This paper addresses a dilemma of education's autonomy: if an educational goal is to be universal, how do people's current problems and concerns are supposed to be integrated or addressed in the educational work, and specifically in teaching the curriculum? The paper looks at this dilemma with a particular educational perspective and within a…

Due to the structured format of most engineering courses, the number of opportunities for engineering students to view matters differently from the traditional ways is limited. Therefore, a mandatory requirement was introduced into three engineering courses for students to propose an out of the ordinary solution to certain technical problems,…

Contribution: This study identifies the skills required by the faculty to mentor first-year interdisciplinary design projects. The findings are compiled as a set of themes that can act as a guide for engineering educators in mentoring interdisciplinary design projects. Background: The National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) Engineer of 2020 report…

Previous research suggests that there should be a correlation between computational thinking and traditional cognitive and motor skills. At present, academia either considers cognitive skills a part of computational thinking, or investigates the correlation between computational thinking and cognitive skills. Current research on computational…

Undergraduates' first-year experience in engineering education impacts their retention and persistence. Strategic learning strategies (i.e. skill, will, and self-regulation) are important for students' academic achievement and retention. We examined to what extent (1) students' skill mediated the relationship between self-regulation and will and…

The evaluation of student projects is a difficult task, especially when they involve both a technical and a creative component. We propose an artificial intelligence (AI)-based methodology to help in the evaluation of complex projects in engineering and computer science courses. This methodology is intended to evaluate the assessment process…

We investigated the development of intercultural competence (IC) among engineering students participating in an international study program (GoLaSalle). IC was measured using the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) by Van der Zee and Van Oudenhoven (2001), and the Expanded Cultural Intelligence Scale (E-CQS) by Van Dyne et al. (2012).…

Cooperative education programs are usually based on a partnership between companies and universities. Dropouts have a particular impact here, for example the loss of junior staff in the companies. Most dropouts in cooperative education occur in the first academic year. In this multicausal dropout process, the influence of the cooperation partner…

In this paper we focus on Norwegian first-year engineering students' interpretations of differentials and definite integrals. Through interviews with 15 engineering students, we investigated how the students interpreted the different symbols involved in the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC), as displayed in the textbook used in their calculus…

The increasing complexity of financial products and services requires a domain of information and knowledge in the financial area. This study explores the role of financial literacy in undergraduate students at a higher education institution in Portugal. A sample of 196 undergraduate students enrolled in six courses in the fields of engineering…

Students' mental health and well-being are increasingly recognized as urgent and important needs in engineering education. Mindfulness-based interventions, in which students learn and practice present-focused techniques such as meditation and deep breathing, have been demonstrated to positively affect college students' well-being. The use of such…

Student preferences for digital learning and the COVID-19 pandemic have increased demand for asynchronous learning activities, including pre-recorded video lectures. However, there are varying recommendations and a lack of data-driven results for how long video lectures should be. This study has two purposes: (1) To determine and understand…

We developed a remote lab experience where freshmen grew and analyzed the activity of sourdough starters as a means of engaging with chemical engineering concepts. This six-week hands-on activity was targeted due to its low-cost, non-hazardous materials, and ability to be conducted safely in a non-laboratory setting. By designing the lab to be…

Socially engaged engineering provides for student learning of the design, analysis, and practices of engineering as well as the ways that engineering is situated in sociocultural contexts. This paper provides a conceptual framework regarding socially engaged engineering for K-8 educators, researchers, and curriculum designers. The framework…

This dissertation explores the impact of the classroom environment on undergraduate engineering students by integrating three manuscripts using the process-person-context-time (PPCT) model within Bioecological Systems Theory. Each manuscript focused on students' sense of belonging, motivation, and academic confidence. The study confirms prior…