Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University. / Typescript. Sponsor: Esther Lloyd-Jones. Dissertation Committee: Ruth Strang, Ernest G. Osborne, . Type A project. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-222).

About half of the students that are declared engineering majors end up leaving engineering within their first two years at the university. This happens following the required math and science courses that these students must take before getting into the technical engineering coursework. There are two systems that students must be a part of at the university to feel comfortable and have the desire to continue on in their degree. These include the academic system and the social system. The experiences engineering students have during their first required math course, Calculus I, is likely not promoting integration into these two systems. This study analyzed student grade data from Calculus I for trends about student persistence in engineering, along with interviewing students about their experience in Calculus I. These analyses revealed that students do not integrate into the social system of engineering during this course and only persisting students show some positive signs of integration into the academic system. This indicates that there are many gaps in the engineering student experience during their early career that can help these students feel like they belong in engineering and want to stay. Fortunately, there are many areas that can easily be remedied to provide a better social and academic experience in Calculus I to help increase the number of students that remain in engineering until graduation.

This thesis is concerned with student understanding of key concepts in electrical engineering teaching within higher education. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many students struggle to understand threshold concepts and therefore encounter difficulties in learning theoretical models which are underpinned by such theoretical concepts. This research utilised a mixed methods approach to investigate the factors that influence student understanding of key theoretical concepts within electrical engineering. The initial study used a questionnaire to evaluate student understanding of concepts which were identified by teaching staff as being core to a particular module. The study identified that students commenced the module with poor understanding and that instruction on the module ELC040 Electrical Machines and Systems did not lead to improved understanding of core concepts. This suggests that the roots of student misunderstanding lay elsewhere. Desk research was subsequently employed to explore the sources of student misunderstandings. Performance data was analysed and demonstrated that the roots of the student misunderstanding of Electrical Machine Theory lay in the pre-requisite module Electrical Power B. Students routinely failed to achieve high levels of understanding in this module and as a result were unable to successfully build upon it in the third year module. Semi-structured interviews were then undertaken with Part C students who were undertaking the Electrical Machines and Systems module. In addition, structured interviews were administered with the Part B students. The interviews aimed to establish the study practices adopted by students across both years. The study showed that students found the ELA001 module difficult, and the majority believe that most other students felt the same way as they did. Students provided evidence of poor study techniques, by reporting last minute sessions to complete coursework and last minute revision for exams. This research informed the development of an interactive learning tool which was piloted on a small cohort of students. The research has also established that there are many influences on the development of student understanding of threshold concepts within electrical engineering and argues for a more active style of teaching in order to address student misunderstanding.

L’engagement dans la création d’entreprise est un évènement rare et tardif chez les ingénieurs français. Pour changer cette situation et former davantage des ingénieurs-entrepreneurs, nous étudions l’impact de la formation dans une grande école d’ingénieurs en France. La problématique s’inscrit dans le cadre théorique du comportement planifié complété par la théorie de la carrière entrepreneuriale et la notion d’esprit d’entreprendre. Nous avons suivi une approche longitudinale afin d’étudier l’évolution des intentions et de la construction des identités professionnelles ainsi que les comportements observables associés au cours de leur formation. La thèse s’appuie sur un questionnaire posé chaque année au cours du curriculum et des entretiens semi-directifs en fin de cursus auprès des élèves ingénieurs. Elle aboutit à l’identification de plusieurs identités professionnelles d’ingénieurs (ingénieur technique, manager, entrepreneur) et la caractérisation de la trajectoire de l’intention qui mène au choix de carrière entrepreneuriale. L’impact des facteurs socioculturels, scolaires et extrascolaires sur la trajectoire de l’intention a été modélisé. Il permet d’expliquer la construction de chaque identité professionnelle / Although many researchers point out the emergence of new generations of engineers, the traditional model of the French engineer remains reluctant to entrepreneurship, few engineers are moving towards entrepreneurial careers and they do it rather late in their career. To reverse this trend and train more entrepreneurial engineers, we study educational impact of an engineering Grande Ecole in France. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour completed by the theory of entrepreneurial career and the notion of entrepreneurial spirit, we use a longitudinal approach to measure the evolution of intention, together with the construction of professional identities and observable behaviours of students during their school years. This study is based on a longitudinal survey completed each year by engineering students and semi-structured interviews with them at the end of the curriculum. The findings include the identification of three engineering professional identities (technical engineer, manager, and entrepreneur) and the definition of the entrepreneurial intention trajectory Leading to entrepreneurial career choice. The impacts of socio-cultural, pedagogical and extra curriculum factors on the trajectory of intention have been modelled. They can explain the building up process of each engineering professional identity

Denna studie har kartlagt vilka drivmedel som användes av svenska handelsflottans fartyg från 2016 och hur stor andel som inte var petroleumbaserad. Fokus riktades mot Linnéuniversitetets sjöingenjörsprogram där en analys av kursplaners mål samt innehåll belyste om alternativa drivmedel fanns inkluderat i utbildningen. Respondenterna på sjöingenjörsprogrammet var delaktiga i en intervjustudie som klargjorde om framtidsutsikter för realisering av alternativa drivmedel var möjlig. Resultaten visade att det fanns tre alternativa drivmedel inom svenska sjöfarten, där inga kurser hade direkt koppling men genom ledord fanns tre kurser med relevans till alternativa drivmedel. Det fanns ett gemensamt mål inom respondenterna på Linnéuniversitetet om alternativa drivmedel men vägen till förverkligande var inte klarsynt. / A few years ago, marine diesel and heavy fuel oil were the fuels that drove shipsforward. But with new legal requirements and climate goals, other potential fuelshave seen the light of day. These alternative fuels have resulted in an increase in thesystems you need knowledge of on board. The purpose of the study is to focus onhow the education to become a marine engineer keeps up with the rapidtechnological development that is taking place today.The study was carried out in several stages where document studies were compiledand became the basis for an interview study. The first document study resulted inwhat fuel the Swedish merchant fleet's newer ships use. In addition to marine dieseland heavy oil, alternative fuels such as liquid natural gas, methanol and batteryoperation are also used. These alternative fuels are used or can be used on about athird of the surveyed ships today.The second document study was done against the marine engineering program tosee if there was any connection to alternative fuels in the education's syllabuses. Nodirect connection was found, but by using key words for alternative fuels, threecourses were found with content that could be associated with the alternative fuels.The results of the document studies formed the basis for an interview study in whichpersonnel linked to the marine engineering education at the Linnaeus Universitywere interviewed. The result of the interview study was that all respondents agreedthat education is needed in the alternative fuels that have arrived. However, therespondents did not agree on what the training should look like, as there were manydifferent education proposals. Since there were also expressions from respondentsabout time, knowledge, and resource shortages, they need to reach an agreementwith a way forward to be able to secure the educational efforts towards a commongoal.

If a group of engineering deans were asked whether students at their institutions were successful and why, what information might they immediately or subconsciously use to measure or gauge the engineering students’ success? If only academic performance outcomes like GPA, individual course grades, or graduation rate race to their minds, then their rationale aligns with the majority of researchers. My research seeks to shift the mindset that frames engineering student success mainly within the boundaries of academic performance measures. By measuring students’ perceived autonomy, competence, social integration and relatedness within their programs, and aspirations after graduation, one can more accurately judge whether engineering students are achieving holistic student success. By utilizing surveys and exit interviews for freshmen Summer Bridge Program (SBP) participants, interviewing continuing and past SBP participants, and surveying engineering seniors, this research gathered more in-depth information on students’ experiences. In turn, one can better understand how the structures of engineering summer and undergraduate programs either contribute to or detract from student success and motivation. Results from SBP freshmen indicated that community building, structured studying, real-world experiences, residential life, and mentorship were perceived as valuable components by the students. Also, a perceived difficulty gap, based on students’ prior engineering experience(s), was uncovered. For continuing SBP students, there was an emphasis on Black community, leadership, and discourse when moving from SBP to larger departments. Lastly, within the seniors, we found that students tend to choose engineering careers regardless of their undergraduate experiences. This information can be used in practice for enhancing programmatic planning and design as well as potentially developing novel program components that contribute to students becoming more self-determined, motivated engineers. It is my hope that one day in the near future, engineering education faculty, administrators, and leaders will cultivate and measure success based on a more comprehensive assessment of lived experiences and better recognize how their decisions regarding programmatic structures impact students’ success and motivation.