considered a very important indicator of a student's academic success in professional higher education. Undergraduate engineering students' low achievement in the first year mathematics is an issue demands much attention. The study was undertaken to address students' weak background in mathematics and particularly their high failure rates in this particular course. A total of 218 undergraduate engineering students, comprising of both the experimental and the control groups, were involved in this experimental design study. The control group was taught by the traditional lecture method whereas the experimental group was exposed to the ITIM as a supplement to the traditional lecture method. Apart from the effects of the use of ITIM, students' performance in the previous courses (covariates) such as mathematics, computer, and the English language were compared with their final grades of the Integral Calculus course. The final grades of students were taken as the dependent variable and the ITIM and students' scores in the previous courses as the independent variables. It has been noticed from the literature review that the application of only one instructional strategy does not address the needs of the diverse learning styles of students. A mixed mode method, quantitative and qualitative, was used to collect and analyse data. The quantitative data instruments included students' final exam grades and the student questionnaires. Interviews with students were used as qualitative tools of data collection. An independent t-test, ANOVA, univariate analysis and the stepwise multiple regression analysis were performed to determine the overall statistical significance. The study concluded that there was a statistically significant difference in the performance of the experimental group of students' in terms of their end-of-course grades compared to that of the control group. The regression model revealed significance of covariates on the dependent variable. However, no significant relationship was found between the mathematics achievement and attitudes towards the use of ITIM. The study was an attempt to demonstrate the suitability of the instructional strategies on the bilingual Arab undergraduate engineering students; however, they can probably be applicable to other bilingual students.

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate engineering self-efficacy measures for undergraduate students (N = 321) and to examine whether students' engineering self-efficacy differed by gender, year level, and major. The relationships between engineering self-efficacy and academic achievement and intent to persist in engineering were also investigated. Data from engineering students from two southeastern universities were collected in spring 2013. Exploratory factor analyses resulted in a unidimensional general engineering self-efficacy scale and a three-factor (i.e., research skills, tinkering skills, and engineering design) engineering skills self-efficacy scale. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that self-efficacy did not differ by gender or year level. Students in different engineering sub disciplines reported different levels of tinkering self-efficacy. Multiple regression analysis showed that engineering self-efficacy measures predicted academic achievement outcomes but not intent to persist in engineering. Engineering self-efficacy significantly contributed to the prediction of achievement after controlling for prior achievement. Research funded by the National Science Foundation, EEC Award No.1240328.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University
The influx of international graduate students in science and engineering to the U.S. has changed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The implementation of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) and related F-1 visa policies have required a higher level of scrutiny of the student visa procedures, and introduced strict student monitoring policies and measures. In addition, the SEVIS monitoring and compliance system has altered the operation of international student service offices, affected the students they serve, and the operation of the universities enrolling international students. This study investigated the effects of SEVIS on graduate programs in science and engineering and their students. Information was gathered from respondents from the 60 universities having the highest population of intemational students in these fields, according to NSF. Respondents included department administrators, admissions officials, and SEVIS professionals. Data V111 were collected from 75 on-line survey respondents and in 21 semi-structured interviews. The results of this study suggest that many international students are negatively affected by SEVIS, impacting their ability to remain in-status and to understand how the system works. To counter this, department administrators, SEVIS professionals, and student advisors have increased their level of support for these students, providing them guidance on how to remain in-status and how to improve their social and academic experience in the United States. As a result, relatively few international students are deported for falling out-of-status in SEVIS. The data also made clear that program administrators and admissions officials have little knowledge about SEVIS, F -1 visa policies, and their influence on international enrollments. Finally, this study provided evidence of an increased workload for international student advisors and SEVIS professionals. Universities have had to hire additional staff, increase their information technology investment in linking home-grown student service systems with SEVIS, and proactively anticipate any hurdles that international students may have and resolve them as expeditiously as possible.
2031-01-01

The area of discourse acquisition and writing in higher education has become a much researched field. In South Africa the interest in discourse acquisition and writing has been partly in response to the change in student profile, particularly over the past ten years. While South African researchers and academics are increasingly focusing their interest in discourse acquisition and writing on the unique circumstances here, they rely on theories based on research done in very different social contexts. These theories are not necessarily universally appropriate. South Africa is currently undergoing a period of transformation in higher education aimed at greater access and equity for black students and academics. The accompanying sense of frustration and disillusionment among students and academics underlines the need to reappraise all aspects of higher education. Much of the research on discourse acquisition and writing is undertaken in arts programmes: vocational fields - such as engineering education - tend to be neglected. If the envisaged growth in science and engineering education is to be realised, it is essential that research in discourse and writing be undertaken in engineering programmes. This study investigates discourse acquisition as experienced by students in a South African engineering faculty. The experiences of six final year technikon students are investigated to gain a better understanding of what it means to acquire the discourse of engineering. The phenomenological method used requires that the researcher suspends or brackets a priori theoretical notions or pre-conceptions so that that which the students experience, rather than what the researcher expects in terms of theory, can emerge. What emerges from the students' experiences is partially congruent with established discourse and writing theories. However, some of the student experiences of discourse acquisition differ in significant ways from what is described in mainstream writing and discourse acquisition theory. The differences in the manner in which these students experience their acquisition of engineering discourse leads to a new understanding of the phenomenon. The students do not experience the alienation or struggle described in mainstream theoretic accounts of discourse acquisition. Students' approaches to writing are affected by their awareness of their multiple identities and the different locations in which they learn. Their approaches to writing are significantly different in some respects from descriptions in mainstream theories in some respects. The description of their experiences gives a different understanding of what it means to acquire the discourse of engineering, and may contribute to the reappraisal of engineering education in a contemporary South African context.

Collaborative information behaviour is an emerging area in information science that deals with the identification, seeking, searching, and use of information by two or more people to accomplish a task. This dissertation investigates the collaborative information behaviour of senior undergraduate engineering students working on group design-projects at a Canadian university. The dissertation presents a longitudinal research using a constructivist grounded theory methodology in two different but related studies undertaken in successive academic years. The main research method consisted of a web-based survey, bimonthly semi-structured interviews with eight students, and the project deliverables for six different project groups. Project deliverables included weekly reports that described group and project activities, and the projects' interim and final reports. The research results show that learning tasks associated with engineering design projects were information-intensive tasks; information seeking, searching, and use have been ongoing needed activities during the lifespan of these projects. There was found to be a strong relationship among learning task stages and phases, task complexity, and collaborative information behavior. Collaborative information behaviors occurred variably at different project stages and levels, and their nature were task-dependent. Students' perception of task complexity triggered collaborative seeking and use of a variety of information sources, with preferences for information from perceived subject-experts. It was also found, in many situations, when students' perceived task complexity increased, their information behavior tended to be more collaborative.The study highlighted the need for groups to construct and share a collaborative situation awareness in order to maintain and regulate their activities in information seeking and use; this shared awareness was enabled by students' interactions in their group meetings or their use of collaborative software tools for information sharing. Learners sought and created meaning from information through collaborative information synthesis over long intervals by prioritizing, judging relevance, and building connections of information. The research investigated collaborative information behavior in learning tasks through a detailed analysis of findings that resulted in a holistic conceptual framework illustrating the dynamic interplay of the components of task-based collaborative information behavior in learning tasks. Collaborative information behavior was conceptualized with details in its three distinct but interrelated dimensions: (1) learner's knowledge, (2) learners' activities and interactions, and (3) information objects; the representation of interdependence of these three dimensions confirmed the complexity of collaborative information behavior as a human behavior that cannot be investigated by focusing on a single dimension and eliminating the other ones.The dissertation presents original research that extends our conceptual understanding of students' collaborative information behavior in learning tasks and also provides more insights into how collaborative information behaviors are dynamically shaped by the characteristics of the learning task.
Le comportement informationnel collaboratif est un sujet émergent en sciences de l'information qui est relié aux moments où deux acteurs ou plus cherchent, repèrent, sélectionnent et utilisent l'information pour accomplir une tâche. Cette thèse propose une étude sur le comportement informationnel collaboratif des étudiants de premier cycle en génie dans le contexte de projets de groupe en conception technique offert dans une université canadienne.La thèse décrit une recherche longitudinale utilisant deux études différentes, mais connexes, menées dans des années successives. Les méthodes principales de recherche consistaient en un sondage en ligne, entretiens semi-structurés avec huit étudiants chaque deux mois, et la collection des éléments livrables des six différents groupes. Les livrables des projets comprenaient des rapports hebdomadaires qui décrivaient les activités des groupes et aussi les rapports intermédiaires et finaux des projets.Les résultats présentés dans cette thèse montrent que les tâches d'apprentissages associées à des projets de conception technique ont été intensives de l'usage d'information, la recherche et l'utilisation de l'information étaient des activités nécessaires que continuaient pendant la durée de ces projets. Il a été constaté une forte corrélation entre les stades et phases de tâches d'apprentissage, la complexité des tâches, et le comportement informationnel collaboratif. Les comportements informationnels se sont produits variablement à différentes étapes du projet, et leur nature étaient dépendantes sur les tâches. La perception qu'ont les étudiants de la complexité des tâches déclenchées le recherche et l'utilisation d'information en collaboration d'une variété de sources d'information, avec des préférences pour l'information obtenu des spécialistes dans le domaine du projet. On a également constaté, dans des nombreuses situations, lorsque la complexité perçue de la tâche par des étudiants a augmenté, leur comportement informationnel avait tendance à être plus collaboratif.L'étude souligne la nécessité de groupes de construire et partager une connaissance de la situation de collaboration dans le but du projet, de maintenir et de réglementer leurs activités dans la recherche et l'utilisation d'information; cette prise de conscience partagée a été activée par les interactions des étudiants dans leurs réunions de groupe ou leur utilisation d'outils logiciels de collaboration pour partager d'information. Les apprenants ont cherché et créé signification de l'information grâce à la synthèse d'information collaboratif sur de longs intervalles par ordre de priorité, à en juger la pertinence et l'établissement de liens d'information.La recherche a enquêté le comportement informationnel collaboratif dans les tâches d'apprentissage par le biais d'une analyse détaillée des conclusions qui ont abouti à un cadre conceptuel holistique illustrant l'interaction dynamique des composantes du comportement informationnel collaboratif basé sur la nature de la tâche d'apprentissage. Le comportement informationnel collaboratif a été analysé de manière détaillée dans ses trois dimensions distinctes mais interdépendantes: (1) la connaissance d'apprenant, (2) les activités et des interactions des apprenants, et (3) les objets d'information ; la représentation de l'interdépendance de ces trois dimensions a confirmé la complexité de la comportement informationnel collaboratif comme un comportement humain qui ne peut pas être étudiée en se concentrant sur une seule dimension et d'éliminer les autres.La recherche présentée dans cette thèse propose une recherche originale qui augmente notre compréhension conceptuelle du comportement d'information collaboratif des étudiants dans les tâches d'apprentissage et fournit également des indications sur la façon dont les comportements d'information collaboratifs sont influencés par les caractéristiques de la tâche d'apprentissage.

It is important that students understand not only how their local watershed functions, but also how it is being impacted by impervious surfaces. Additionally, students need experience exploring the scientific and engineering practices that are necessary for a strong STEM background. With this knowledge students can be empowered to tackle this real and local problem using engineering design, a powerful practice gaining momentum and clarity through its prominence in the recent Framework for K-12 Science Education. Twenty classes of suburban sixth-graders participated in a new five-week Watershed Engineering Design Unit taught by their regular science teachers. Students engaged in scientific inquiry to learn about the structure, function, and health of their local watersheds, focusing on the effects of impervious surfaces. In small groups, students used the engineering design process to propose solutions to lessen the impact of runoff from their school campuses. The goal of this evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum in terms of student gains in understanding of (1) watershed function, (2) the impact of impervious surfaces, and (3) the engineering design process. To determine the impact of this curriculum on their learning, students took multiple-choice pre- and post-assessments made up of items covering the three categories above. This data was analyzed for statistical significance using a lower-tailed paired sample t-test. All three objectives showed statistically significant learning gains and the results were used to recommend improvements to the curriculum and the assessment instrument for future iterations.

The mobility of students has increased dramatically in the past decades which primarily is a consequence of globalization (Ninnes & Hellstén, 2005). Many higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world have responded to the global educational trend by actively recruiting students from abroad, with the incentive of maintaining a competitive position on the global, knowledge-based market (Knight, 2004). Simultaneously, an increasing number of students have responded to the expanded opportunities which have become available, aspiring to secure the best education to facilitate their path into a well-remunerated career (Waters & Brooks, 2011). By employing a qualitative research approach, this study explores how international degree-seeking students undertaking engineering studies in Swedish HE, take on their career development within a global framework. The findings are compared and analyzed in order to provide further insights into the career trajectories of engineering students from different countries. The findings suggest that the participants in the study have employed a large degree of agency and independence in advancing their career development further. Moreover, it has also been indicated that they, as global professionals, uphold a flexible stance towards future career opportunities, regardless of where in the world these would be located. Considering the increasing numbers of international students that occupy Swedish HEIs, the study concludes that further attention needs to be paid to gain further insights into the realities of this student population, both to increase our understanding of how they respond to the forces of globalization and to safeguard that career services address the real career needs of this population.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is the contention of this study that competence in science and mathematics is a necessary condition for access to higher education, but that it is a general interest in science that will inspire learners to pursue careers in science and technology. The objective of this study was to develop a profile of the individual who chooses to study science and engineering. The three research questions were, firstly, what is the background profile of a group of learners who have decided to study science and engineering? Secondly, what are the characteristic features of the school-science experience of these learners? Lastly, what are the factors that learners think most influenced their decision to study science and engineering? This study was formulated as having a descriptive purpose and hence a survey research design was used. Self-reported retrospective data were collected using a questionnaire which was designed with reference to a number of sources (e.g., Woolnough, 1994). After piloting the questionnaire, it was administered to all firstyear students registered in the faculties of Science and Engineering at the University of Cape Town. A total of 204 first-year science and 247 first-year engineering students formed the final sample of this study. Quantitative analysis of the students’ responses showed that 66% of respondents were male. The majority of female students were registered in the science faculty. English was the home language of 55% of the sample, with 32% of students reported speaking one of the other nine official languages at home. Parents, career counselors and teachers most influenced students’ decision to study science or engineering. The vast majority of respondents took Physical Science at school. Students’ experiences of school science were diverse. Students’ responses generally reflected a poor commitment on the part of schools to expose students to noncurriculum activities generally thought to promote an interest in science. Overall, the majority of students reflected an enthusiasm for learning to do science through scientific experiments, albeit with preference for a teacher-driven approach to classroom activities. Personal motivation, receiving a bursary, and access to information were the main factors that students said influenced their decision to study science and engineering. While information received at a careers open day and participating in a school science competition was crucial for science students, engineering students showed a general curiosity for science, for knowing how things work, and for creating and designing things. For most African students information received at a careers open day was important, while a curiosity for science and receiving a bursary were equally important in influencing non-African students to pursue further study in science or engineering. The results of this study suggest that what parents say, and the information that learners have access to, is important to the decisions that learners make in regard to future careers in science and engineering. It is suggested that future strategies for promoting science in general must include parents, teachers and senior learners in the dissemination of general information about science, about people in science, about using science in everyday life, and about the possibilities for further study in science and engineering.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit is die uitgangspunt van hierdie ondersoek dat vaardigheid in die wetenskap en wiskunde ‘n noodsaaklike voorwaarde is vir toegang to tersiêre onderwys, maar dat ‘n algemene belangstelling in die wetenskap leerders sal inspireer om loopbane in die natuurwetenskappe en tegnologie te volg. Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om ‘n profiel te ontwikkel van die individu wat die natuurwetenskappe en ingenieurswese kies as studierigting. Die drie navorsingsvrae was, eerstens, wat is die agtergrondsprofiel van leerders wat besluit om in die natuurwetenskappe en ingenieurswese te studeer? Tweedens, wat is die kenmerkende eienskappe van hierdie leerders se skoolervaring? Laastens, watter faktore dink hierdie leerders het hulle besluit om in die natuurwetenskappe en ingenieurswese te studeer, die meeste beïnvloed? Hierdie ondersoek is beskrywend van aard en dus is ‘n steekproef as navorsingsontwerp gebruik. Selfgerapporteerde retrospektiewe data is ingesamel deur middel van ‘n vraelys wat ontwerp is met verwysings na ‘n verskeidenheid bronne (bv., Woolnough, 1994). Die vraelys is versprei aan alle eerste-jaar geregistreerde studente in die Natuurwetenskappe en Ingenieurswese Fakulteite by die Universiteit van Kaapstad, nadat ‘n voortoetsing van die vraelys uitgevoer is. ‘n Totaal van 204 eerste-jaar natuurwetensakppe en 247 eerste-jaar ingenieurswese studente was deel van die finale steekproef van hierdie ondersoek. Die kwantitatiewe ontleding van die studenteterugvoer toon dat 66% van die respondente manlik is. Die meerderheid vroulike studente was geregistreer in die natuurwetenskappe fakulteit. Engels was die huistaal van 55% van die steekproef, en 32% van die studente het aangedui dat hulle een of meer van die ander nege amptelike landstale praat. Ouers, beroepsvoorligters en onderwysers het die meeste invloed gehad op die studente se besluit om in die natuurwetenskappe of ingenieurswese te studeer. Die oorgrote meerderheid respondente het Natuur- en Skeikunde op skool geneem. Studente se skoolervarings en ervaring van die wetenskap op skool was uiteenlopend. Studente se terugvoer het in die algemeen gedui op ‘n swak verbintenis van skole tot die blootstelling van studente aan niekurrikulêre aktiwiteite wat oor die algemeen belangstelling in die wetenskap kweek. Die meerderheid studente het in die geheel ‘n entoesiasme getoon om meer te leer van die wetenskap deur die uitvoer van wetenskaplike eksperimente, hoewel met ‘n voorkeur vir ‘n onderwyser-gedrewe benadering tot klaskamer aktiwiteite. Persoonlike motivering, om ‘n beurs te ontvang, en toegang tot inligting is deur studente aangedui as van die vernaamste faktore wat ‘n invloed op hulle keuse van die natuurwetenskappe en ingenieurswese as studierigting gehad het. Die inligting wat die natuurwetenskappe studente ontvang het by beroepsgeoriënteerde opedae en deelname in ‘n skool wetenskapskompetisie was beslissend in hulle besluit. Die ingenieurswese studente daarteenoor het ‘n algemene nuurskierigheid vir die wetenskap en hoe dinge werk, hoe om dinge te skep en te ontwerp, getoon. Die inligting wat swart studente by beroepsgeoriënteerde opedae ontvang het, was belangrik, terwyl ‘n wetenskaplike nuuskierigheid en die toekenning van ‘n beurs ‘n ewe belangrike invloed gehad het op ander studente se keuse om verdere studie in die natuurwetenskappe of ingenieurswese voort te sit. Die resultate van hierdie ondersoek dui daarop dat wat ouers sê, en die inligting waartoe leerders toegang het, belangrik is vir die besluite wat leerders neem met betrekking tot toekomstige loopbane in die natuurwetenskappe en ingenieurswese. Daar word voorgestel dat toekomstige strategieë vir die bevordering van die wetenskap in die algemeen ouers, onderwysers en senior leerders moet insluit in die verspreiding van algemene inligting oor die wetenskap, oor mense in die wetenskap, oor die gebruik van die wetenskap in die alledaagse lewe, en die moontlikhede van verdere studies in die natuurwetenskappe en ingenieurswese.

From a sociocultural point of view, this qualitative case study explored how upper-level, female undergraduate engineering students perceived the possibility of or experience with stereotype threat as shaping their experiences. The study also investigated how these students explained their reasons for choosing their engineering major, the challenges they encountered in the major, and their reasons for persevering in spite of those challenges. Using Steele and Aronson’s (1995) stereotype threat theory as a framework, and considering the documented underrepresentation of females in engineering, the study sought to examine how stereotype threat shaped the experiences of these students and if stereotype threat could be considered a valid reason for the underrepresentation.

The study was conducted at a large, four-year public university. First, students in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology completed the Participant Screening Survey. Based on responses from the survey, six female engineering students from the college were identified and invited to participate in the study. The participants came from the following majors: Electrical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. After receiving the study consent letter and agreeing to participate, the students were involved in a 90-minute focus group meeting, a 45-minute one-on-one interview, and a 30-minute follow-up interview.

After conducting the data collection methods, the data were then transcribed, analyzed, and coded for theme development. The themes that emerged coincided with each research question. The themes highlighted the complex interactions and experiences shared by the female engineering majors.

The female students were enveloped in an environment where there existed an increased risk for activating stereotype threat. In addition, the female students described feeling pushed to prove to themselves and to others that the negative stereotype that ‘females are bad at engineering’ was untrue. The findings illustrated the need for systematic changes at the university level. Intervention recommendations were provided. In regards to female underrepresentation in science fields, including engineering, stereotype threat certainly had the potential to cause the female students to question themselves, their abilities, their choice of an academic major, and subsequently remove themselves from a hostile learning or working environment. Thus, educational institutions and workplace organizations are responsible for not only educating themselves regarding stereotype threat, but also for taking steps to alleviate the pernicious effects of stereotype threat.

A major thrust for Technical Education in the 1980s is the emerging identity of Engineering Technology. During the past four decades the Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Technology has become increasingly popular as a means of entry into industrially related mid-careers. An increasing number of colleges that offer majors in Engineering Technology have been experiencing dramatic increases in the number of program applicants, with community college transfer students accounting for a significant percentage of the total mix. There is a concern among Engineering Technology professionals regarding the emerging source of transfer students who have insufficient academic preparation to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in the upper-division of the Engineering Technology curricula. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the strength of the relationships between selected previous academic work and the subsequent upper-division academic achievement of students who transfer from lower-division (community) colleges to the upper-division.
Vocational and Technical Education. Ed. D.

Thesis (MEd (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.
Currently, there is a high attrition rate amongst students who are registered at public technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges in the Western Cape. In this sector, attrition rate has also been referred to as ‘through-put rate’ which both mean that there is a reduction in the number of students completing a programme for a variety of reasons. This study focuses on the reasons why these students are leaving the colleges before completing the programme. Perspectives of students who registered at a technical vocational education and training (TVET) college are analysed. As a result of students dropping out of their studies, emphasis is being placed on what students are experiencing at the TVET colleges, which eventually influences their decision to drop out and become part of the TVET attrition statistics. This study provides information based specifically on the students’ experience in the National Certificate Vocational [NC(V)] civil engineering programme at the TVET college where they were registered. Reasons are provided which will clearly indicate that attrition is not only the result of the students’ inability to cope academically but that student attrition can also be the result of other factors. The topic to be addressed in this study is: Factors contributing toward attrition of engineering students at public vocational colleges in the Western Cape. This study is situated within a critical research paradigm which will allow an analysis of the reasons for attrition in civil engineering programmes at one of the TVET colleges with the ultimate aim of contributing towards social change. This study will apply a qualitative data collection approach and will make use of interviews. This study makes continual reference to the work of Vincent Tinto as he has done much research on the topic of attrition in education.

Bibliography: pages 73-82.
Using 262 acknowledged science educators from 41 countries, Bybee developed a scale for measuring the ranked priorities of scientists, and others, with respect to twelve major global problems related to science and technology in 1984. In 1993 this scale was re-administered to samples of 76 Cape Town science educators, 55 Transkei science educators and 129 chemical engineering undergraduates at the University of Cape Town. High correlations ranging from r = 0.68 to r = 0.90 were obtained among the four samples' mean ranked priorities on the scale as a whole, over the ten year period. Among the top six global problems in 1984, five still received consistently high overall prioritisation in 1993, namely: population growth; world hunger and food resources; human health and disease; air quality and atmosphere; and water resources. The mean ranking of war technology as a priority declined by seven places over the ten year period. Educators surveyed in follow-up studies in 1993 made numerous recommendations for teaching these global problems. These included the use of the science-technology-society (STS) approach in science education; the introduction of a core school curriculum on environmental education; the encouragement of student participation in projects which help to reduce or eliminate such global problems; and the re-allocation of money spent on nuclear arms towards the satisfaction of human basic needs such as food, housing, health and water services. In a follow-up survey of twenty lecturers in engineering at the University of Cape Town in 1993 and 1994 important goals and issues singled out by individuals included the provision of mass housing and infrastructure; sanitation; urbanisation; job creation; the abuse of high technology in communications; technological illiteracy among decision makers; abuse and reduction of oceanic resources; photochemical smog; the prediction and possible control of droughts and floods; demands on the human race of the information explosion; electromagnetic wave hazards and pollution; resource depletion education and the dissemination of knowledge; the emergence and separation of C.P. Snow's "Two cultures"; and the myth of the peace dividend. Several of these issues were then subsequently included in 1995 in an updated, modified and extended form of the Bybee Scale. Currently a reliable and validated 15-item Scale -emerging from the findings of this dissertation - is being employed by other research workers in various parts of the new South Africa. During 1995 its chief use has been offering relevant input into, and providing empirical justification for, fundamental aspects of the policy of the current Reconstruction and Development Programme, as set out in the 1995 White Paper of the Government of National Unity.

Teaching and learning in higher education has not been receiving the attention it deserves and the assumption that good teaching is common in universities, needs re-thinking. The focus of this thesis is on a case study of engineering students studying economics in a university in Singapore. Two traditions of research on teaching and learning economics have existed: the economists' tradition in conducting quantitative research, and the educationists' who use qualitative methods for data gathering and analysis. These approaches are analysed and as a consequence of the weaknesses established, this thesis took a different research approach. Instead of focusing on teaching, course design and the prediction of students' outcome performances, its aim is to understand the learning experiences of the students. Data were collected from 12 students through semi- structured interviews and these data were analysed using a grounded theory approach to conceptualise and represent a phenomenon or an experience of the students. Five different categories were eventually discovered which represented the students' common experiences and conceptualisation of their experiences: 'difficult', 'interesting', 'unsatisfactory', 'pragmatism' and 'enriching'. Strauss and Corbin's Paradigm model of grounded theory was adopted to relate the data systematically and purposefully in order to capture the complexity in understanding the learning experiences of the students. It is hence the intention of this study to allow the students to tell the stories of their learning journey, an experience which may change over time and at times becoming contradictory. To complement this analysis of students' experience, the views of the academic staff were also collected by interview. The lecturers have a different idea of factors that affect students' learning, and these are categorised as students' motivation, students' heavy workload, assessment and the syllabus coverage - issues that are unrelated to their own teaching methods, which however are important from the students' point of view. In the final analysis, regardless of the variation in students' experiences, the two important direct influences on them are teaching methods and the attitudes of the academic staff towards teaching.

An experiment was conducted investigating the utility of teamwork exercises and problem structure for promoting technological problem solving in a student team context. The teamwork exercises were designed for participants to experience a high level of psychomotor coordination and cooperation with their teammates. The problem structure treatment was designed based on small group research findings on brainstorming, information processing, and problem formulation. First-year college engineering students (N = 294) were randomly assigned to three levels of team size (2, 3, or 4 members) and two treatment conditions: teamwork exercises and problem structure (N = 99 teams). In addition, the study included three non-manipulated, independent variables: team gender, team temperament, and team teamwork orientation. Teams were measured on technological problem solving through two conceptually related technological tasks or engineering design activities: a computer bridge task and a truss model task. The computer bridge score and the number of computer bridge design iterations, both within subjects factors (time), were recorded in pairs over four 30-minute intervals. For the last two intervals with the computer bridge, teams started construction of the truss model task, which created low and high task load conditions for the computer bridge: another within subjects factor. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze time (computer bridge) by factor interactions. No significant time by teamwork exercises or time by problem structure interactions on computer bridge scores were found [F(2.31, 198.46) = 0.10, p = .928; F(2.31, 198.46) = 0.03, p = .984]. There was a significant interaction between the factors of time and team size [F(4.62, 198.46) = 2.75, p = .023]. An ANOVA was conducted with the between subject factors on the truss model task. A significant main effect was found for teamwork exercises [F(1, 86) = 2.84, p = .048, one-tailed], but not for problem structure or team size. Post hoc analyses were conducted for team size on computer bridge and iteration scores over time, as well as teamwork exercises effects for each team size. Findings and their implications were reported, along with suggestions for future research on technological problem solving in a team context.
Ph. D.

Metacognition has been identified as a critical skill set for learning in problem solving, conceptual understanding, and studying, all of which are key in any undergraduate engineering curriculum. Though significant research has identified metacognition as critical in learning, most of this research has been conducted in experimental settings and has focused on individual engagement. While experimental settings provide evidence that metacognition is important to learning, these controlled studies do not tell us if students actually engage in metacognition in their own contexts. The purpose of this research study was to describe the metacognitive habits of engineering students in the naturalistic setting of study groups as well as contextual factors that supported this engagement. In order to accomplish this, I developed a methodological approach useful for identifying metacognitive engagement in naturalistic settings. In this ethnographically-inspired qualitative study, I used participant observations as my primary source of data and ethnographic interviews as supplemental data. Three study groups participated in this study and represented a diverse range of strategies for learning and studying. In order to identify the metacognitive behaviors of the study participants, I developed the Naturalistic Observations of Metacognitive Engagement (NOME) coding strategy, a coding scheme that can be used to identify metacognitive engagement in naturalistic settings involving undergraduate engineering students. Through the use of the NOME for coding the observational transcripts, I found that undergraduate engineering students engage in metacognitive engagement in different ways and certain metacognitive behaviors are engaged in at a higher rate than others. From an analysis of the observational fieldnotes, I found that contextual factors such as learning environment, study group schedule, study group purpose, learning resources, and workload potentially impact the way in which engineering students engage in metacognitive practices. The findings of this study provide important implications for researchers in metacognition and engineering education, educational practitioners, students, and the research site and participants from which the data was collected.
Ph. D.

The purpose of this thesis is to measure the importance of different factors that contribute to employer attractiveness among students. Further, its purpose is to measure how those same students perceive a case company, Ramböll, relating to those same factors. The method used

to satisfy this purpose is a quantitative survey among Swedish civil engineering students at three Swedish universities, Uppsala Tekniska Högskola, Luleå Tekniska Högskola and Chalmers Tekniska Högskola. The survey got a response rate of 19% and the results show that the majority of the respondents think that factors such as learning opportunities, self development and independence are most important for employer attractiveness. Further, the respondents perceives Ramböll as a company that offers challenging and interesting tasks, but does not offer high salaries and is not a high status organisation.

The purpose of this qualitative research methods study with empirical phenomenological research design was to explore the lived experiences of the African American females compared to other populations entering engineering or other Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program in colleges. Although African American females have made some strides in educational achievements, there continues to significantly less progress in engineering and other STEM disciplines. Many occupations in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields require degrees in STEM to be considered for interviews and eventual employment. The African American female population in order to be more successful in engineering or other STEM programs it will be necessary to understand what barriers may exist that hinder positive results on an ongoing basis. The general problem of low numbers of female minority college students in STEM programs continues to create concerns for administrators and instructors. Proper evaluation and recommended improvements are needed to improve success rates for the African American female students. The goal of this research was to interview approximately 20 – 25 African America female college students in engineering and other STEM programs to identify what obstacles may exist that might hinder their success in these programs and make recommendations for improvements in the future.

The dramatic underrepresentation of Alaska Natives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees and professions calls for rigorous research in how students access these fields. Research has shown that students who complete advanced mathematics and science courses while in high school are more academically prepared to pursue and succeed in STEM degree programs and professions. There is limited research on what motivates precollege students to become more academically prepared before they graduate from high school. In Alaska, Alaska Native precollege students regularly underperform on required State of Alaska mathematics and science exams when compared to non-Alaska Native students. Research also suggests that different things may motivate Alaska Native students than racial majority students. Therefore there is a need to better understand what motivates Alaska Native students to take and successfully complete advanced mathematics and science courses while in high school so that they are academically prepared to pursue and succeed in STEM degrees and professions.

The Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) is a longitudinal STEM educational enrichment program that works with Alaska Native students starting in middle school through doctoral degrees and further professional endeavors. Research suggests that Alaska Native students participating in ANSEP are completing STEM degrees at higher rates than before the program was available. ANSEP appears to be unique due to its longitudinal approach and the large numbers of Alaska Native precollege, university, and graduate students it supports. ANSEP provides precollege students with opportunities to take advanced high school and college-level mathematics and science courses and complete STEM related projects. Students work and live together on campus during the program components. Student outcome data suggests that ANSEP has been successful at motivating precollege participants to successfully complete advanced high school and college-level mathematics and science courses prior to high school graduation.

This study was designed to examine the motivations of Alaska Native high school students who participated in the ANSEP Precollege components to take advanced mathematics and science courses in high school or before college. Participants were 30 high school or college students, 25 of whom were Alaska Native, who were currently attending or had attended Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) Precollege components in high school. Self-determination theory was used as this study’s theoretical framework to develop the semi-structured interview questions and also analyze the interviews. A thematic approach was used to analyze the interviews. The results of this study indicated that ANSEP helped the Alaska Native high school students gain a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in order to be motivated to take advanced mathematics and science courses in high school or before college. In particular, Alaska Native high school students described that relatedness was an important element to them being motivated to take advanced mathematics and science courses. More specifically, participants reported that the Alaska Native community developed at the ANSEP Building and the relationships they developed with their Alaska Native high school peers and staff played an influential role in the motivation of these students. These findings are important because research suggests that autonomy and competence are more important elements than relatedness because they generate or maintain intrinsic motivation. Alaska Native high school students reported that ANSEP was more successful in helping them gain a sense of competence and relatedness than at helping them gain a sense of autonomy. More specifically, the reason the participants did not feel ANSEP developed their sense of autonomy was because ANSEP restricted their actions during the ANSEP Precollege study sessions.

My study implies that Alaska Native students need to feel like they belong in order to be motivated to take and succeed at taking advanced mathematics and science courses. Educators and STEM program leaders should incorporate elements of belonging into the educational environments they develop for their Alaska Native students. Future research should be conducted to determine if other racial minority students need to feel like they belong in order to be motivated to take and succeed at taking advanced mathematics and science courses.

My study also indicated that Alaska Native students were motivated to take advanced mathematics and science courses by knowing ANSEP would support them in future programming because of its longitudinal approach. Funding agencies of STEM programs should consider funding programs that provide a longitudinal approach to help Alaska Native students’ sense of competence grow. Future research should include studying other STEM programs to determine if they are motivating their students to take and succeed in advanced mathematics and science courses.

World-wide, there has been a large increase in tertiary student numbers, not entirely matched by funding increases. Consequently, instructors are faced with large, diverse classes, and find themselves struggling to provide adequate assessment and prompt feedback, two quantities critical in an effective learning environment. Personal computers and the Internet can help solve this problem. The aim of this study was to develop, implement and validate a Web-based software package that, through providing practice and assessment opportunities, improved student learning and reduced marking and related mundane aspects of instructor workload. At the start of the study, such a package already existed in prototype form: OASIS (Online Assessment System with Integrated Study). As the study progressed, this software package was first fully rewritten and then repeatedly modified. OASIS delivers individualised tasks, marks student responses, supplies prompt feedback, and logs student activity. Staff can deliver sets of practice questions and assessments to students: assessments may involve different questions for different students, not just numerically different versions of the same questions. Given my role as teacher, the traditional research ideal of observing without affecting the research environment was both impossible and unconscionable. In particular, since preliminary evidence suggested that OASIS did enhance student learning, I could not adopt a ‘two groups’ approach to the research, with one group using OASIS while the other did not. Instead, an action research methodology was seen as most appropriate for my double role of teacher and researcher.This methodology enabled me, in the light of my findings, to continuously modify the learning environment and enhance student learning. The action research proceeded through a spiral of one-semester cycles of planning, acting, observing and reflecting. To maximize rigour, the research ran through eight cycles over four years and involved considerable triangulation. OASIS itself collected much quantitative data. Further data were collected via interview, survey, email and informal discussion from three groups: current students, postgraduates and academics. My colleagues provided alternative perceptions and interpretations, as did Physics Department academics who were using OASIS, and an external academic who interviewed academics and investigated the implementation of OASIS. Perhaps surprisingly, academics had generally adopted OASIS to promote student learning rather than to decrease their own workloads. In some cases workloads were reduced; however, where OASIS assessments augmented rather than replaced existing traditional assessments, workloads actually went up slightly. All instructors who used OASIS reported enhanced student learning and wished to continue using it. Student surveys, interviews, focus-group discussions and informal feedback showed that students found the software easy to use and considered that it helped them improve their skills and understanding. OASIS questions were preferred over textbook questions. Students commonly requested OASIS to be available in more of their areas of study. In general students wanted hints or model answers though some argued against their provision.The majority of students were enthusiastic about the use of OASIS for practice, and activity logs revealed that they did use OASIS extensively. These logs also revealed the motivating power of assessments: typically half the online practice activity took place in the last 36 hours prior to assessments. Interviews provided further interesting insights into the ways different students approached their studies and assessments. However, students did voice concerns about the validity of OASIS assignments, noting their peers could rely on the efforts of others to score highly in these. A number of steps were carried out in an attempt to defuse these concerns, including: disabling OASIS practice during assignments, basing assignments on previously unseen questions, and providing different assignment questions to different students. While this study has achieved the goal of developing, implementing and validating OASIS, many future opportunities exist. OASIS may be used in schools as well as universities. Non-numerical questions, where answers may be somewhere between right and wrong, are possible. OASIS can also be used to deliver concept inventories to students to support research into concept acquisition and retention.

World-wide, there has been a large increase in tertiary student numbers, not entirely matched by funding increases. Consequently, instructors are faced with large, diverse classes, and find themselves struggling to provide adequate assessment and prompt feedback, two quantities critical in an effective learning environment. Personal computers and the Internet can help solve this problem. The aim of this study was to develop, implement and validate a Web-based software package that, through providing practice and assessment opportunities, improved student learning and reduced marking and related mundane aspects of instructor workload. At the start of the study, such a package already existed in prototype form: OASIS (Online Assessment System with Integrated Study). As the study progressed, this software package was first fully rewritten and then repeatedly modified. OASIS delivers individualised tasks, marks student responses, supplies prompt feedback, and logs student activity. Staff can deliver sets of practice questions and assessments to students: assessments may involve different questions for different students, not just numerically different versions of the same questions. Given my role as teacher, the traditional research ideal of observing without affecting the research environment was both impossible and unconscionable. In particular, since preliminary evidence suggested that OASIS did enhance student learning, I could not adopt a ‘two groups’ approach to the research, with one group using OASIS while the other did not. Instead, an action research methodology was seen as most appropriate for my double role of teacher and researcher.
This methodology enabled me, in the light of my findings, to continuously modify the learning environment and enhance student learning. The action research proceeded through a spiral of one-semester cycles of planning, acting, observing and reflecting. To maximize rigour, the research ran through eight cycles over four years and involved considerable triangulation. OASIS itself collected much quantitative data. Further data were collected via interview, survey, email and informal discussion from three groups: current students, postgraduates and academics. My colleagues provided alternative perceptions and interpretations, as did Physics Department academics who were using OASIS, and an external academic who interviewed academics and investigated the implementation of OASIS. Perhaps surprisingly, academics had generally adopted OASIS to promote student learning rather than to decrease their own workloads. In some cases workloads were reduced; however, where OASIS assessments augmented rather than replaced existing traditional assessments, workloads actually went up slightly. All instructors who used OASIS reported enhanced student learning and wished to continue using it. Student surveys, interviews, focus-group discussions and informal feedback showed that students found the software easy to use and considered that it helped them improve their skills and understanding. OASIS questions were preferred over textbook questions. Students commonly requested OASIS to be available in more of their areas of study. In general students wanted hints or model answers though some argued against their provision.
The majority of students were enthusiastic about the use of OASIS for practice, and activity logs revealed that they did use OASIS extensively. These logs also revealed the motivating power of assessments: typically half the online practice activity took place in the last 36 hours prior to assessments. Interviews provided further interesting insights into the ways different students approached their studies and assessments. However, students did voice concerns about the validity of OASIS assignments, noting their peers could rely on the efforts of others to score highly in these. A number of steps were carried out in an attempt to defuse these concerns, including: disabling OASIS practice during assignments, basing assignments on previously unseen questions, and providing different assignment questions to different students. While this study has achieved the goal of developing, implementing and validating OASIS, many future opportunities exist. OASIS may be used in schools as well as universities. Non-numerical questions, where answers may be somewhere between right and wrong, are possible. OASIS can also be used to deliver concept inventories to students to support research into concept acquisition and retention.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine what attributes graduating students prefer when choosing their first employer after graduation.

Background: To attract good employees are becoming more and more important. Since there are over 60 000 students graduating every year from universities in Sweden, it is crucial for organizations to know how to best attract these talents. It is generally small- and medium sized companies (SMC’s) that have problem since they don’t have the resources to find information and brand themselves as good employers, and hence, large multinational companies are being ranked as the most attractive employers. If these SMC’s would know what attributes the graduate students find most important, they would be able to focus on those and more successfully attract the students suitable for their organization.

Method: In order to fulfill the purpose, an exploratory study had been made. Quantitative data was collected by a delivery and collection questionnaire, which was handed out in classes at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) and Jönköping School of Engineering (JTH). The findings in this thesis are based on 124 graduating students preferred job attributes.

Conclusion: When looking at JIBS and JTH in total, the students find attributes relating to responsibilities and involvement in decision making to be the most important. However, when only looking at JTH, the students value job security and good relationship at the workplace over other attributes. At JIBS, graduate students are attracted to jobs where they can take responsibility and make further career advancements.

 

 

Because of the pandemic Coronavirus and proposals from the Swedish Public Health Agency, schools in Sweden had to adjust their teaching to distance education. The purpose of this study is to study students' motivation, understand what is inspiring for students, many students lack inspiration. Personalization in education, what kind of support could we give the students. Understand personalization from the students perspective different students need different help, make the students feel like they get personalized help. Hands on, how do we apply things that are theoretical to the practical. Through semi-structured interviews, this study has analyzed how students have experienced distance education, difficulties, barriers, opportunities among others have been looked at. The teaching followed essentially the same pattern. The teachers and students followed the same schedule as the pre-transfer,  and had contact through a video call. From that point forward, the teacher had some type of show of new material, through a  live video call. At that point the student generally followed up with working on their own, where they had the chance to contact the teacher to pose questions. The results of this study showed that online education had a negative effect on the quality of teaching. The students felt a lack of motivation and a greater personal responsibility. There were also some positive aspects of online education as it could be more adaptable and suit more students. Travel time could be reduced and the time could be spent on something else. The idea of having an online education platform was a positive idea for most of the students. As working with a real company and gaining real life experience where school sometimes can lack was seen as a positive aspect.

Though some research exists related to career choices among Appalachian youth, and literature exists which broadly examines choices to pursue engineering degrees, information specifically related to Appalachian students' career choice toward engineering is limited. Engineering typically represents high paying, stable jobs so it is particularly important to understand what attracts students to, or deters them from, engineering careers in the Appalachian region, which is beset by poverty and low representation in higher education. The purpose of this research was to explore what influences students from the Central Appalachian region of Virginia in choosing their career goals, in particular, relative to engineering careers. Therefore, the overarching research question was: How are Central Appalachian high school students influenced as they choose their career goals, especially with respect to engineering? In this qualitative study, I used semi-structured interviews and case study methods, guided by Lent and Brown's Social Cognitive Career Theory, to explore career choice goals of high school participants in Southwest Virginia. The twenty-four high school participants and twelve college engineering student participants represented a diverse sample with respect to school and county demographics. Through thematic coding, the data revealed patterns relative to 1) reasons students chose their career goals, and 2) variation in factors contributing to career goals. Specifically, I identified six high school categories of reasons and only three reasons for college engineering students. High school students' career choice reasons, while related to interests, were largely influenced by critical life events. Additionally, patterns emerged based on whether or not the student was a continuing generation Appalachian (CGA), parent/guardian educational attainment and place of employment, and the location of the high school relative to college resources. This is consistent with previous literature, which points to the importance of parental education and student interests as factors for determining a student's career choice, and STEM literature, which often links interests in math, science, or engineering activities as key influencers. However, this research also revealed that critical life events, a student's family background (First Generation College and CGA), and parental job location are patterned with career goals.
Ph. D.

Abstract The issues that influence students’ decisions to enter and drop out of university IT programmes are a major concern for universities worldwide. The low enrolment of women in IT studies has received considerable attention from the academic world. This doctoral thesis aims to contribute to alleviating these problems. The primary contribution of this thesis is the laying out of implications for theory and practice in relation to the high student dropout rates in IT programmes. To elucidate this phenomenon, previous research on student dropout rates has advanced various factor models that explain or predict the dropout tendencies of university students. Although these studies enhance our understanding of the reasons students drop out of Computer Science (CS) courses, university studies, and online learning programmes, I found no research that describes the process that causes students to drop out of university. Such a process viewpoint is important given that students’ decision to abandon a programme is not a static phenomenon, but a complex and dynamic occurrence. This phenomenon develops through a number of stages. As an initial step in filling the gap in research, I analysed qualitative interviews that centred on 40 Information Systems and Software Engineering (IS/SE) students who dropped out of the programme. I also conducted a second round of interviews with nine of these students to collect more accurate information on their motivation and emotions at the time they decided to drop out. On the basis of the interviews, I inductively developed a process theory approach, drawing from van de Ven (1992) and van de Ven and Poole (1995). The proposed process theory explains the trajectories that prompt university students to abandon the IS/SE programme. It also explains the course that the dropout process takes after decisions have been made. The findings reveal potential research directions in student dropout, and provide new insights into the reasons students abandon IS/SE studies. On the basis of the results, I formulate strategies for preventing student dropout. The second contribution of this thesis is that it sheds light on the factors that influence students’ decision to enter IT programmes. Previous studies have been conducted in the US, Canada, and Australia, but only a few have been devoted to Europe. Not much research has been done on the Scandinavian context. To address this problem, I analysed the qualitative responses of 64 female sixth form students regarding their attitudes towards studying IT disciplines, including CS, IS, and SE. We also examined their perspectives on IT as a profession. This study extends the literature by offering new information on why females shun CS or IS careers and what attitudes they hold about these disciplines
Tiivistelmä Asiat, jotka vaikuttavat IT-alan (tietojenkäsittelytieteet) opintoihin hakeutumiseen ja opintojen keskeyttämiseen, ovat keskeinen kiinnostuksen kohde yliopistoissa ympäri maailman. Erityisesti tyttöjen ja naisten vähäinen osuus tietojenkäsittelytieteiden opinnoissa on koettu akateemisessa maailmassa ongelmaksi. Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on vastata em. tutkimusongelmiin. Väitöskirjan ensisijaisena kontribuutiona on esittää implikaatiota, jotka liittyvät teoriaan ja käytäntöön suhteessa opintojen keskeyttämisen korkeisiin määriin IT koulutusohjelmissa. Tähän ilmiöön liittyen on aiemmassa tutkimuksessa esitetty erilaisia faktorimalleja, joilla on pyritty selittämään ja ennakoimaan opintojen keskeyttämistä yliopisto-opiskelijoiden keskuudessa. Vaikka nämä tutkimukset lisäävät ymmärrystämme teoreettisen tietojenkäsittelytieteen kurssien keskeyttämisestä, yliopisto-opinnoista ja verkko-opiskelusta, aiempi tutkimus ei ole tarjonnut kuvausta opintojen keskeyttämisen prosessista kokonaisuudessaan. Kyseinen prosessinäkökulma on tärkeä, koska se osoittaa, ettei opintojen keskeyttämispäätös ole staattinen. Itse asiassa kyseessä on dynaaminen ja monimuotoinen ilmiö, joka etenee monen eri vaiheen kautta. Täyttääkseni tämän puutteen tutkimuskentässä olen haastatellut 40 tietojenkäsittelytieteiden opiskelun keskeyttänyttä opiskelijaa. Haastattelin heistä yhdeksää vielä uudelleen saadakseni tarkempaa tietoa opiskelijan motivaation tilasta ja tunteista päätöksentekohetkellä. Haastatteluiden perusteella kehitin induktiivisesti prosessiteorian, joka perustuu van de Venin (1992) ja van de Venin & Poolen (1995) esittämiin ehtoihin. Prosessiteoria selittää opintojen keskeyttämispäätöksen etenemisen kokonaisuudessaan. Tutkimuksen tuloksilla on vaikutuksia niin tutkimukseen kuin käytäntöönkin, sillä se tarjoaa uusia näkökulmia ja tutkimussuuntauksia liittyen opintojen keskeyttämiseen ja siihen, kuinka keskeyttämistä voidaan ehkäistä. Väitöskirjan toisena kontribuutiona on täsmentää niitä syitä, jotka vaikuttavat IT-alan opintoihin hakeutumiseen. Ilmiötä on tutkittu Yhdysvalloissa, Kanadassa ja Australiassa, mutta vain vähän Euroopassa ja Pohjoismaissa. Tämä tutkimus vastaa kyseiseen ongelmaan, sillä siinä on selvitetty 64 lukiolaistytön asenteita IT-alan (teoreettinen tietojenkäsittelytiede, tietojärjestelmätiede, ohjelmistotuotanto) opintoja kohtaan. Selvitimme myös heidän suhtautumistaan IT-alaan ammattina. Tutkimus tuo uutta tietoa myös siitä, miksi tytöt eivät halua lähteä opiskelemaan tietojenkäsittelytieteiden ammattilaisiksi

Developing a computer program is not an easy task. Studies reported that a large number of computer science students decided to change their major due to the extreme challenge in learning programming. Fortunately, studies also reported that learning various self-regulation strategies may help students to continue studying computer science. This study is interested in assessing students’ self-regulation, in specific their task understanding and its revision during programming endeavors. Task understanding is specifically selected because it affects the entire programming endeavor. In this qualitative case study, two female and two male senior computer science students were voluntarily recruited as research participants. They were asked to think aloud while answering five programming problems. Before solving the problem, they had to explain their understanding of the task and after that answer some questions related to their problem-solving process. The participants’ problem-solving process were video and audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. This study found that the participants’ were capable of tailoring their problem-solving approach to the task types, including when understanding the tasks. Given enough time, the participants can understand the problem correctly. When the task is complicated, the participants will gradually update their understanding during the problem-solving endeavor. Some situations may have prevented the participants from understanding the task correctly, including overconfidence, being overwhelmed, utilizing an inappropriate presentation technique, or drawing knowledge from irrelevant experience. Last, the participants tended to be inexperienced in managing unfavorable outcomes.

The 'flattening of the world', using Thomas Friedman's phraseology, is driving corporations to increasingly use collaborative engineering processes and global teams to operate on a global scale. Globalization of the traditional university engineering curriculum is necessary to help students prepare to work in a global environment. More scalable and economically sustainable program types are needed to enable the majority of students to obtain a globalized education. The purpose of this research was to determine how effectively a global team- and project-based computer aided engineering course provided learning opportunities that enabled students to develop elements of global competence in comparison to existing engineering study abroad programs. To accomplish this, research was necessary to identify, aggregate, and validate a comprehensive set of global competencies for engineering students. From a review of the literature and subsequent analysis, a set of twenty-three global competencies with an associated conceptual model was developed to group the competencies by contextual topics. Two surveys were then developed and distributed separately to academic and industry professionals, each of which groups largely confirmed that it was important for engineering students to develop these global competencies. Next, the traditional ME 471 class was restructured into a Global ME 471 course. A pilot program was conducted from which lessons learned were incorporated into the global course. Selected global competencies were included as new learning outcomes. Course learning materials, labs, and lectures were also updated to reflect the new course emphasis. A survey was developed to be sent to BYU engineering study abroad students and the Global ME 471 course during 2010. A statistical analysis of responses was used to identify significant differences between the response groups. In addition to the global competencies which were identified and validated, global collaborative project-based courses such as Global ME 471 were shown to be effective in enabling students to learn and develop selected global competencies. Study abroad programs and the Global ME 471 course were seen both to be complementary in their emphasis and supportive of global engineering. In addition, global collaborative project-based courses were shown to play an important part of a globalized engineering curriculum.

This thesis examines the impact of Industry-Based Learning programs on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) undergraduate students at Higher Education institution in Indonesia. The industry-based learning programs are commonly implemented under a bigger umbrella of University-Industry Collaboration. This research utilising a qualitative approach and adopting the case study method to capture the perceptions and real-life experience of the respondents.

Due to digitization, the way students work in academia has changed over the years. Students now have to consume and produce more material on the computer than ever before. But despite this, print still has a place in many students' lives as the preferred medium when it comes to reading and writing. This study aims to identify what perceived differences students feel when engaging with the print and the digital, as well as how to best support students in moving between the two. This was achieved by interviewing students about their experiences and opinions regarding the two mediums, where it was found that they make use of both mediums since they mirror each other and by doing so complement each other. The survey was then based on the questions and the answers acquired from the interview and used to quantify the results to have a larger empirical base to work with. Both in the interview and the survey several key problems and behaviors were identified, such as the need for convenience, the emotional attachments that led to students not wanting to highlight in their books and their desire to share material easily. These matters were chosen to be problems that a prototype developed based on the results could potentially solve. The prototype was found to be effective, as the participants brought up several advantages to it, so much so that they would use it themselves if they had the opportunity.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
科技應用與人力資源發展學系
105
The purpose of this study is two-fold. Firstly, it attempts to explore and constructthe core competency indicators of Department of Technology Application and Human Resources Development (TAHRD). Secondly, it evaluates the performance of TAHRD students’ core competencies. The competence evaluation was divided into three parts: the first part is to evaluate the teaching professional ability of the pre-service teachers; the second part is to evaluate the core competence of the human resources education and training personnel for the students of the learning and technology division; and the third part is to apply the learning outcome questionnaire to evaluate the core competence of the TAHRD students. In order to achieve the research purposes, the researcher applied literature review, expert meetings, and modified Delphi technique in the study. The study found that the TAHRD students do not have sufficient core competencies, nor do the students of the learning and technology division have sufficient human education and training competencies. According to the results of this study, the study provides the following suggestions: (1)assess the ability of digital learning and training effectiveness, and develop students' ability to effectively control risk, including the selection of materials, processing procedures, processing equipment and processing energy capacity indicators, understand the important development and trends of teaching technology and media; (2)train the learning and technology division students to arrange teacher and planning courses; (3)strengthen the TAHRD students’ basic foreign language, international vision, planning and executive ability of human resources development projects, and the competences of applying technology in education training; (4)the TAHRD should consider to increase the practical curriculum of the Digital Learning Program in the future, and (5)understand the importance of the core competencies and plan curriculum based on student’s self-assessment. In the future, we recommend comparing people who have just graduated for three to five years with those who have worked for more than 10 years to see if there is a difference in the degree of aspects and indicators of the two groups.

M.Ing.
Engineering is a combination of natural and human science skills and expertise. Engineers are required to satisfy the needs of their customers at a human science level, yet they are also expected to solve problems that require meticulous calculation at a natural science level. Engineers who can negotiate with customers, but who do not have the competencies to solve complex problems, will find the profession extremely complicated and frustrating. On the other hand if engineers have developed the required skills to tackle and solve the most intricate problems but are unable to communicate and interact with their clients, they will soon realise that they are isolated from the community. Because of the workload associated with the curriculum for engineering studies at tertiary level, academic staff find it difficult to include topics other than hard core engineering in the curriculum. Potential engineers have to realise that they are entering a profession that requires -a- lifelong learning commitment to stay abreast of developments, especially because of the explosion of developments in high technology. The challenge lies with educational institutions, employers and the engineering fraternity alike to ensure that qualified engineers, technologists and technicians are wellbalanced, highly-skilled professionals with the ability to interact with the public at large. Engineering students need to be exposed to a wide range of additional skills, such as motivational, communication, negotiating, financial and psychological. A subject that is seldom addressed in educational institutions is ethics and its role in an engineer's life. Because ethics is based on various complex foundations, such as the various religions, cultural backgrounds and different values and norms of groups of people, academic staff tend to avoid broaching the topic. This dissertation has probed the complexities of ethics and how it differs depending on the background of a specific group of people or a specific profession. It further investigated the perceived needs among engineering students and qualified engineers so that engineering students can be exposed to ethics and the importance of a basic knowledge of ethics before they can be regarded as fully-fledged engineers. Results of a market research has revealed that qualified engineers and engineering students are aware of the importance of an expanded curriculum that would include the additional subjects mentioned earlier. The findings correlate with similar results obtained in a market research in United States of America. Literature claimed that Europe was lagging behind USA with regard to the inclusion of ethics in their curriculum but that it was rectifying the situation. he issue under discussion is that all role-players in South Africa should join forces to incorporate ethics in the curriculum of tertiary education institutions and in the in-house-training programmes of businesses. This programme can later be extended to include other human science skills. Control measures should be introduced to ensure the work done in South Africa by the engineering fraternity is in line with international standards. This will enable South Africa to remain a competitive role-player in the global market.